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Dealership sold car to father just before Alzheimer diagnosis

dbeswe01
dbeswe01 Member Posts: 1 Member
in Caring for a Parent
He lived a couple hours away when this occurred, we were still working towards an understanding on what was causing the repetition in conversation. At the same time he had been making his rounds around a few dealerships, picked out a blazer at one to purchase and showed up at a Hyundai dealer with that blazer flyer only for the Hyundai dealer to help him complete an application for a vehicle he never sat in. Attempted to get them to rescind the contract when we found out (before the car was picked up) and they refused. Shortly after he was taken to the hospital and diagnosed with Alzheimer's, I had thought I would then be able to return the car since the diagnosis meant his POA was in effect but the dealership is now requiring a nice chunk of money in order for the car to be returned. Can they really get away with this or is this reportable?

Comments

  • H1235
    H1235 Member Posts: 1,355
    500 Likes 1000 Comments 250 Care Reactions 250 Insightfuls Reactions
    Member

    Welcome. It’s my understanding that even if the DPOA is in effect the person still has a legal right to make decisions for themselves. The DPOA just allows someone else to make decisions as well. Even if that is true it does on the surface seem very unethical of this car dealership. On the flip side to that, how is the car dealership to know he was not capable of making this kind of decision? I assume you didn’t know how bad his issues were, how was the dealership supposed to know. Buying a new car without a test drive does seem unusual, they may have assumed he did a test drive an another dealership, or had driven a friends. You might want to talk with a lawyer.

  • ARIL
    ARIL Member Posts: 264
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    Member

    My understanding of the DPOA is the same as the previous commenter’s: the presence of a DPOA does not prevent the principal person from acting independently. So the contract was likely legal. But talking to a lawyer might be helpful, perhaps in negotiating reduced costs—especially if the car was never picked up. This sounds unfortunate but not necessarily nefarious.

    BTW, I did not do a test drive of the last car I bought; I had driven the same model in another color at a different dealership. So that fact alone isn’t that odd.

Commonly Used Abbreviations


DH = Dear Husband
DW= Dear Wife, Darling Wife
LO = Loved One
ES = Early Stage
EO = Early Onset
FTD = Frontotemporal Dementia
VD = Vascular Dementia
MC = Memory Care
AL = Assisted Living
POA = Power of Attorney
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