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The Federal Trade Commission and the Maryland Attorney General announced that they reached a settlement with Lindsay Automotive Group and some of its executives, resolving charges that the company's auto dealer deceived consumers by falsely advertising low prices for their cars. As part of the settlement, the defendants agreed to pay a $3.1 civil penalty to the Maryland Attorney General's Office as well as to provide redress to consumers.
In announcing the settlement, Christopher Mufarrige, the Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection said, “Lindsay Auto misled consumers by advertising false low car prices and then adding mandatory fees and other charges during the car buying process. The Trump-Vance FTC is focused on ensuring that auto dealers competitors’ are transparently competing on price.”
The FTC and the Maryland AG alleged that the company's dealers advertised deceptively low prices for cars, and then charged most consumers significantly more than that when they actually came to the dealer to buy the car. They also alleged that the dealers required consumers to finance through the company in order to get the advertised prices and that they charged consumers for add-ons that they didn't want or didn't agree to buy.
As part of the settlement, Lindsay agreed – when advertising the prices of vehicles – to advertise the “total price” of the car, which is defined in the settlement as “all mandatory fees or charges a consumer must pay for a motor vehicle, except that charges a Federal, State, or local government agency, unit, or department requires the consumer to pay may be excluded.” And, significantly, the total price must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously “as the most prominently displayed item in any visual disclosure."
FTC first sued the company in 2024. This settlement should come as no big surprise to marketers, however, since less than a month ago, the FTC warned auto dealers to clean up their price advertising practices.
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