New York: An Indian-American has sued a New Jersey car dealership for $1.26 million, alleging it refused to sell him a swanky Mercedes Benz because a manager thought he came from a “high-risk area” and he might ship the vehicle to the Taliban.
Surjeet Bassi, 50, claims the manager at Prestige Motors Inc. told him that he came from a “high-risk area” where people buy cars and export them to the Taliban. Bassi, who has lived in New Jersey for 30 years, said he told the manager he is Indian and not connected to the Islamic fundamentalist and terrorist organisation, NJ.com quoted the recent federal lawsuit as saying.
“Prestige Mercedes Benz values its relationships with customers and prospective customers,” spokeswoman Theresa V. Boylan said in a statement. “As a company, we do not condone discriminatory practices or conduct.”
Bassi said he wanted to trade his Mercedes-Benz ML350 for a newer model. He claims he spent several hours negotiating the price with a salesman, passed a credit check, charged $1,000 to his card for a down payment and called his insurance company to adjust his policy. But that was when a Prestige manager called Bassi into his office and said he couldn’t sell him the car and them explained why, Bassi told recordonline.com.
