More on the Easleys cars

New records filed with the Division of Motor Vehicles shed light on what transpired in late March as the News & Observer began asking questions about two cars the family of former Gov. Mike Easley family had been driving but did not own.

One vehicle was a Honda Accord driven by Mary Easley, but owned by a Rick Hendrick dealership in Charlotte.

The other was a GMC Yukon driven by Mike Easley Jr., but owned by the dealership of Robert F. Bleecker in Red Springs.

The newspaper first posed questions in detail to Hendrick on March 25 and to the Easleys and Bleecker on March 26, Andy Curliss reports.

More after the jump.

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On March 26, Mike Easley said through a former political adviser: "Tell [the reporter] it's a loaner until her car comes in." In an e-mail message the same day, the former governor said the car his wife was driving is a "loaner." He did not respond immediately to questions about his son's car.

The next day, Easley said his son's car was a lease but that he was buying it. Bleecker did not respond to questions. That same day, Hendrick said through a spokesman that the Mary Easley car was one of three she had test driven and that "she is purchasing one."

Asked when they decided to purchase, Hendrick said he didn't know. He provided no other information about the transaction.

All along, it has been unclear what vehicle the former governor was driving. He wrote in a previously unpublished e-mail message that "I'm driving a used Tahoe... Will get something better on gas later. It's in for some fuse issue that keeps cutting the engine off and hope to get it back shortly."

After the story was published on March 29, Hendrick wrote that Mary Easley's use of a loaner was "longer than average" but said the paper "downplayed the significant detail that the Easleys did purchase the vehicle." And Easley changed his story, saying his son's car was a campaign car that then converted to a personal one.

Here's what the records now show on the vehicles:

* The Easleys bought a different Accord than she had been driving. Mary Easley now has a gray Accord, but it is not clear why it took so long to come in as Easley said was the case. The Honda sales manager in Charlotte said in an interview that no cars were taking a long time to arrive. The records now show the car she is driving arrived at a lot in Anderson, S.C., in October 2008.

The purchase price was $29,658. Moreover, the sales invoice and the notary date on the title transfer document show a purchase date of March 29, the same day the N&O story was published. But the title application lists two dates on it, March 27 and March 29. A separate insurance form has Mike Easley's name signed on it and dated March 27.

* Easley has also bought a used 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe from Hendrick Chevrolet in Cary, paying $39,332. The date was March 28.

The Tahoe was in Bennettsville, S.C., on Jan. 27, 2009, records show. That's when it was sold to a dealer in Greensboro — Bill Black Chevrolet. It was then transferred to the Cary Hendrick dealership on March 25, according to records. Between January and March, only 85 miles were logged on the car.

* Easley purchased the Bleecker car for his son on April 2, paying $6,239 plus taxes and fees. It had been a personal car for the Easleys since at least mid-2005.