New York Dealers Sued For Credit Repair/Identity Theft Protection

We told you previously the attorney general of New York went after dealers over credit repair products. That same AG is going after more dealers for a similar reason.

John Schneiderman, attorney General of New York has sued Koeppel Nissan Inc., Koeppel Cars of Bayside, Inc., Koeppel Subaru, Koeppel Mazda, Koeppel Auto Group and Koeppel Volkswagen, Inc. The lawsuit against the family of dealerships alleges the dealerships, “unlawfully sold ‘after-sale’ products and services, including credit repair and identity theft protection services to 1,426 consumers that sometimes exceeded a cost of $2,000 per consumer.”

The lawsuit alleges the dealerships charged the customers for the identity theft and credit repair products, but didn’t provide any such service. Instead, the suit alleges the dealers concealed the costs of the alleged services using “deceptive sales tactics.” The allegations further state the dealer sold “VIN etching,” and “key replacement services,” in a vague manner during the sale process.

Speaking about the lawsuit, NY attorney general Schneiderman said, “When consumers shop for a car, they should not be misled by deceptive dealerships looking to make a quick buck off New Yorkers. Unfortunately, some dealers pad their pockets with fees for products and services that unaware consumers don’t need, and don’t want.”

The lawsuit against the New York dealerships also includes allegation that combined sales of credit repair and identify theft products from these stores topped $1 million between January 2013 and November 2014.

This lawsuit comes on the heels of Schneiderman settling with three dealerships for $13.5 million back in June 2015 also for allegedly selling credit repair type products. Those dealers were forced to payback around 15,000 customers for purchased the add-on products at the point of sale.

The NY attorney general’s office also reached a settlement with Wesbury Jeep Chrysler Dodge, Inc. and Fiat of Westbury LLC. The dealers are required to refund $100,000 to customers for their purchase of credit repair or identity protection services.