46 Trial Lawyer • Winter 2023 buy-here-pay-here dealer who sold him a car that had multiple problems from day one. Sam believed a large franchise dealer would be honest and treat him fairly even if that meant paying a little more for the vehicle. Sam decided to go to the dealership alone. His plan was not to spend more than $250 per month on a car. He told the first salesperson his $250 per month budget and, like many elderly people, he was on a fixed income. As usual, the salesperson said, “I’ve got the perfect car for you,” and showed Sam an SUV. Sam briefly looked over the SUV and told the salesperson he liked it. Soon afterwards, Sam was bombarded by multiple salespersons with all kinds of options, features and add-ons. They started throwing numbers at him left and right. Sam had no clue what the add-ons were, and he told them he didn’t understand. He just wanted to make sure his monthly payments were under $250. After a few hours, the salespeople finally sent Sam to the back finance office to sign the paperwork. There, the finance manager brought him a stack of paperwork and quickly went over it with Sam. He told Sam, “sign here, sign here, sign here,” in rapid succession. As the finance manager was telling Sam where to sign, he was holding on to the piece of paper with one hand and pointing where to sign with the other. Sam did as he was instructed. The manager then sent him out the door, all within 10 minutes of him walking in the finance office. Bamboozled Sam proudly drove home in his newly purchased car. He had no idea the dealership had just bamboozled him. A week later Sam received a letter in the mail from the finance company. It said Sam had been approved for the loan and his monthly payments would be $400. Sam was shocked to find out how high his monthly payments were. He immediately went back to the dealer to fix what he believed was a minor error. The manager at the dealership basically told Sam that it’s not their problem anymore and there’s nothing they can do. The first time I spoke to Sam, he had no idea what the dealer did to him. The only thing he knew was that he thought he was buying a car for $250 a month but ended up with a car for $400 a month. Many lawyers who are unfamiliar with elderly consumer issues would have stopped the inquiry there. These lawyers would have seen that Sam signed the contract which noted the $400 payment and sent Sam on his way with the same conclusion as the dealership — there’s nothing they can do. Consumer lawyers and anyone representing elderly clients need to dig deeper and spend the time to peel back the layers of the transaction. When I reviewed the paperwork with Sam, he had no idea the dealer gave him Protecting Elderly Continued from p 47
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