Kasper Auto Group

On Aug. 27, 2015 my father, who is 90 (and a Veteran), took his 2007 Toyota RAV4 – which had only 46k miles and was PAID OFF – to Kasper Toyota in Sandusky, Ohio to have work done on recalls. Before he left, he was persuaded into signing a 3-year lease on a stripped-down 2015 RAV4. My father has macular degeneration and does not know if he will be driving in three months let alone three years. Also, my father had arranged for the 2007 vehicle to be “transferred on death” to my sister. The contract states that my father has the right to cancel the contract but Kasper Toyota is refusing to do so. They have since sold his car for $7,300 more than they gave him for it.

My father has told me that:
• while in line in the service department, he was approached by someone asking if he was interested in looking at cars.
• the salesperson, Susan Missig was very pushy. My father tried to get away from Susan by telling her that he needed to talk to his daughter before making a decision but she persisted in pushing him toward the sale.
• Susan immediately had my dad’s car taken somewhere “to be appraised” and he felt he was being held captive.
• he did NOT leave the dealership and come back to fill out paperwork (as the general manager claims); When he left the dealership, he had already been persuaded to sign a lease and left in the new car.
• he went back the next day and expressed his dissatisfaction with the new car and to ask for his 2007 car to be returned to him. Because Susan was off, he spoke to “the stocky guy who had done the paperwork” (Steve Donahue). Steve told him that the 2007 had been sold (although it was still sitting in the lot and listed for sale on line). My father felt that Steve gave him the brush-off.
• the 2015 RAV4 does not include all the features that were promised by the sales person. It is a stripped down model.

When I first spoke to Troy Maxwell, I told him that I thought my father had been taken advantage of and that he wanted his car back. Troy said that he (Troy) had “committed to having work done on the 2007 RAV4” (not that it had been sold). I asked what “committed to having work done” meant. He responded that some of the work had already been done. (Recall work?)

When I continued to insist that I see the video that supposedly shows my father coming back to the dealership to sign papers, Troy reacted in a very hostile manner. He raised his voice at me telling me that he expects me to make an apology to everyone involved at the dealership when I see on the video that my father had left and came back. I said I would not apologize for trying to protect my father. I also told him not to raise his voice at me. When Troy continued to raise his voice and try to talk over me, I told him that I was hanging up.

A half hour later Troy called me and proposed that I “put my money where my mouth is”. He proposed that I bring $250 to cover the cost of extracting the footage in question from the dealership’s security tapes. He said he would also bring $250. He told me that if the video shows my father leaving and coming back, “...you leave $250 lighter but with a shiny new DVD”. I don’t believe he even addressed what my father was going to get out of it. I refuse to play Troy’s unprofessional little reindeer games.

Troy went on to explain to me that, “by the way, high-pressure sales are not illegal...”.

In my opinion, this is what this issue comes down to:
A 90-year-old veteran with macular degeneration takes his car (which was paid off and has only 46k miles) to the dealership for repairs. He leaves with a 3-year lease on a new STRIPPED DOWN vehicle. No, he was not tied down and forced to sign. However, the dealership took advantage of him and sold him into something that was clearly in THEIR best interest, not his. This falls under the category of DECEPTIVE AND UNCONSCIONABLE BUSINESS PRACTICES. Furthermore, they are REFUSING TO HONOR THEIR OWN CONTRACT which states that the customer has a right to cancel the contract..

It seems clear that the ETHICAL and MORAL response would have been for the dealership to rescind the contract, return my father's car and lose the sale of one vehicle rather than lose far more sales as the result of truthful, widespread, and ongoing negative publicity. But they chose to play dirty.

Why Kasper? 10 Reasons to Choose Kasper 1.We are time tested. We are celebrating over 35 years of being family owned and operated since 1976. 2.We are large. We have 10 makes to choose from and are the leading source for used cars within 30 miles. In all we have over 1,000 cars, trucks, vans and SUV's on around 30 acres of land! 3.We are small. We believe that our customers are a non-renewable...