Photo: Daimler AG
A 50-year-old man was reportedly refused a trade-in by a New Jersey dealership out of racist reasons, and he has decided to file a legal complaint.
Surjeet Bassi, an Indian national who lives in the USA, has sued a Mercedes-Benz dealer in New Jersey for $1.26 million over denial of service on racial discrimination. Bassi accuses the dealer of refusing to trade in a Mercedes-Benz ML350 in return for a newer model and a suitable difference.
The customer wanted a Mercedes-Benz GLS550, which had already been negotiated with sales personnel, complete with a $1,000 deposit. The Indian citizen had already updated his insurance policy to suit the new vehicle, but that was not enough for the dealership manager.
According to the complaint, the customer was told that he comes from a “high-risk area,” which buys cars and markets them “to the Taliban.” The Indian native runs a medical transport company and has never had any links to any terrorist organization.
Furthermore, Mr. Bassi has lived in the New Jersey area of three decades, but this did nothing to convince the dealer to approve the sale.
As if this story was not disturbingly racist, the legal counselor of Mr. Bassi also accused the same dealership of discrimination regarding a refusal to extend credit under the Federal Equal Credit Opportunity Act.
It is worth noting that the entire situation remained unchanged after the dealer’s manager searched Mr. Bassi’s name, telephone, and address against a federal database of people banned from exporting from the USA. The Times Herald-Record has performed the same search, and found nothing related to Mr. Bassi.
The only excuse found by the New Jersey Mercedes-Benz dealer called Prestige Motors (2013 DealerRater Mercedes-Benz Dealer of the Year) to refuse the sale was linked to a suspicion regarding the potential resale of the vehicle to other markets.
The described situation has happened in other markets, and company dealers want to be sure nobody exports Mercedes-Benz cars to the Middle East or China except the mother company.
Equivalent models were purchased at a premium from the gray market by customers in the two countries so that they would skip the usual waiting lists brought by limited inventory.
Mr. Bassi had also offered to sign a waiver, which he had done before and prevented the export of the vehicle for three years, but was allegedly refused by the manager of Premium Motors.
The customer wanted a Mercedes-Benz GLS550, which had already been negotiated with sales personnel, complete with a $1,000 deposit. The Indian citizen had already updated his insurance policy to suit the new vehicle, but that was not enough for the dealership manager.
According to the complaint, the customer was told that he comes from a “high-risk area,” which buys cars and markets them “to the Taliban.” The Indian native runs a medical transport company and has never had any links to any terrorist organization.
Furthermore, Mr. Bassi has lived in the New Jersey area of three decades, but this did nothing to convince the dealer to approve the sale.
As if this story was not disturbingly racist, the legal counselor of Mr. Bassi also accused the same dealership of discrimination regarding a refusal to extend credit under the Federal Equal Credit Opportunity Act.
It is worth noting that the entire situation remained unchanged after the dealer’s manager searched Mr. Bassi’s name, telephone, and address against a federal database of people banned from exporting from the USA. The Times Herald-Record has performed the same search, and found nothing related to Mr. Bassi.
The only excuse found by the New Jersey Mercedes-Benz dealer called Prestige Motors (2013 DealerRater Mercedes-Benz Dealer of the Year) to refuse the sale was linked to a suspicion regarding the potential resale of the vehicle to other markets.
The described situation has happened in other markets, and company dealers want to be sure nobody exports Mercedes-Benz cars to the Middle East or China except the mother company.
Equivalent models were purchased at a premium from the gray market by customers in the two countries so that they would skip the usual waiting lists brought by limited inventory.
Mr. Bassi had also offered to sign a waiver, which he had done before and prevented the export of the vehicle for three years, but was allegedly refused by the manager of Premium Motors.
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