Long Island Chevy Dealer sells '02 Malibu for $13,900 to an autistic 25y/o (Updated!)

[MelvinJ]

Originally Posted by espo19047

He must of had a bigger down payment. How else would that car book out? What bank would take that deal? Something is not right...

That's for sure, which would be even sadder if he loses a bunch of hard-earned savings on this. If some bank loaned him even remotely close to the purchase price on this car, they deserve to have it defaulted in the first month. I shudder to think what interest rate he got if they were willing to screw him so badly on the purchase price.

[Hitman1970]

News flash. Most domestic salespersons have been or will be import salespersons. A friend of mine sold cars in Oklahoma City for seven years and literally worked in major dealership in town during that time. He said the mindset was to change locations every six months or so to get a new start. That kind of sounded like "Burn all bridges with a customer set and move on" type-thinking to me.

When he got married and had a child he joined the Army. Apparently healthcare was non-existent in his previous profession.

Caveat Emptor.

[ChebbySalesDept]

Hustedt had another store in Western Long Island that closed up recently for obvious reasons. Both of their stores have been a problem for many years.

As a side note. Wouldn't you think his parents had some control over his finances to an extent?

[GMfan1111]

Originally Posted by ChebbySalesDept

Hustedt had another store in Western Long Island that closed up recently for obvious reasons. Both of their stores have been a problem for many years.

As a side note. Wouldn't you think his parents had some control over his finances to an extent?

They would if they were the legal guardians of the autistic gentleman in question. A legal Guardian depending on the type of guardianship makes any financial or medical decisions on behalf of the person that they are caring for. Just like how anyone under the age of 18 cannot sign a contract its the same exact thing with a person who is under the care of a legal guardian. In this case though neither of the parents was appointed legal guardian therefore when Sean walked into that dealership and made the trade there was nothing the parents could do to stop it because they did not have any control over his finances. Many parents are reluctant to make the decision to assume legal guardianship because it would take away the independence that the child worked so hard to achieve but if it protects their son or daughter from people who can easily take advantage of them then it must be done.

[ChebbySalesDept]

I believe this is not the first car he's bought on his own and I think there were problems with prior transactions but not to this extent.

I don't know a lot about autism but is it possible the dealer didn't know he had any disability? I agree the price was outrageous for anyone pay.

I just don't know that in New York there is any legal way to dissolve the transaction. There is no "cooling off" law in New York.

I think the parents have to keep closer tabs on him. You would think he would have mentioned that he was looking for a car to his folks before doing the deal. Not for permission but ust conversation.

[t-rex]

Sounds like he has Asperger's Syndrome. I have a relative with this disorder and it's not readily apparent when you first meet him. But people with the disorder can't "read" body language, and they have difficulty understanding certain things like sarcasm, satire, etc. Everything they read, or what is told to them, is taken literally. They're uncapable of not telling the truth, and basically can't understand the concept of deception. Asperger's is chiefly a communicative disorder and is usually identified by the person's unusual voice intonation, rather than anything they say in particular. My cousin speaks clearly and logically, but his intonation is all off; he fails to raise his tone when asking a question, for example, so sometimes it's difficult to tell whether he's saying something or asking something. He's highly intelligent and if you met him you'd probably not notice anything unusual about him other than his odd speech tones.

He can fully understand math functions, but has difficulty relating some things in context. For example, he could probably memorize the MSRP of every car on the market, but won't understand depreciation. He would, at best, only be able to remember something he SAW or READ regarding an '02 Malibu's list price. Basically, his brain works off of memory rather than understanding.

So it's understandable that the dealership may not have picked up there was a problem with the young man. But once it was pointed out to them, they really should have done the proper thing to set the situation right. They simply took advantage of the situation to make a few bucks at another's expense.

And as for parents keeping an eye on him... if he has Asperger's then unless he's encountered a situation before, there's usually no way to tell how he'll react to it. People with Asperger's all but exclusively live on their own, and most marry and have families. It's not like a profound form of autism where they need to be watched constantly.

And since Asperger's wasn't recognized in the U.S. until 1994 (50 years behind the rest of the civilized world — what a shock), there are hundreds of thousands of undiagnosed adults out there with Asperger's.

[mbukukanyau]

A person willing to pay twice the price of an old car should elert any person, selling that something is off. Unless the person selling is suffering from the same condation. There can be no justification for the injustcie this GM dealership has committed.

[goblue]

Originally Posted by mbukukanyau

A person willing to pay twice the price of an old car should elert any person, selling that something is off. Unless the person selling is suffering from the same condation. There can be no justification for the injustcie this GM dealership has committed.

\


YES - this is a clear distinction I hadn't thought of. If you own a used car lot and want to gouge - whatever. But, when your actions reflect back on a major corporation, as a franchise, I don't agree with some of you - GM ought to hold these dealers accountable and then some. Also, when people go to a GM dealership - they are assuming, for better or worse, that GM's reputation applies.

You should be safe from gouging in any GM dealership.

This should be grounds for GM to pull a franchise without penalty. There should be a penalty for this. The kid ought to get the car for free to right the bad press this dealer inflicted on GM. The public doesn't understand what we do. They see that big GM sign and assume GM is watching and has your back.

[JBsZ06]

I have a very low functioning autistic son. He will never be able to be alone much less drive a car or get a job.

I applaud the parents efforts for their child yet had they just put the car he owns in their name he would not have been able to trade it in.

Back in 1998 I conducted a sales transaction with Husted Chevy out in centerreach. Ordered and bought the car over the phone. The salesman picked me up at the train station and the deal was perfect. Just as they had described and faxed to me.

Back than it was a great experience. I was among the first in the country to get the passenger air bag disconnect installed from them. It was part of the sales deal between the salesman and myself before buying my 1999 C5 ..

Now I'm tempted to call them up on the phone just to let them know I'm disappointed to hear this case. NADA book value should have been used when the issue became apparent on the 2002 Malibu whatever that might be

Anybody got a link to the dealership ? Why not send this link to them so they know their actions have been exposed even directly to them.

Thanks for the informaiton..

JB

[Uzzy]

Originally Posted by JBsZ06

Anybody got a link to the dealership ? Why not send this link to them so they know their actions have been exposed even directly to them.

I posted a link in my first post on this thread. Maybe I will fire off an email to them.

[rbarrios]

I quickly scanned the titles to the threads- and I THOUGHT I saw that a dealer had sold a new 08 Malibu to the autistic person for the 13-14K....
So I said to myself... wow!!! nice dealer...
then I read the post and was quickly disheartened.

[KillerMRK]

Jeez, a lot of Islanders on here.

I've never heard of Hudstedt Chevy before... That's really terrible what they've done. I'll be sure to tell people I know.

[Uzzy]

Originally Posted by rbarrios

I quickly scanned the titles to the threads- and I THOUGHT I saw that a dealer had sold a new 08 Malibu to the autistic person for the 13-14K....
So I said to myself... wow!!! nice dealer...
then I read the post and was quickly disheartened.

Same thing happened to me.

[fastdriver]

Originally Posted by rbarrios

I quickly scanned the titles to the threads- and I THOUGHT I saw that a dealer had sold a new 08 Malibu to the autistic person for the 13-14K....
So I said to myself... wow!!! nice dealer...
then I read the post and was quickly disheartened.

That's EXACTLY what I thought at first also! THEN, I read the whole story! This is WHY so many dealers get the reputation that they do. It's sleazeballs like this that give the whole auto dealer/sales people their poor reputation. Oh well- you know what they say about word of mouth advertising! Maybe this dealership will go out of business also like his other one did because this is probably not the first person they screwed!

Once the dealer found out the real facts, they should have rectified it IMMEDIATELY. The fact that they tried to screw the guy in the FIRST place with such an exhorbitant price should have set off alarm bells to THEM that something wasn't kosher. Just shows you the level of their integrity to begin with.

How anyone here can even THINK to defend this dealer just astounds me and shows me the integrity level of many others here!

Like someone else said here- GM SHOULD be able to have some recourse against this dealer like suspending their franchise for a week or two or more. If GM can tell you what cars have to be paired with each other and what kind of Hummer buildings you have to build and whatever else they can tell you, then they should be able to deal with scumbag dealers who TARNISH GM's name!

[GMCSonoma]

Trust me GMI friends...with the ecomony "slowing" natural survival of the fitest will come into play here with this dealer and many other subpar dealerships...