FTC Action: Auto Dealership Will Pay $80,000 Penalty for Violating 2012 Order Prohibiting Deceptive Advertising of Vehicle Costs

A West Virginia auto dealer, Ramey Motors Inc., has agreed to pay a $80,000 civil penalty to settle a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit brought in 2014. The FTC charged Ramey Motors with violating the terms of a 2012 consent order with the FTC that barred it from deceptively advertising the cost of buying or leasing cars.

The civil penalty settlement resolves charges that Ramey Motors’ ads violated the consent order by concealing important terms of sale and lease offers, such as a required down payment, and failing to make credit disclosures clearly and conspicuously, as required by federal law.

The civil penalty order also prohibits Ramey Motors from violating the 2012 order.

The Commission vote authorizing the staff to file the stipulated civil penalty order was 5-0. The order was entered by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, Bluefield Division, on September 9, 2015.

NOTE: Stipulated final orders have the force of law when approved and signed by the District Court judge.

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