An Arizona dealership group is out millions of dollars over what sadly has nearly become normal dealer activity. The dealer is accused of fraud, misleading advertising and worse, being racist.
Phoenix’s NBC 12 reports that after an investigation by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and the FTC over what the AG’s office is calling “predatory behavior,” Coulter Motor Company agreed to pay a settlement of over $2 million to customers, though it denies the claims:
According to a complaint filed Thursday, Mayes and the FTC alleged wrongdoing by Coulter at two of the company’s locations: Coulter Cadillac Tempe and Tempe Buick GMC. The claim alleges the company violated laws regarding consumer rights and fraud. Coulter Operations Director Lindsey Coulter says the dealership agreed to the court order to avoid the potential of years of litigation. “We respectfully deny all allegations from the FTC,” Coulter said.
The allegations denied by Coulter are pretty broad; double charging for add ons, advertising fake, low prices online to get people into the dealer, charging customers extra fees for add ons they never wanted and, worse yet, charging Latino customers “nearly $1,200 more in “interest and add-on charges” compared to their non-Latino White counterparts.”
The fraud was so normalized at the dealer that the complaint against it says the behavior was no secret; the dealer’s general manager was aware of customer complaints about the behavior. Now, the dealer group and one of those general managers will be out $2.6 million. NBC 12 says that in addition to the millions paid back to customers, the dealer also has to implement changes that should have been how they were doing business in the first place.
The settlement requires Coulter to implement a fair lending program, appoint a fair lending officer, conduct employee training, and implement new policies for charging fees and markups.
AG Mayes said the dealer’s practices were unacceptable. “We stand behind doing things the right way, as always we will continue doing that,” she said.