[L2SS455]

A Maryland and Virginia car dealer is denying ripping customers off after a 26-page complaint, the Maryland attorney and the Federal Trade Commission charged its Montgomery County and Prince William County locations with Consumer Protection Act violations, charging the dealerships with listing phony prices on their websites and tacking on unnecessary fees to their cars.

"One consumer booked a flight from Pennsylvania after seeing Lindsay Chevrolet's advertised price of $42,538 for a Chevrolet Camaro,, which included a $9,337 discount," the complaint reads. "Once the consumer was at the dealership, a Lindsay employee refused to sell the vehicle for the advertised price ... the consumer ultimately paid $5,445 more than Lindsay's advertised price."

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc...ecomplaint.pdf

[MisterMarauder]

Had a similar experience from a Maryland dealership years ago. They would not honor the website price because I was from out of state.
It's likely this is the same place.

[arpad_m]

I read the complaint, the case against this dealership is very solid. Hope these customers will be compensated for the BS upcharges and the punitive damages will deter other dealerships from trying.

[havelegs]

This is why CarMax and Carvana do so well.

[Joshinator99]

Originally Posted by arpad_m

I read the complaint, the case against this dealership is very solid. Hope these customers will be compensated for the BS upcharges and the punitive damages will deter other dealerships from trying.

100%

When I make a deal remotely, I tell them to send over the paperwork via email for my lawyer to review. That tends to scare some of these dealers straight before I go wasting a bunch of my time.

[jfkheat]

I had the same thing happen to me earlier this month. I went to the Jacksonville Florida area to look at some Challenger Hellcats. One of the dealerships added almost $8000 to the price of one that I was looking at. About $1500 were legit charges. The rest was BS add ons

[cdb95z28]

Is this really a surprise dealers do this?? And that there's sucker consumers that fall for it??

[CHASLT1]

Dealers have done it since the 50's.

[knighti2]

Yeah it's not a new issue for sure. Anyone that caves gets what they paid for.

I have done remote deals on my last 3 cars and in different states. The deal is 80-95% done before I ever get there. Once im there its look over the car, the paperwork, sign and hash out any little details and leave. Fastest one I did was less then 15 minutes and the longest was about 1.5 hours as it just took time to free up the right people to finish the paperwork.

Paying more for advertised car or BS add-ons ain't going to happen.

[beowulf556]

This is why you tell the dealer your out-the-door price you'll pay, and then walk away. They will either chase you down or call you in an hour.

[MyNameIs]

Originally Posted by L2SS455

A Maryland and Virginia car dealer is denying ripping customers off after a 26-page complaint, the Maryland attorney and the Federal Trade Commission charged its Montgomery County and Prince William County locations with Consumer Protection Act violations, charging the dealerships with listing phony prices on their websites and tacking on unnecessary fees to their cars.

"One consumer booked a flight from Pennsylvania after seeing Lindsay Chevrolet's advertised price of $42,538 for a Chevrolet Camaro,, which included a $9,337 discount," the complaint reads. "Once the consumer was at the dealership, a Lindsay employee refused to sell the vehicle for the advertised price ... the consumer ultimately paid $5,445 more than Lindsay's advertised price."

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc...ecomplaint.pdf

I heard about this on the radio yesterday.

[WhiteMale]

I didnt fly up to detroit to take delivery on my ZL1 until i gad a signed sales order in hand. Now if you fly out like that based on zero conversations with that dealer i have trouble having sympathy even when they’re clearly wrong.