Around three years ago, we wrote an article about a group of four dealerships in Arizona and New Mexico who, along with the owner and his wife, were named in an FTC complaint alleging a range of illegal activities. The claims brought by the FTC included falsification of income on credit applications, inflation of downpayment, and various advertising violations. You can read more about these claims here.
Back in August 2020, the four corporate dealership defendants reached a settlement with the FTC wherein the defendants agreed to cease all business operations along with a monetary judgment of $7,203,227.
The FTC has announced that it recently reached a settlement with the owner and manager of the dealership defendants, Richard Berry. The proposed settlement prohibits Berry from misrepresenting information in documents associated with consumer purchases as well as costs or facts related to vehicle financing. Berry must also provide consumers with sufficient time to review financing documents and obtain copies thereof and prevents him from violating the Truth In Lending Act and the Consumer Leasing Act. Additionally, Berry would be required to pay a $450,000 payment to the FTC. The settlement is pending approval from the district court. You can read the full proposed settlement here as well as the FTC press release here.
Questions?
If you have any questions regarding this, or any other situation that may arise in your sales or service departments, hotline clients are invited to contact us at (800) 785-2880 (then press “4” for hotline) or hotline@autoadvisory.com.