S&R Coach closes; unpaid clients file suit

But in late April, the limousine builder closed its doors, and a two-day auction in early May was held to liquidate the company’s assets and real estate.

The company was co-owned by Adin and Corinna Baban and their fathers, Petre Baban and Liviu Rosia. Attempts to reach the owners for comment were unsuccessful.

Former customers who say S&R Coach owes them money, warranty repairs or custom-built vehicles told Springfield Business Journal they, too, have been unable to reach Adin and Corinna Baban, whose home and business numbers have been disconnected.

The Babans also have put their five-bedroom, four-bath Bolivar home on the market for $574,900, according to a listing at www.realestatebook.com. The 4,800-square-foot, European-style home was built in 2005 – the last time Adin Baban spoke to SBJ.

At that time, Baban said 24 employees at his company’s Strafford location produced limousines crafted from Hummer, Lincoln, Chrysler and Cadillac products, ranging in price from $60,000 to $120,000. He said the Bolivar facility would concentrate on building two new lines: buses and racing limos. Baban said the buses would be for limousine operators in “the VIP transportation business.”

S&R Coach was the sole authorized builder of the racing limos for franchisees of Naples, Fla.-based Racing Limos Inc. Jane Kelly-Forret is one such franchisee in Des Moines, Iowa, who has been trying to make contact with the Babans for more than six months, but to no avail.

“They owe me money; they owe a lot of people money,” Kelly-Forret said in a phone interview. “They have written me checks that have bounced. Personal checks.”

Kelly-Forret said S&R Coach converted a Grand Prix for her Racing Limos franchise in 2005, but she said the company didn’t finish the $71,000 job on time. After receiving the limo a month late, she said the vehicle’s air-conditioning did not work properly.

Kelly-Forret said she’ll be traveling to Springfield in June to have Diamond Coach Builders, 1045 E. Lynn St., fix the air-conditioning problem.

Ed Mason, who owns a Racing Limos franchise in Tulsa, Okla., said S&R Coach owes him about $7,500 for outfitting S&R’s limos with fabricated parts and graphics. After checks from S&R Coach bounced last year, Mason said he turned the case over to the Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.

Five companies have sued S&R Coach for breach of contract since July, and on May 15, a federal tax lien for $136,608 was filed against S&R Coach. Last year, the company accumulated at least $60,000 in state tax liens, according to filings with the Greene County Recorder of Deeds.

Paul Hughes of Birmingham, Ala.-based PEH Consulting LLC is among those suing S&R Coach for breach of contract, but Hughes declined to comment on the litigation.

Additionally, a Polk County arrest warrant was issued for Corinna Baban in March for allegedly failing to file a state income tax return, according to the Circuit Court’s online records. A call to her Bolivar attorney, Charles Ankrom, was not immediately returned.

While the closing has translated into some work for Diamond Coach, other local limo builders such as John Bumgarner say the passing of S&R Coach has had little effect. Bumgarner, owner of Springfield Limousine Sales, said former S&R customers would likely have a difficult time recouping their money from the Babans.

News of S&R Coach’s closing was still spreading several weeks after the company went out of business. Phil Brun, a Kentucky-based Kiely Hines & Associates insurance agent who had previously talked to Adin Baban about insuring the local Racing Limos franchise, said he was surprised to learn that S&R had closed. Brun said he thought the company had a good reputation in the industry.

“Coach builders go out of business all the time, unless they’re huge,” he said. “That isn’t really a surprise to me when a coach builder goes out of business, except for when it’s one that does quality work. I’ve never heard any complaints about S&R.”[[In-content Ad]]