Elderly woman says she was pressured into buying a new car

And she's filing a lawsuit. The 77-year-old woman says she'd gone to a car dealership in Clive, Iowa, for an oil change. She claims that a saleswoman pressured her so much that she finally gave up and bought a new car. (Her "old" car was from 2006.) The dealership says it plans to defend itself in court.

Comments

[mutt]

It ain't that hard to tell a salesperson to piss off!

[The DB]

There's a special place in Hell for car salesmen already. How long does and oil change take anyway, 30 minutes? Sounds like a scheme between the Service Manager and the Sales department. It might be easy for you and me to tell the car hound to piss off but for an elderly woman, they probably pulled every trick out of the sleaze manual.

[NoMoreMrNiceGuy]

Actually there's a special place in Hll for lawyers whom are even worse.
No one forced her to buy a car just as no one forced people to buy too much house knowing they could not afford it, then blaming Bush for their bad choice.

[Johns]

How the hell did lawyers come into this? Or Bush for that matter? It's called a segue, and you need to work on smoothing yours.

[Jellybean]

So, you mean I CAN sue George Bush for making me buy a house? That'd be pretty cool - especially if I get to keep the house too.
I'm thinking of heading down to the Savoy Grill this evening for a salad. If the waiter talks me into a lobster while I'm there, I'm suing them too.

[cs]

Nothing illegal about pressure selling... people should be able to sue lawyers who take on frivolous lawsuits.

[EZdidit]

I was a car salesman for 2 months out of college. I sucked at it because I wasn't sleazy enough. And now I'm the customer from hell every time I go car shopping because of that experience. I hope the old lady wins just for the principle.

[jacksdadkc1]

Every person is responsible for the choices they make. Do any of you know how many pieces of paper a person must sign in order to purchase a vehicle in the US today? At the very barest minimum there are 5. That is five times that the woman could have stopped the transaction without a single word by simply not signing a piece of paper. Then there is the matter of writing the check. She could have stopped right then. If she was financing, then that adds another five to ten pieces of paperwork...another five to ten opportunities for her to JUST SAY NO. Don't blame the salesperson. They are trying to make a living for their families the exact same as you. BTW, have any of you checked the demographics of salespeople lately? They are more educated, more intelligent, and have higher levels of integrity today than most other professions. Today's salespeople, yes even car salespeople, are not "Your parents' or your grandparents' salespeople".

[Patty PV]

The article said the lady caved after being there for hours. She's 77. The population of the town is 15,000. Someone may have had her pegged as an old lady with a fat checkbook - what the rest of us would say "no" to might have been very hard for an elderly woman to handle alone. None of us were there to witness what did and didn't happen (I presume) - so let's see what happens with the case in court.

[Drasil]

Unless she has alzheimer's I don't see her excuse. Probably, simply buyers remorse.

[Patty PV]

I guess not many of you deal with elderly women who live alone in small towns. It probably took awhile for neighbors or caregivers to alert out-of-town family members what happened.

Maybe the lady is a total jerk for filing the suit; maybe her family is behind it; or who knows, maybe the car dealership wouldn't give her back the keys to her car and held her hostage until she bought a new one.

If you've ever lived in a small town, you probably wouldn't think that that a small-town attorney would file a suit like this unless there were more to the story.

[weaselbill]

Just to clarify, Clive, Iowa is a suburb directly adjacent to Des Moines. Saying its a "small town" is like saying a car dealership in Lenexa or Grandview are in "small towns."

[The DB]

Don't blame the salesperson. They are trying to make a living for their families the exact same as you. BTW, have any of you checked the demographics of salespeople lately? They are more educated, more intelligent, and have higher levels of integrity today than most other professions. Today's salespeople, yes even car salespeople, are not "Your parents' or your grandparents' salespeople".

Posted by: jacksdadkc1 | Tuesday, December 01, 2009 at 11:10 AM

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I wish todays salespeople were like my parents or my grandparents salespeople. Car salesmen back in the day built relationships with their customers, and were there for years, selling the same customers cars when it came to trade in time. Now you have F&I weasels and sales managers working the customers over. It's better now? BS! Have you heard of the stories of "we can't find the keys to your car" or "we already sent your car away to auction" that the "new, highly educated, high integrity" sleazebags pull on customers today? Oh yes and the honest "four square" trick they wheel out. Sorry, the "old salesmen" are getting pushed out by the "bright shiny new" highly educated pr*cks that will screw the customer at all costs, then forget about them after the sale.

[Brak brak.]

Sounds like you need to buy a car that's not in the boondocks. Try it sometime. If you treat people with respect, they treat you with respect.

I had to go out of KC to buy a car from people who weren't sleazy. Omaha is where it's at.

[sickoftheidiots]

Yep. It's the lawyers fault. Car dealers are all paragons of honesty and fair dealing. Just look at our local examples like Chad Franklin and his crew. A shining example. They would never take advantage of a old woman.

[SG]

I actually do believe this story. I have seen similar things...