In October my 79 year old father-in-law took his Audi to Casey Imports for repairs. We were out of town on vacation at the time and he was house sitting for us. After waiting for approximately thirty minutes and being approached by salesmen trying to make a sale, the service manager told him he needed a new radiator and the repair bill would be more than the vehicle was worth. My father-in-law is very easily confused and it is very apparent.
At this point, the salesman started his sales pitch once again and my father-in-law told him he could not afford a new car, but would look at used cars. The salesman drives up in, what appeared to my father-in-law, a new Audi A6. My father-in-law tells him he cannot afford this type of car on his fixed income and can only look at used cars. The salesman tells him the Audi is a 2000 that never sold and was in the price range of a used auto. The MSRP sticker was not on the car and my father-in-law really did not know to ask why. After he was sold on the car, he was taken from one office to another over a period of five hours and prompted to sign different forms by different Casey employees - one of which was Troy Sorenson.
To make a very long story short, he was made to believe that he was getting the car for $20,000 which he would be paid for with his personal check of $18,000 and the trade in of his Audi.
When we returned from vacation one day after he bought the car, we found all the paper work from Casey and discovered that the total price of the two year old car was $43,000 and he had monthly payments of over $525/month for five years. We were horrified and could not make him believe this was the case. Casey had totally snowed him and hidden the true cost from him through confusion and tiring him out over a period of five hours. We discovered this information on Sunday and Monday was a holiday. My husband and his brother went to the dealership with the car and explained their father's mental status. No one would listen and they really showed no care.
Their reason for not taking the car back was because the car was now considered a used car because it was titled. At this point, they took a look at the new models and discovered they were cheaper than the two year old with the same equipment. They inquired if they would consider an exchange and let their father have the new version rather than the two year old model that, for unknown reasons, they could not sell. They said absolutely not. My brother-in-law then made an appointment to speak with the dealership manager for that afternoon which ended the same - No!!!
On Tuesday, we started making calls to lawyers and was advised to first stop payment on the $18,000 check. My husband also returned the vehicle on this day to Casey and left the keys with a salesman. I also called Casey's bookkeeping department to inquire when we could expect the new Audi to be registered with DMV and receive the registration. The bookkeeper informed me that it would take about two weeks. (So, at this point, the car was not considered used because it was not yet registered with DMV). After that we needed to find an attorney in the area that would represent us against Casey. We called three attorneys in the Newport News area who all said they would not file suit against Casey Auto Group.
We had to go out of the city to find an attorney to represent us. We also contacted Audi Financial, explained the whole situation and my father-in-laws inability to pay the car payments. We were given the run around and basically left with the feeling that they did not care if he could afford it or not. At this point, we started being concerned for my father-in-laws welfare and him living alone. We found out from his physician that he had seen a therapist a year prior to this incident, who determined that his short term memory loss was virtually zero and that he did have dementia and the beginning stages of alzheimers. He needed a vehicle, so we lent him one of ours even though we were very leary of him driving period. Within one month of the bad car deal, a friend of mine phoned and said he didn't think my father-in-law should be driving at night or possibly at all. He was in a local club with my father-in-law and had noticed for some time his problem with memory loss and being in "la la land" during the meetings.
In December, my father-in-law insisted on purchasing a used vehicle just to commute around in his town (Casey still had his old Audi that they, to this day, have kept).in March my father-in-law was no longer able to live alone and moved in with us. We started noticing his leariness about driving and in August he had an accident and completely stopped driving on his own.
Casey served my father-in-law with legal documents ordering the return of the $18,000, so our attorney filed a counter suit. Needless to say, my father-in-law's health began a spiral downwards that would end with his death in June. The lawsuit is still ongoing and is set to be heard for the third time on September 15th and 16th with a jury in the Newport News Court system.
It's hard for me to believe the individuals at Casey Imports involved in this unspeakable act on a defenseless Alzheimers victim can even sleep at night. This incident has given me a bad taste for car dealers and salesmen. I know I will walk away from this horrific ordeal with nothing but mistrust for the entire car dealership world. It's sad that all it takes is one bad apple to ruin the image of all car dealers and mark them with the word "CROOKS". I am sure our bad experience with Casey is not the only one and will not be the last. Anyone who has had a bad experience with Casey
Kim
Newport News, Virginia
U.S.A.
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