On March 16, My husband, daughter and I, who are African American, decided to go shopping for used Saabs at Kachina Lund Saab on Bell Road in Scottsdale, Arizona. We currently own two Saabs (89' and 95'). However, the 1989 has had better days and it will soon need replacing. This was our first day of actual car shopping, but we had done our research and we were ready to test drive and have our questions answered. Kachina Lund Saab and Cadillac is one of the only two Saab dealers in Arizona. Perhaps, if we got the right deal, we may have driven away with a Saab that day.
We drove onto the lot in our 95 Saab and parked near the entrance facing the showroom. We saw several salespeople peering at us from inside, but no one attempted to acknowledge our presence. We were a little shocked by this, because usually there are eager salespeople waiting to pounce even before you have one leg out of your car. We thought maybe everyone at this dealership was on salary or something.
We proceeded to the Saab area when we were approached by a salesman who asked us, not if we needed any help or what kind of car we were looking for, but who we were there to see.
My husband responded to this odd question by telling the salesman that we were there to look at used Saabs. The salesman's response was, "I'll be right back." We continued walking toward the Saabs waiting for someone to come and assist us. This never happened. We must have waited about 20 minutes. We decided to examine the cars by ourselves. We opened up car doors and checked the interior of the vehicles and the mileage. No one ever came out to help.
Finally, we got tired of being ignored and decided to leave. As we were walking back toward our car, we saw two caucausin men in their early twenties drive onto the lot and park. Before they could get out of their car, this same salesman, who had no time to help us, came running down the steps from the showroom to greet them. After greetings were exchanged, the three of them jumped on a golf cart and were off to look at cars.
We immediatley knew what was up. I have lived in Arizona for almost four years and have never experienced such blatant racism. I was so furious and stayed up half the night thinking about this incident.
What recourse do I have? Can something be done? How can I prove that we were discriminatted against? I read the report form Mr. Moreno that was submitted to your company and felt like our experience was a re-enactment of his. We cannot let this continue to happen.
Please tell me what recourse I have.
Andrea
Goodyear, Arizona
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