First Lexus, now Chrysler

[bluefeather]

Just when you thought Amercia was moving forward, you hear of discrimination in something as simple as buying a car. A Lexus dealer here in Houston wanted to see a college degree before selling a Lexus to an African American couple a few years ago. Now Chrysler is being charged and sued for redlining.

Is this a sign that the economy is getting stronger when you can openly flaunt the laws and hand pick your customers? By kicking out whole dealerships, every customer to that dealership will get screwed. Think about this the next time you are NOT qualified for the advertised low APR.
This really chaps my hide!:mad:

[cheeseczar]

That place needs to be spanked, and spanked in a really bad way.
There is no excuse for that type of behavior.

[midtown]

Did the Houston dealer demand to see if you had a college degree from everyone, or just African Americans? If its everyone, they may have been able to justify it (statistically less likely to default on a loan?). I don't think being uneducated is a protected class, like race, creed, age, etc.

[bluefeather]

Originally posted by midtown
Did the Houston dealer demand to see if you had a college degree from everyone, or just African Americans? If its everyone, they may have been able to justify it (statistically less likely to default on a loan?). I don't think being uneducated is a protected class, like race, creed, age, etc.

He demanded to see it from the African American couple only. He was later fired after it was aired on the news.

Hmmmm...You actually think it is a valid request to see a college degree in order to purchase a car when you don't need one to buy a house?

There are many people in this country that never finished high school, but they own successful businesses. Asking all customers to show a degree would eliminate these customers.

By being "uneducated" (I'm guessing you mean without a college degree) many people are earning a living and paying for high ticket items. A Lexus or a Chrysler does not fit the bill here.
There is no excuse for it in my opinion.

[hdolan]

If these stories are true there are some really stupid people in the automobile business...

[CrewChief]

No excuse for them only asking for it from the African American couple. However some car companies give a rebate for college grads, right wrong or otherwise that would be a reason if they had asked all couples. In this case they have no excuse.

[IndyIRLman]

unbelievable :mad:

[dog-ring]

That's really stupid. I know that Ford gives an extra incentive to recent college grads. My daughter saved about 5% after she showed her degree.

[KnockOff]

Witness, "In shocking language cited in the complaint, a senior Chrysler official was quoted as saying, “…I don’t buy ****** paper,” referring to financing contracts brought to Chrysler from dealers."

"the same Chrysler official was quoted as saying, “I might buy some ******* [financing contracts] at a suburban store because at least they’re smart enough not to get shot while trying to buy a car in the ghetto,” in the complaint."

Jury: Yes, your honor, we've reached a verdict.

Judge: (reads verdict)
"Chrysler Financial, did you bring your checkbook?"

CF: "Yes, your honor, we did."

Judge, "How wide is the amount line and just how small can you write?"


Good grief, I worked in a bank 10 years buying car paper and to have even implied anything remotely resembling what's alleged to have been said would have been a death wish.

Someone needs to do federal jail time for stupidity.

[Hardscrabble]

Being that I know a bit about the situation with the Chrysler dealership in question, there is a lot more to this story than what the web site (looks like an attorney's web site to me) story is saying.

It would appear to me that the dealerships Finance person (who is not an employee of Chrysler) was trying to switch the customer from the special APR (which doesn't pay much) to another lending institution where a ton of profit could be made.

For what it's worth, the dealership in question has never had that great of a reputation.

Knowing the way that Chrysler's scoring system works, I think this would be a very hard case to prove as there will be records all over the place as to whether or not this guy was approved by Chrysler, for what amount, the reason for the turn-down, or if the credit application was ever even submitted to Chrysler.

Still, it will give Chrysler a black eye for a while and I'm sure they'll have to donate some $$$ to Jesse Jackson and Operation PUSH.

[KnockOff]

And as a seasoned Indirect Lender, it would appear to me that anyone actually saying what's alleged to have been said is an absolute dumbass, who deserves to be whipped in the front yard so the neighbors can watch.

[Hardscrabble]

KnockOff,

I agree with you on that. And if it was a Daimler-Chrysler employee that said that, then they'll have to pay.

But knowing what I do about the situation, I think it's a "let's go after the deep pockets" deal as opposed to going after those that were actually responsible for the dumb-a$$ remarks and are no longer around to cut a much smaller check.

Either way, whoever did make the remarks should be tied to a sour apple tree and left to rot.

[KnockOff]

Of course, I never knew a Finance Manager who let anything, be it race, gender, age, or nationality get in the way of loading the maximum profit on the backend of a car deal.

If a 40 year old, American, white, male would laydown for five points of rate, by gawd, he got that rate!

[Frank Capua]

One would think that Chrysler at this point would be willing to accept any attempt to buy one of their products...

Or is M-B just using Chrysler as their excuse for hard times.

[Racewriter]

Originally posted by KnockOff
Of course, I never knew a Finance Manager who let anything, be it race, gender, age, or nationality get in the way of loading the maximum profit on the backend of a car deal.

If a 40 year old, American, white, male would laydown for five points of rate, by gawd, he got that rate!

Ain't that the truth, KO? Heck, I started my career selling cars, and the only color I was concerned about was green. Today, with the increased level of technology (and the quicker turnaround time on credit approvals), it's even dumber for these nimrods to behave like that.

Incidentally, quick story: At the dealership where I worked (1989-1991), we used to get a lot of soldiers from a nearby Army fort. At that time, a soldier with a pay grade below E-5 couldn't get financed without an act of God. Being the new guy on the floor, guess who ended up talking to these soldiers, that couldn't buy a car.

Except for one thing: I quickly discovered that, while these guys might not come in with an ability to finance, they usually came in with a pocketful of cash - $2500 to $4000, for a down payment. Hey, no problemo! Forget that new Mustang, let's go look at what we've got on the back line of the used car lot! I ended up sending probably 50 of those guys a year back to Fort Riley in their inexpensive used cars, purchased entirely in cash. I'd also send them with about 20 cards. I remember one Saturday, I handled nothing but soldiers, and sold five cars. Made good cash.

These salesmen we're talking about must be a different breed - I was one greedy SOB.