From www.6abc.com

by Matt Dennis and Bob Monek

January 10, 2007 — Two local auto-dealerships have agreed to pay 250-thousand dollars for deceptive advertising and other illegal practices. The settlement is the result of a civil lawsuit filed by the Pennsylvania Attorney General against Value Kia on Essington Avenue in

Southwest Philadelphia and the Value Kia on East Lincoln Highway in Coatesville.

Investigators said the dealerships made false promises to entice customers. Attorney General Tom Corbett said the ads included claims such as

“Free Vehicle with any vehicle purchase”
“Up to $12,000 off new cars”
“YOU CHOOSE! $1,500 cash with any vehicle purchase or 60″ color projection television just $1 with any vehicle purchase.”

Other ads offered consumers a five carat diamond tennis bracelet, up to 60% off new cars, and free gas for one-full-year with every new and used vehicle sold.

“These ads were designed to lure prospective car buyers to their showrooms with promises of great deals and prizes, however the defendants failed to make good on many of the sales incentives,” Corbett said. “Consumers arrived at the dealerships expecting to receive the free gifts or deals only to be told that they had to meet a host of conditions to qualify for the offers. Very rarely, if ever, were car buyers able to meet all or even some of the conditions to purchase the cars and trucks as advertised. In fact, some of the rebates that the defendants combined to reach the advertised price were neutrally exclusive, such as ‘buyer loyalty’ (second-time KIA buyer) and ‘first-time buyer’.”

The lawsuit also said the dealerships sold defective cars and did not pay off balances on trade-ins.

Anyone who thinks they may be owed money by the dealerships must contact the Attorney General’s Bureau of Consumer Protection within the next 60 days. The number is 1-888-441-2555. You can also file a complaint online at www.attorneygeneral.gov. Consumers must contact the Bureau of Consumer Protection and file a claim for restitution by Friday, March 7, 2008.

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Former football star Brad Benson is known for his light-hearted radio and television commercials, however he may have gotten a bit more publicity than he bargained for when his dealership was featured last night on the ABC program “I-Caught.” You can watch the video from YouTube here:

The video does not tell the whole story. A daughter enters Brad Benson Hyundai and returns her mother’s car, citing the fact that the dealership changed the interest rate and caused her mother significant aggravation. As she is leaving the dealership, she warns prospective customers. She records the transaction as proof that they did return the car. The salesman seems caught offguard and completely uninformed about the situation, essentially looking like a deer in headlights. She submits the video to a wonderful website, the consumerist (I love their tag-line: Shoppers Bite Back) and the story caught the attention of ABC producers.

Not one to back down from a fight (He once challenged Rosie O’ Donnell to a mud wrestling fight in one of his ads), Mr. Benson put up his own well-produced video rebuttal:

In his video, he gives a whole other side to this story. Essentially, he is leaving it to the public to serve as judge and jury and judging from the comments, it appears most YouTube viewers are siding with the protective daughter.

While it would be difficult to put together the pieces of this puzzle without reviewing the paperwork, there are a few rules of thumb everyone needs to be made aware of:

1) Once you have a signed sales contract, it is binding and both parties must uphold the terms of the contract. That means that if the dealer guarantees a certain interest rate, they must secure the financing. It also means that customer must agree to buy or lease the car at the stated cost and interest rate.

2) It is therefore imperative that before you sign on the dotted line, you read through the terms of the contract and make sure you understand them. If you have questions, ask! Do not put down false information about yourself, even if the dealer encourages it. If you have to be dishonest to get a certain deal, it is not worth it and we have seen scenarios where dealers use this to pull the rug out from some customers.

3) If you have a signed retail sales agreement, and the dealer calls you to tell you that they can’t secure financing and you have to resign the contract for a higher interest rate/and or cost OR you need a co-signer, STOP! You could be the victim of a dealer fraud scam known as SPOT DELIVERY WITH YO-YO. It is illegal for a dealer to repossess a car if there is a binding sales agreement If you find yourself in this situation, contact us.

4) On the other side of the coin, you can not just return a car. A car is not a shirt or a book. Once you sign a binding agreement, you are responsible for upholding the terms of that agreement. If you sign a blank contract, you are essentially singing a blank check. Your signature is your most valuable possession. Use it wisely. If your car is giving you troubles, contact us or another consumer attorney, but do not just drop off the car. This will be viewed as a voluntary repossession. The dealer can sell the car on the auction block and sue you for the difference between what they received and what you owe them. Plus, your credit will be ruined. PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THE LAW IN YOUR OWN HANDS. This could backfire on you big time.

It remains to be seen how this case will carry out. I am sure this is not the last we have heard regarding this. Stay tuned…..

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Lemon Law Attorney Bob Silverman appeared on NBC10’s All That & More” last week to discuss this scandal.  if you feel that you have been a victim of this scam, please contact us to see if we can help.

By WILLIAM BENDER

From The Philadelphia Daily News

At Springfield Ford in Delaware County, “You ALWAYS get more for your dollar,” the car dealer claims on its Web site.

That’s unless, according to U.S. Attorney Pat Meehan, you happen to be black.

The Justice Department announced yesterday that Springfield Ford, and Pacifico Ford in Philadelphia, have agreed to pay a combined $450,000 to African-American customers to whom they allegedly charged higher interest rates on car loans because of their race.

“This type of practice is a serious violation of the law and an insult to the consumer who is entitled to conduct business without fear of discrimination,” Meehan said in a statement, calling the practice “intolerable.”

The civil complaints filed in Philadelphia federal court allege that the dealerships engaged in discriminatory lending practices between 1999 and 2002 by jacking up the interest rate for black customers — a violation of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.

The differences in the interest-rate markup - a finance charge dealers add to the rate set by the lender - “cannot be explained fully by factors unrelated to race, such as differences in the consumers’ creditworthiness or by differences in the down-payment amounts provided by consumers,” according to the complaints.

“Racial discrimination in lending is wrong and will not be tolerated,” Wan J. Kim, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said in a statement.

Representatives for Springfield Ford, located on Baltimore Pike, and Pacifico Ford, on Essington Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia, could not be reached for comment last night. Both companies have agreed to change their markup policy to prevent future discrimination, the department said.

The state attorney general’s office is pursuing separate agreements with the dealerships.

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This just into the lemon law newsroom….

A 77-year-old consumer from Bucks County has filed suit against the Cherry Hill Triplex dealership claiming deceptive trade practices, fraud and theft. Read all about it.

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