Submission Number: 00099 

Received: 3/23/2012 10:33:09 AM
Commenter: Melvyn Altman
Organization: NA
State: Maryland

Agency: Federal Trade Commission
Initiative: Public Roundtables: Protecting Consumers in the Sale and Leasing of Motor Vehicles; Project No. P104811
Attachments: No Attachments
Submission Text
The following type of dealer new automobile ad appears in the Philadelphia Inquirer regularly: New Toyota Corolla--BUY for $14000. In the smaller print it says: with $4000 trade or down payment. If a purchaser is making a $4000 down pabment he is NOT "buying" the car for $14000, but rather for $18000. It would be like going to Macy's to buy a shirt advertised for $40 and then being told that to buy it for $40 you first had to make a $20 down payment. This would be extremely false advertising. I have commented on this to the Philadelphia Inquirer and was told they don't screen the ads of their commercial advertisers. But I bet if an advertiser was recruiting for experienced bank robbers the Inquirer would have something to say about it. Their car advertisers are robbing unsuspecting and naive consumers.