Local story. The dealer in question is actually my employer.
http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/...mom-to-action/
CLIFFS: 33-year old woman suffers severe brain damage after wreck, leaving her mentally "diminished" and with a multi-million dollar sum. Totals 2 more vehicles. Taxi's to dealer to buy a $50k truck with no insurance or license. Dealer makes the deal and said woman's mother wants to sue the dealer.
Ive worked here about 18 months and although i do know the owner and most of the sales people, how we/they do business, i dont know. Im back in the Service Dept.
Trying to be as unbiased as possible, i dont think we, the dealer, are at fault. Not only is this woman 33-years old, but if she's incapable of making such decisions, her mother should either have a better eye on her or the woman should be institutionalized. It's not our, or anyone's job to do a mental test on someone when they come into a place of business. Granted she came in a taxi, but i assure you, non of the sales people knew that. And people come to dealerships in taxis all the time. They dont have a car, how else are they gonna get around?
If anyone is to blame, i believe it is the trust officer. A woman, that you know is of questionable mental capability, comes to you and asks for $50k to buy a new vehicle, and you just hand it over?? Im willing to bet he knew of her previous accidents as well.
Discuss.
http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/...mom-to-action/
Being a parent is tough. Being a parent of a daughter with a diminished mental capacity who has access to a multimillion-dollar trust account can be even tougher.
That dynamic is fueling a face-off between mother and daughter Sue and Jamie Ragan and local car dealership Bob McCosh Chevrolet.
Sue Ragan says when her daughter took a taxicab to the dealership last week and purchased a new $49,000 Chevy Silverado, the dealer should have known better than to make the sale. The dealer, she says, should have called a parent before accepting the cash purchase from the woman who, as a result of a traumatic brain injury, has diminished comprehension and math skills.
McCosh says Jamie Ragan, 33, is in charge of her own trust and made extensive arrangements to buy the truck, including securing the approval of a trust officer and board. He says Jamie has purchased vehicles from his dealership in the past without any problems. “It’s not like she came here at 2 o’clock on a Thursday and said, ‘I want that silver truck sitting outside at your door’ and brought it back Friday and said, ‘I changed my mind,’ ” McCosh said. “This is something that was over a 30-day period of time.”
McCosh sees no reason to rescind the sale but will, if asked by Jamie, attempt to resell the vehicle on consignment. Sue Ragan is planning a lawsuit.
The back story is this: In 1998, Jamie Ragan was a student at the University of Missouri doing a summer internship at a horse farm in Texas. Driving home one day, she was hit head-on by a worker for the U.S. Census Bureau. Her car was flattened, and the other driver was killed.
Jamie suffered major brain trauma and spent six months in the hospital. She had to relearn to walk and talk and continues to have paralysis on her right side.
“It was like a computer chip that had been wiped clean,” Sue Ragan said. “And we had to reprogram everything.”
The once-independent woman was declared permanently disabled and moved back home with her mom. In 2002, she reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with the government and receives a sizable monthly stipend from a trust account supervised by a trust officer and a board at a Texas bank. For large purchases, she needs approval from the board.
But the road to recovery has been rocky for Jamie. In recent years, she has felt isolated and friendless. She began drinking by herself at local watering holes, and in 2008, after a night of drinking, she was involved in a single-vehicle accident on Highway 124 that totaled her car. Under the orders of her mother, she didn’t drive again for a year. Then, several months ago, she totaled another car after running a stop sign. Alcohol was not involved in the crash.
Sue Ragan told her daughter to forget about driving until at least the spring. She wanted Jamie re-evaluated by neuroscience specialists to make sure she was mentally capable of driving. In the meantime, Jamie’s driver’s license and insurance were voided, and she rode the paratransit bus. Mostly, she just sat at home.
But Jamie wanted to drive again. Without telling her mother, she contacted McCosh and her trust officer in January to arrange the purchase of the Silverado. The top-of-the-line pickup truck she ordered had to be hauled in by trailer from another dealership at a significant cost to McCosh.
She picked it up last Thursday and drove it home despite having no insurance and no valid license. When Sue Ragan discovered the purchase, she was furious.
“Her mother came in and was very rude and very accusational and very inappropriate,” McCosh recalled. “She was accusing us of being dishonest and mistreating her daughter in her mental capacity. But Jamie is an adult, and Jamie has full right over her trust.”
Sue Ragan insists the dealer is acting more naive than he really is. “Wouldn’t you think as a car dealer it would be kind of odd if someone showed up at your doorstep in a taxi with handicapped issues and nobody with them and asked you to sell them a” $49,000 “car?” Ragan said. “Wouldn’t you at least make a phone call before you made that deal?”
Ragan pointed to a similar time when a Mary Kay cosmetics dealer sold Jamie 30 sticks of the same shade of lipstick for more than $300. “People take advantage of her,” Sue said.
But it also is possible that Sue is a bit too hard on her daughter. During my interview with the two women, Sue Ragan repeatedly described her daughter as having a child-like mind and acting like “a defiant teenager.”
Jamie, who speaks cautiously and after long pauses, agreed that she had acted badly in this case. Sue, however, persisted, hectoring her daughter to “tell T.J. the real reason you got this vehicle.”
“Just let me talk,” said a visibly embarrassed Jamie. “You get to talk all the time.”
After pausing for about 20 seconds, Jamie said she bought the truck, in part, to impress her boyfriend, who works as a trucker.
“That is typically something a 16- or 17-year-old would do,” Sue Ragan said. “Not a 33-year-old.”
By the end of our conversation, a browbeaten Jamie told me she realizes she needs someone to control her finances. She knows she sometimes makes bad, impulsive decisions with money and needs someone to act in the role of legal guardian or conservator. She is happy to give up control to someone more responsible, she said — she just doesn’t want that someone to be her mom.
That dynamic is fueling a face-off between mother and daughter Sue and Jamie Ragan and local car dealership Bob McCosh Chevrolet.
Sue Ragan says when her daughter took a taxicab to the dealership last week and purchased a new $49,000 Chevy Silverado, the dealer should have known better than to make the sale. The dealer, she says, should have called a parent before accepting the cash purchase from the woman who, as a result of a traumatic brain injury, has diminished comprehension and math skills.
McCosh says Jamie Ragan, 33, is in charge of her own trust and made extensive arrangements to buy the truck, including securing the approval of a trust officer and board. He says Jamie has purchased vehicles from his dealership in the past without any problems. “It’s not like she came here at 2 o’clock on a Thursday and said, ‘I want that silver truck sitting outside at your door’ and brought it back Friday and said, ‘I changed my mind,’ ” McCosh said. “This is something that was over a 30-day period of time.”
McCosh sees no reason to rescind the sale but will, if asked by Jamie, attempt to resell the vehicle on consignment. Sue Ragan is planning a lawsuit.
The back story is this: In 1998, Jamie Ragan was a student at the University of Missouri doing a summer internship at a horse farm in Texas. Driving home one day, she was hit head-on by a worker for the U.S. Census Bureau. Her car was flattened, and the other driver was killed.
Jamie suffered major brain trauma and spent six months in the hospital. She had to relearn to walk and talk and continues to have paralysis on her right side.
“It was like a computer chip that had been wiped clean,” Sue Ragan said. “And we had to reprogram everything.”
The once-independent woman was declared permanently disabled and moved back home with her mom. In 2002, she reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with the government and receives a sizable monthly stipend from a trust account supervised by a trust officer and a board at a Texas bank. For large purchases, she needs approval from the board.
But the road to recovery has been rocky for Jamie. In recent years, she has felt isolated and friendless. She began drinking by herself at local watering holes, and in 2008, after a night of drinking, she was involved in a single-vehicle accident on Highway 124 that totaled her car. Under the orders of her mother, she didn’t drive again for a year. Then, several months ago, she totaled another car after running a stop sign. Alcohol was not involved in the crash.
Sue Ragan told her daughter to forget about driving until at least the spring. She wanted Jamie re-evaluated by neuroscience specialists to make sure she was mentally capable of driving. In the meantime, Jamie’s driver’s license and insurance were voided, and she rode the paratransit bus. Mostly, she just sat at home.
But Jamie wanted to drive again. Without telling her mother, she contacted McCosh and her trust officer in January to arrange the purchase of the Silverado. The top-of-the-line pickup truck she ordered had to be hauled in by trailer from another dealership at a significant cost to McCosh.
She picked it up last Thursday and drove it home despite having no insurance and no valid license. When Sue Ragan discovered the purchase, she was furious.
“Her mother came in and was very rude and very accusational and very inappropriate,” McCosh recalled. “She was accusing us of being dishonest and mistreating her daughter in her mental capacity. But Jamie is an adult, and Jamie has full right over her trust.”
Sue Ragan insists the dealer is acting more naive than he really is. “Wouldn’t you think as a car dealer it would be kind of odd if someone showed up at your doorstep in a taxi with handicapped issues and nobody with them and asked you to sell them a” $49,000 “car?” Ragan said. “Wouldn’t you at least make a phone call before you made that deal?”
Ragan pointed to a similar time when a Mary Kay cosmetics dealer sold Jamie 30 sticks of the same shade of lipstick for more than $300. “People take advantage of her,” Sue said.
But it also is possible that Sue is a bit too hard on her daughter. During my interview with the two women, Sue Ragan repeatedly described her daughter as having a child-like mind and acting like “a defiant teenager.”
Jamie, who speaks cautiously and after long pauses, agreed that she had acted badly in this case. Sue, however, persisted, hectoring her daughter to “tell T.J. the real reason you got this vehicle.”
“Just let me talk,” said a visibly embarrassed Jamie. “You get to talk all the time.”
After pausing for about 20 seconds, Jamie said she bought the truck, in part, to impress her boyfriend, who works as a trucker.
“That is typically something a 16- or 17-year-old would do,” Sue Ragan said. “Not a 33-year-old.”
By the end of our conversation, a browbeaten Jamie told me she realizes she needs someone to control her finances. She knows she sometimes makes bad, impulsive decisions with money and needs someone to act in the role of legal guardian or conservator. She is happy to give up control to someone more responsible, she said — she just doesn’t want that someone to be her mom.
Ive worked here about 18 months and although i do know the owner and most of the sales people, how we/they do business, i dont know. Im back in the Service Dept.
Trying to be as unbiased as possible, i dont think we, the dealer, are at fault. Not only is this woman 33-years old, but if she's incapable of making such decisions, her mother should either have a better eye on her or the woman should be institutionalized. It's not our, or anyone's job to do a mental test on someone when they come into a place of business. Granted she came in a taxi, but i assure you, non of the sales people knew that. And people come to dealerships in taxis all the time. They dont have a car, how else are they gonna get around?
If anyone is to blame, i believe it is the trust officer. A woman, that you know is of questionable mental capability, comes to you and asks for $50k to buy a new vehicle, and you just hand it over?? Im willing to bet he knew of her previous accidents as well.
Discuss.
.
Comment