A family is looking for answers after spending thousands of dollars on a used wheelchair-accessible van for their daughter that ended up bricking itself in their driveway soon after it was purchased. Now, the Geibel family says they’re stuck with an $11,000 repair bill on a Chrysler Town & Country they’ve barely used.
Lisa and Scott Geibel needed a wheelchair transport van to help their 33-year-old daughter, Catie, who is in stage 4 renal failure and in need of a kidney transplant. For her to get the transplant, she needs a special transport van, according to CBS News.
“After her transplant, she will now not be able to lift herself because the way the operation is done, they’re afraid it would mess up the viable organ they’re going to give her,” Lisa Geibel told CBS.
Obviously, they didn’t have a van, and the $90,000 price tag for a new wheelchair-accessible vehicle was too steep for them to pay, so they started looking for alternatives. That’s when the Pittsburgh-area family ended up at 1st Quality Auto Mall in Tallmadge, Ohio, speaking with Ranko Veslinovic, a man who deals in used transport vans.
This is where things really went downhill. He told them that for just $11,000 he could put them in a 2010 Chrysler Town & Country. Lisa told CBS News that both the outside and inside of the van “looked great.” They asked the dealership if they could put the van on a lift so they could check out underneath, but they were told there was already a vehicle on it, so it couldn’t be done. This turned out to be a huge red flag.
Here’s what happened next, according to CBS News:
The Geibels didn’t even make it home before the car broke down, and once they went to get it inspected in Pennsylvania, they found other issues.
“There’s a hole in the frame that’s filled with puddy. There are holes in the floor. There’s rust, it’s covered with black spray paint and tar and looks to be spray foam insulation,” Lisa Geibel.
The Geibels called 1st Quality Auto Mall, asking the dealership to fix the issues. The Geibels say their salesman, Veslinovic, told them all sales are final.
“It’s as is, and basically, he’s not doing anything,” Lisa Geibel said.
The family contacted the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General, who said it was an Ohio matter, and to call them. They told the Geibels they’d like to help, but Ohio legislation differs from Pennsylvania.
“Ohio has an as-is law that protects the dealer, not the consumer,” Lisa Geibel said.
KDKA – a CBS affiliate – reached out to Veslinovic. He told a reporter over the phone that the Geibels signed the paperwork, knew what they were buying (which they didn’t because it wasn’t put on a lift) and the dealership didn’t guarantee anything. Some folks are so horribly callous, man. He continued, “I was just here to sell the vehicle. We’re not Walmart. We don’t take returns.”
Right now, the Geibel family is out $11,000 and doesn’t have the van their daughter desperately needs to get her transplant. It’s an all-around horrible situation, but the family says they keep their heads down and “just keep going.”
“[Veslinovic’s] pretty much become a predator of people with disabilities at this point,” Lisa told CBS News.
