Need advice..off topic

So my 93 year old uncle passed away 3 weeks ago and left everything to my 60 year old cousin who is semi-mentally challenged. One thing that was left was a 1988 Jeep Wrangler Sahara edition with the winch and every option, 20,000 original miles, always garaged and hardly driven as evident by the mileage. There was also another Jeep in the same condition but not the Sahara edition. She called a local car dealership to come give her an appraisal so that she could sell them to make some money to cover the expenses that have occured since his death. They appraised the Sahara at $3500 which to her, sounded right because she is mentally challenged and knows nothing about cars. She sold it to them and they turned around the same day and put it on their lot for $12,999. They told her the other Jeep didnt run so it was only worth $150.00 and she believed them and sold that to them as well.

My question is: is there anything that can be done to the dealership for knowingly ripping off a mentally challenged woman? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Jason

 

google legal help

 

I plan to, just figured someone on here may have had a similar issue at one time or another.

 

trying to sell a '88 wrangler for 12,999$, who's the mentally challenged one?

 

Sometimes just a letter from a lawyer threatening to take legal action makes a company do the right thing.See a lawyer. They usually will talk to you first for free.

 

I think it is a done deal. If she is over 21 and the Jeeps were in her name, she had every right to sell them and they had every right to buy them. If they made a good deal that is what car dealers do, buy low sell high. The dealer really could say he had no way of knowing she was not 100% .

It is really a shame and I feel for her, but there are different levels of retardation and it sounds like she is just mildly challenged, enough to be able to contact a dealer and negotiate the sale. If she is that challenged someone in the family should have been overseeing all of this.

One thing that strikes me is, are 1988 Jeeps even worth more than the $ 3500 she got? They might have it priced at $ 12K but would you pay that for a Jeep that old? A car that old with only 20,000 miles is going to need work, just from time and the elements, unless it was sealed in a vacuum. The dealer probably had to put some money into them.

Don

 

Yea get her on the local news station with her story. They didn't rip here off they probably gave her book value on it. Buit they NADA doesn't have a place for low mileage jeeps. Never underestimate the power of the media.

Other than that your other option is to call an attorney and see what he or she has to say about it.

 

My grand parents build a house in branson mo. in the early 70's right on the water, grandpa passed in 1974, and my dad told my grandmother, when she was ready he would buy the house from her. About 2 weeks later, she called Dad and said she sold the house, some guy had seen the obituary, offered her a third of what the place was worth and she sold it. Dad tried to take the guy to court, couldn't do it!

 

Really? That is a low joke.

You could try and get some past history and if you can find a second account of this happening, you could possibly legally go after the dealership. If you can't legally persue them, you could go after their better buisness licsence if they have one or you could discredit them to local 4x4 guys and Jeep guys. If there is more than one Jeep dealership where you live, try and direct flow to the other one.

 

I as well find it hard to belive it would sell for $12,999. I don't know Jeeps...maybe a '88 in mint shape is a collector car but I doubt it.
I suppose if it sells for that price you can get a lawyer and try and get some money back, but remember the lawyer will bill you for his time!

 

How badly challenged? If the person doing the selling was sufficiently challenged that this fact should have been evident to the buyer then the transaction is voidable. A person who is not mentally responsible cannot legally transfer ownership of property.
A letter from an attorney to the dealership will likely be enough to take care of the problem. Car dealers don't like legal problems.

 

My great aunt had a 1948 Pontiac, one owner car. She gave it to another relative because Sears stopped carrying the battery for the thing. The relative drove the car to the lake to fish. Idiot left the car out of gear and the car rolled into the lake.
I was pissed!
That car had more stainless than an operating room!

 

I don't doubt that she could have gotton more for it if she had sold it herself. there are people that will give high bucks for stuf that they think is collectable or low mileage or both. But she would have had to wade through the tire kickersand, the low ballers, and etc to get it. I do think that 12K is a little high but I really don't want a late model jeep real bad, someone else may want one real bad.

 

How much would You have paid?

 

She is challenged enough that she really has no idea of reality. For example, my dad and me went there to help haul some scrap metal to the scrap yard to make her a couple bucks. She ended up making $400 give or take a few. Well, she tried giving us $280 of that because she felt that was a fair going rate for 2 hours of work. Needless to say we made her put it away and she couldnt figure out why we wouldnt take it. She is super trusting because in her mind, there are no bad guys and everyone is out to help her. Its really sad to see someone like that and that is the reason my dad has been helping sell stuff for her. Just happens she decided to sell off the Jeeps before he had a chance to go back and help some more.

 

Im no lawyer so bear with me, but if you were the lawyer who drew up your grandpas will, would you have let him leave everything to an unfit woman? I have a feeling that if your cousin is well enough to be on her own and take care of herslef unassisted, that she doesn't have much recourse.

Of course we don't know her situation so that is an assumption, but you made no mention of her having help or a caretaker of some sort.

 

If she's legally handicapped for mental reasons yes there are things to be done but you'll need a lawyer. If she's just slow and just don't know better, not much can be done.

 

It's seems like a conflict of interest to be the one hired to appraise the vehicle and then be the one to buy it......

 

Where were you when she needed you? How big a surprise was it that a 93 year old man died?

You, and other relatives and friends should have been taking steps to see this kind of thing did not happen years ago. Now it may or may not be too late to do anything about the cars but you should look into doing something for the future. I can't say exactly what as I do not know the circumstances. All I can say is my mother was in a similar situation (Alzheimers) and it was quite a fight to save her from being ripped off and railroaded into an institution by greedy relatives. But I managed to keep her in her own home as long as possible, and see got proper care by rallying the good relatives and taking steps BEFORE it was too late.

If you care for your cousin you need to do something now.

 

In my mother's case one of the people selling her down the river was her lawyer of 20 years. I asked him if he wasn't supposed to be representing her interests, he said he didn't represent anybody's interests. But I think he was representing his own interests, a little bit.

 

All I'm seeing is sour grapes here. If she's an adult that could legally sell what was left to her, that's her buisness. No matter how intelligent she is. Her intelligence obviously wasn't a concern of the man who passed, or he should have set up a trust to trickle the money out to her care. What's done is done.

 

Dealership did the same to me when I sold my '69 Javelin SST but they didn't ask if I was mentally handicapped or not.

 

Bad situation,but if she is deemed competent to handle her own affairs a lawyer will tell you there is nothing you can do. Sounds like you should have been around alittle more before your Uncle passed away. Sorry about the passing of your Uncle,but as you said she called the car lot for appraisal,they were doing just what all car dealers do,make as much money as possible on every deal. Move on and be there next time to help her.

 

Wow....what's with everyone trying to make it seem like it is his fault?

 

I'd say it's more the uncle's fault if she truly is not mentally capable of managing money, but the discression is legally hers no matter how much money she makes or loses.
If my uncle left his son his estate, my cousin was legally mentally capable of recieving the estate, and he blew it, I don't think that would be any of my buisness legally.

 

Contact the consumer affairs reporter with a local TV station and tell them the story. If they think it's newsworthy let them run a story on it. If not let it go. Good luck....

 

??? wtf?

 

i paid over 12K for my '86 CJ7 and that thing sure is purty. It's not stock...its restored, lifted, etc. I'd get a lawyer and threaten legal action and if that didnt work i'd go down there and have some words.

 

who cars the piece of shit is 24 years old, shes lucky she got 3500

 

Well my dad just got off the phone with the lawyer handling the estate. Neither Jeep was in her name and the estate has not been finalized yet so they basically falsified the title transfer with my dead uncles name.