Huntington Honda to Pay $270K in Restitution for Deceptive Practices: AG

Huntington Honda is among four dealerships in New York that will pay nearly $2 million in restitution for using fraudulent, deceptive and illegal methods to get customers to purchase “after-sale” products that inflated the price of vehicles, according to the New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced Thursday.

Huntington Honda is required to pay $270,950 in restitution to nearly 475 consumers and $30,000 in penalties.

The other three auto dealers involved in settlements were Koeppel Auto Group, Plaza Dealerships, Manfredi Auto Group.

• Related: Attorney General Intends to Sue 3 Huntington Car Dealerships

“Consumers deserve to be treated honestly by car dealerships, and shouldn’t be hit with hidden fees that inflate the price of the vehicle,” Schneiderman said in a press release.

Patch reached out to a Huntington Honda representative and is waiting for a statement from the company.

According to the AG, after customers worked with a salesperson to choose a car, they would meet with a “Finance & Insurance Manager” who would try to sell the customer additional “after-sale” products, such as: extended service contracts, key replacement services, a security system, credit repair services and identity theft protection services.

These "after-sale" items would add hundreds or thousands of hidden charges to the sale or lease price of a vehicle. The costs of these items would be often hidden into the vehicle sale price and not itemized separately, causing many customers to be unaware they had received these services, according to an AG investigation. Some customers even thought these services were free, the report says.

In 2015, the AG says they shut down Credit Forget, Inc. (CFI), a New York company that sold unlawful credit repair and identity theft protection services to these car dealerships. It is against state and federal law to charge upfront fees for service that help consumers restore or improve their credit, and contracts that violate the law are void, according to the AG.

Through shutting down CFI, an AG investigation says that between 2010 and 2015, these car dealers used unlawful methods to sell CFI contracts to approximately 5,000 customers.

According to the AG, these settlements prohibit the dealerships from:

• Selling, offering to sell or marketing credit repair and identity theft services in connection with the sale or lease of a vehicle;
• Selling, offering for sale, or providing to consumers any after-sale product or service unless, prior to such sale, certain material terms, including price, are disclosed verbally and in writing;
• Misrepresenting the price of the vehicle in final lease or sale contracts;
• Failing to provide consumers with sales or lease agreements that clearly and conspicuously itemize each after-sale product or service and its price.

Consumers who believe they have been jammed with unwanted products or services or who were sold CFI’s credit repair or identity theft protection services by a car dealership are urged to file complaints online or call 1-800-771-7755.

Image via Google Maps