Car dealers taken for ride by woman, 75, officials say

Chicago tribune ^ | Mar. 24, 2004 | Jeff Long

[Rennes Templar]

White-haired Betty A. Gooch has hobbled into car dealerships across the Chicago area and chatted about her ailments with eager salesmen while admiring their shiny new vehicles, police and prosecutors said Tuesday. Each time, they said, the 75-year-old woman ended up writing a bad check for the full amount and driving home in a new car.

Gooch of Algonquin is charged with five felonies in two counties, accused of using bad checks to buy new vehicles, including a $36,000 Toyota Sienna and a $20,000 Toyota Matrix. But police say they believe Gooch has taken advantage of about a dozen car dealers in Cook, McHenry and Lake Counties in the last four years.

Police say Gooch, who walked with a cane and wheeled an oxygen cart, used her age and apparent frailty to defuse any suspicion. Typically, they said, she would negotiate a deal for a new car, then write a check and ask the dealership to hold on to it for a couple of days. She would say she needed to transfer money from her retirement account, police said.

After a check bounced, police said, Gooch would deliver another story.

[Rennes Templar]

Check fraud and old lace. Any salesmen missing? But it's amazing how many times she got away with it, and such large amounts. I bounced a small check once and had a SWAT team chasing me down.

[maro]

It's illegal, of course. But I hate new car salesmen. I'm sure she "paid" full price plus some unusual extra charges.

[martin_fierro]

Goo'cha!

[Darksheare]

Beware little old ladies...

Especially little old ladies that buy motorcycles.
(A pic of her riding the motorcycle would be worth a laugh..)

[HarleyD]

I wonder how many of these salesmen thought they were taking the grandmother for "a ride"?

[martin_fierro]

(A pic of her riding the motorcycle would be worth a laugh..)

We aim to please.

[BluH2o]

There's the old urban legend that still makes it way around dealership showrooms amongst salespeople ... it's about the little old lady with a shopping bag that visits a car dealership. The sales people ignore her and she practically has to tackle one in order to get any attention. She tells the individual she corrals that she wants to by a car and points out the automobile. The sales person is skeptical and asks how she plans to pay for it ... the elderly lady says cash. The dealership writes up the deal, and to the astonishment of all, the lady opens her shopping bag, full of money, and counts out the cash.

[Darksheare]

Thanks!
Couple years ago I had a musclecar come flying up on my tail, basically all over me for about three miles, before it finally passed.
(Olds 442...)
As it passed, the driver flipped me off!
The driver was a little old lady!

[J. Byron]

Interesting. I originally read this headline as: "Car dealers taking women for a ride." -- which is a more common crime.

[kjam22]

Yeah... I gotta give her an "A" for out conning the con guys.

[ChadsDad]

Not all dealers are cons.

[wrench]

These things really happen from time to time. It wasn't a little ol lady, but something similar.

A fellow in a beat up pickup pulls onto the lot and he and his wife start looking at new cars. They both looked like coal miners after a double shift, worn, dirty overhauls and greasy hair. The other salesmen ran, but I ended up talking to them.
Long story short, they decided on a shiny new car on the showroom floor for the little lady, and I sat them down and wrote it up, straight sale, no trade or financing. We decided on a price to take to the manager, and I asked him how he would like to pay....He pulled out a wad of bills that would have choked a horse. I bout choked, but the "little lady" drove her new car home just an hour later.

[JoeSixPack1]

Go Granny, Go Granny, Go Granny, Go !!

And this isn't even Pasadena!

Secondly, lock up the daughter that drove home the Harley and smack the salesman for selling one to an old lady in a wheelchair with a rolling oxygen bottle! Harley dealers are all piranhas. But I guess a check 'in hand' is worth more than a cheap excuse.

<|:-)~~

[goldstategop]

Who doesn't want to help Grandma? Even your hardened car salesman is a sucker for a lady with white hair and a cane.

[Lady Jag]

Not so bad as Grambo; at least your old lady wasn't armed.   How'd you like to have this running around?