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It’s a story old as the automobile itself:

A frail elderly man walks into a car dealership. The shyster-y salesmen twirl their freshly waxed mustaches and circle the old-timer like a puppy dropped into a pool of piranhas.

“What’s it going to take to get you into a gently used Acura today,” asked the sleaziest-looking dealer, wearing his shiniest plaid suit.

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After five hours of negotiation that makes the interrogations at Guantanamo Bay look like a Ryan Seacrest interview, the old man drives away in his gently used lemon, the whites of his pockets turned out, having paid 30 percent more than the blue book value of the car.

It’s too cliché a story to be true, right?

If you thought the days of sleazy car dealers taking advantage of the elderly ended with Joe Isuzu, then you haven’t been to Mac Churchill Acura in Fort Worth.

This article in AARP The Magazine tells the story of 83-year-old Robert Jones, who went into the dealership to redeem a free-gift notice he received in the mail, and drove off in a car he didn’t know he wanted –– and paid thousands more than the book value of the car.

Jones traded in his Ford Explorer for a 2009 Acura MDX. He paid $48,000 for a car that Kelley Blue Book values at $27,459 in excellent condition.

Jones’ daughter Jan Duran found out about the deal and asked Mac Churchill to take it back, explaining that her father was recovering from a mild stroke.

Churchill refused.

Aided by Ron Burley, author of the AARP The Magazine’s watchdog column On Your Side, Duran and Jones appealed to American Honda Motor Co., which oversees Acura franchises. Acura Financial Services reversed the deal, and made the dealership send Jones a check for his down payment and the fair market value of his trade-in.

In response to the reversal, Churchill reportedly kicked a puppy and stole candy from a baby.

2 COMMENTS

  1. It is true they are into extreme tactics.I myself went in to refinance. they kept me there for over 6 hours.I finally signed papers on a new car I didnt want so i could go home.thinking Texas has a 3 day cool down law.Texas does not btw.I was there an hour and a half after they closed.Everytime I demanded to have my car back ..they just sent in a new sales person.Matter of fact they screwed over their own employee with my HHR.Gave me a trade in of 7 k for it turned around and sold it to him 3 days later for over 11k .if they can do that to their own employee an elderly gentleman or aperson with a medical issue such as myself doesnt stand a chance.I will never buy a car from them again..However that being said they do have the best aftercare service i have ever encountered.

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