A Canadian dealership allegedly conned a mentally disabled woman into paying $63,000 for an ex-demo Mazda6. Worse, she’d only gone to the dealership to get overcharged for a new set of tires.



Madeline Leonard, who suffers from an unnamed mental disability, visited Mazda of Orangeville to have new tires put on her 2004 Mazda3. By the time she left, she’d purchased a 3,700-mile, ex-demo Mazda6 for about 6,000 Canadian Loonies more than the sticker price of a new one. The ever-helpful salesman also threw in every package in the book, charging up to three times their book value for things like window etching and undercoating. All that meant Madeline paid roughly 25,000 Loonies ($24,000) more than she should have. Madeline lives on a $1,900-a-month government subsidy.


Despite falling for the con, it was Madeline that noticed lower sticker prices at other dealers in town and notified authorities. The dealership now faces a maximum fine of $240,000 and the two salesmen involved could face fines of $95,000 a piece.

“We didn’t do anything wrong in the case of this transaction,” said the dealer’s business manager. “We made a little bit of money on the deal. I guess she was not happy with it.” [via TheStar]