Toyota

My 79-year old mother who lives alone in Brentwood, Long Island, was recently manipulated into buying a brand new, $35, 000 car for a near-total stranger.

There are certain facts to this transaction that are suspect: My Mother’s credit was checked twice by Huntington Toyota-July 14th and July 16th and the first credit check appears to be unauthorized. After many attempts and phone calls from both family members and our attorney to prove the authorization, the dealership has produced no authorization. The sales agreement has the odometer mileage written in, however the original copy that my mother has does not have the number listed. There is also the matter of the obscenely high and completely unnecessary maintenance agreement, gap insurance and insurance sold to my mother for a car she neither needed nor intended to drive.

On July 15, this woman somehow convinced my mother to drive to the Toyota dealership in Huntington, this is the one and only time my Mom went to the dealership. Keep in mind that my Mother basically only drives to three places: the supermarket, church, and Target, all within minutes of her home. We have no doubt that this woman led her to Huntington. Once at the dealership, a salesman named "Mike C." sold my Mom a brand new Toyota Camry for $35, 000 and also signed her up for a new insurance policy with GMAC costing $4, 000 for one year, for that one car. The terrible thing is she already has a car -a fully paid off Hyundai, for which she already has insurance with Geico, (and carries proof of insurance both in her car and on her person). So, my Mom drove home in her Hyundai and the woman drove off in the brand new Camry, (even though the dealership signed grandma up for a sole-driver insurance policy). To add insult to injury, Mike C. also signed Grandma up for a $1, 500 maintenance contract, (note that similar contracts are illegal in some states), as well as gap insurance for an additional $1000.

My Mom has insisted that this Julia signed the sales agreement for the car. She claims that the woman said that she, not my Mother would be responsible for the payments, as she had agreed to be a cosigner for Julia as a favor. My Mom also insists that this was the discussion over and over at Toyota. Once we tracked down the sales agreement, however, it became clear that only my mother signed the papers and that the financing company had no record of this woman at all. The bill goes only to my mother, and there was no one else registered to pay online. (My niece tracked down the sales agreement by speaking with the financing company on numerous occasions. She also attempted to get the agreement from the dealership. Mike C., as well as two managers promised to fax the agreement on three separate occasions, but all three individuals ended up ignoring my request altogether).

In general the dealership has not been sympathetic at all-their view is that they sold a car. Period. That she was not compromised when she purchased the car and that it was for her, (this from the GM Lenny Cafarelli). The finance person, Rose, was convinced the car was for Lucia, (which is either confusion or another pseudonym for ), and that they had been roommates/friends for years, which is a total fabrication. On whose part I do not know. She was also completely insulting stating she “was very impressed by how good her English was” and how good her credit is, which is a racial slur. My mother is of Puerto Rican descent, has lived in the US for over 50 years, is the widow of a veteran and is the mother of a deceased veteran. Extremely insulting.

My mother is a widow who lives alone on a fixed income and is unfortunately the perfect person to be conned in this manner, she is especially vulnerable to someone who is recommended by her local church. She fits the online profile for abuse, literally to a t-her family is long distance, she has good credit and was completely taken advantage and conned by this woman, , and by the Huntington dealership.

My mother had intended, as a favor, to cosign a loan for this person, and it was always her understanding that this person would be solely responsible for the car loan. This woman, is only an acquaintance of my mother’s, through the Church.

What's worse is that at the time of her visit to the dealership, my mother's health was in steady decline, such that she was even more confused than normal. On August 3rd, she was admitted to the hospital for two emergency blood transfusions because her hemoglobin level had dropped to below 7, indicating severe anemia. In the days leading up to her visit with the ER she was winded and extremely disoriented. In the days after she was released from the hospital, she revealed some of the details of what happened with the woman. We immediately ran a credit check and discovered the $35, 000 Toyota transaction, as well as the two credit checks. It is only due to her hospital stay and subsequent revelation that the family was aware of the car purchase.

Exploitation of the elderly is looked at as a serious crime in NYS and is defined as, “ Improper use of an adults funds, property or resources by another individual, ”(Social Services Law 473.6). This surely fits the definition, but we are not attracting any interest from the DA regarding the matter. Elder abuse statistics are on the rise, and unfortunately more people need to be made aware of situations such as what happened to my Mother. This is sadly a story that supports those rising statistics.

On Jan 27 we asked for the price of a 2008 Toyota with our 2002 Toyota as a tradein. We were very clear with the salesman that we wanted their bottom line as were going to other dealerships to obtain prices. A price was given and after shopping , we decided to purchase the car at the Huntington dealership as their price was the lowest. Plans were made with the salesman for us to return to the dealership on Jan 28 to purchase the car. We arrived with cash and checkbook in hand to seal the deal -- however, when we arrived and after wasting an additional two and a half hours of our time test driving and listening to useless rhetoric, they refused to commit to their original price; asking for $2000 more! This practice may not be illegal but it is certainly unscrupulous. It was particularly aggravating as we made it perfectly clear on our initial visit that we did not want to play the game and we wanted their lowest price. Businesses which engage in these shady practices should be held accountable!