Business Law Writting - Kim Woods

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By Bob Dyer Beacon Journal columnist

Published: August 7, 2011 - 12:45 AM

On a humid, 86-degree afternoon in Kent, the old man shuffles tentatively across the yard toward his daughter’s house.

He is wearing long pants and a long-sleeve shirt. His right foot is splayed outward at a 45-degree angle.

As he approaches and reaches out to greet a visitor, his right hand shakes violently, as if he is trying to shoo away a swarm of horseflies.

It is not the least bit surprising that the man’s age precisely matches the outdoor temperature. It is more than a bit surprising that he has just purchased a jet-black Porsche convertible with a manual, six-speed transmission.

He can’t really drive it. Heck, when the top is up, he can barely climb into it.

So what is it doing in the family’s garage? He says a Kent car salesman convinced him that this would be a perfect everyday car for him.

Arthur Krause is a bit fuzzy on some of the minor details of his recent transaction, because he suffers from short-term memory lapses. But he insists he remembers the basics.

It was June 28 when he took his 12-month-old pickup truck in for an oil change. He made the appointment at Don Joseph Toyota/Scion because that’s where he bought the truck and that’s where his family has bought any number of other vehicles over the years.

As Krause waited for the mechanic to change his oil, he killed time by wandering into the parts department, then into the showroom.

In the indoor delivery area, he spotted the shiny 2004 Boxster S, which had just been traded in. He was surprised the price was only $24,000.

He hooked up with salesman Al Struharik and soon they were taking a test drive, with Struharik behind the wheel. When they reached a quiet neighborhood, they switched places.

Krause could barely get in. After knee-replacement surgery, bursitis in his hip and a broken femur he suffered awhile back in a traffic accident, he doesn’t exactly move like a ballerina.

Once he finally settled into the driver’s seat, he couldn’t fit his left shoe — size 12, with a one-inch lift to compensate for an uneven leg — on the brake pedal.

Krause says the salesman offered a solution: just take off the shoe.

Wearing only his socks, his foot fit on the pedal. But it tended to slip off because the pedal is metal. Krause says the ever-helpful salesman had a solution for that, too: just buy rubber-soled slippers.

So the octogenarian took a short drive. He says he struggled to shift into the proper gears, particularly reverse.

But the car sure looked nice.

Back at the dealership, they struck a deal. Between trading in his not-yet-paid-for pickup, buying the Porsche and agreeing to a two-year, $4,000 service contract, Krause was on the hook for $29,506.

Later that day, he struggled again, at one point stalling on a busy Kent highway. He initially couldn’t remember that he had to engage the emergency brake to restart the engine, so he sat there for a time, blocking two lanes, horns honking all

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around him.

Highly distraught, he eventually made it to his daughter’s house. She, predictably, was appalled.

Because the deal had been made only hours earlier, they figured they could undo it. But when they returned to the dealership, Krause says, his new buddy Al “didn’t want to have much to do with me, and I didn’t want to create a scene.”

So his daughter drove them home and picked up the phone. They were told nothing could be done until the following week, because both the manager and the manager’s supervisor were out of town.

Later, after a series of conversations over several days, eventually involving lawyers on both sides, Krause says he was informed he could undo the deal for a mere $10,000, which would cover the sales tax and the dealer’s profit.

After more conversations, the amount was reduced to $5,004, which supposedly would cover the sales tax and a commission of $2,900.

Krause and his lawyer think that’s ridiculous.

They’re not alone.

General Sales Manager Jessica Joseph confirms the amount of both offers. When asked about the seemingly astronomical $2,900 sales commission, she says the amount is deceiving because it is split between the salesman and the sales manager.

“Al spent all of his time, all day, with this customer and sold him a vehicle that he wanted,” she says.

Joseph insists that Krause was the aggressor, repeatedly telling employees how much he loved the car and how he has always wanted a Porsche.

“We’re here to sell cars,” she says, noting that the dealership would encounter potential legal trouble if it refused to sell a vehicle to a person based on his age.

Joseph says Krause is simply suffering from a case of “buyer’s remorse.” She points out that vehicle sales do not qualify for the Federal Trade Commission’s three-day “cooling-off period,” and says a sale can’t be undone without significant complications.

Joseph says the dealership has been in business for 47 years and ranks in the top 6 percent among Toyota dealers nationally for customer satisfaction.

“We don’t take advantage of people,” she says.

Joseph says Krause’s story keeps changing. When he first talked to her, she says, he said the salesman was trying to talk him out of buying the car — which is, of course, the polar opposite of what he says now.

We would love to have heard what the salesman has to say, in view of the fact he was the only other person who was actually there. But when I reached him by phone, Struharik said he was ordered not to talk.

Meanwhile, the Boxster sits in the Krause garage, covered, with only 31 more miles on it than it had the day he drove it from the lot.

What was he thinking?

He ponders the question for a long, long time.

“I can’t tell you,” he finally says. But then he does.

“I thought, ‘Boy, that’s a nice car.’ I just lost my head.”

Bob Dyer can be reached at 330-996-3580 or [email protected].

Find this article at: http://www.ohio.com/news/local/bob-dyer-in-for-an-oil-change-out-with-a-porsche-1.228645

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