AutoNation To Stop Selling or Leasing Recalled Vehicles

AutoNation put out a press release today announcing they won’t sell or lease any vehicle, new or used with an open safety recall. According to the release, this policy goes for all of the 293 AutoNation franchises across the country.

Mike Jackson, the always-visible CEO of AutoNation addressed the new policy in a statement. In a press release, Jackson said, “There’s no way to expect that customers would or should know of every safety recall on every vehicle they might purchase, so we will ensure that our vehicles have all recalls completed. We make it our responsibility as a retailer to identify those vehicles and remove them from the market until their safety issues have been addressed.”

AutoNation has also stated they won’t use wholesaling as a way of getting rid of recalled vehicle inventory. The dealer group’s decision to not sell any vehicle with an open safety recall extends beyond the lot to the inventory of all of its dealers. In a release the group explained their policy saying, “AutoNation will not wholesale any vehicle that has an open safety recall.”

In a release the organization further stated that they will, “not use convenient methods such as wholesaling to rid itself of problematic inventory.” Despite the new policy to not sell, lease or wholesale vehicles with an open safety recall, AutoNation will still accept vehicles at trade-in with an open recall despite the additional time and investment needed to move them. Open safety recall vehicles will sit at AutoNation stores with a “not-for-sale” sign on them until they are properly repaired.

Do you think that this move is necessary and deserves praise, or do you think that AutoNation should have left the onus for recall repairs up to the consumer?