City Nissan Inc., Proposed Consent Order to Aid Public Comment |
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Topics: City Nissan
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Donald S. Clark
Federal Trade Commission
April 1, 2015
[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 62 (Wednesday, April 1, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17435-17437]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-07408]
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
[File No. 132 3114]
City Nissan Inc., Proposed Consent Order to Aid Public Comment
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.
ACTION: Proposed Consent Agreement.
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SUMMARY: The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged
violations of federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or
practices. The attached Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes both
the allegations in the draft complaint and the terms of the consent
order--embodied in the consent agreement--that would settle these
allegations.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before April 27, 2015.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/citynissanconsent online or on paper, by
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``City Nissan Inc.--
Consent Agreement; File No. 1323114'' on your comment and file your
comment online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/citynissanconsent by following the instructions on the web-based form.
If you prefer to file your comment on paper, write ``City Nissan Inc.--
Consent Agreement; File No. 1323114'' on your comment and on the
envelope, and mail your comment to the following address: Federal Trade
Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite
CC-5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your comment to the
following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary,
Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex
D), Washington, DC 20024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Jacobs, Western Region--Los
Angeles, (310) 824-4360, 10877 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 700, Los Angeles,
California 90024.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to Section 6(f) of the Federal
Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 2.34, 16 CFR 2.34,
notice is hereby given that the above-captioned consent agreement
containing consent order to cease and desist, having been filed with
and accepted, subject to final approval, by the Commission, has been
placed on the public record for a period of thirty (30) days. The
following Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes the terms of the
consent agreement, and the allegations in the complaint. An electronic
copy of the full text of the consent agreement package can be obtained
from the FTC Home Page (for March 26, 2015), on the World Wide Web at:
http://www.ftc.gov/os/actions.shtm.
[[Page 17436]]
You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before April 27, 2015.
Write ``City Nissan Inc.--Consent Agreement; File No. 1323114'' on your
comment. Your comment--including your name and your state--will be
placed on the public record of this proceeding, including, to the
extent practicable, on the public Commission Web site, at http://www.ftc.gov/os/publiccomments.shtm. As a matter of discretion, the
Commission tries to remove individuals' home contact information from
comments before placing them on the Commission Web site.
Because your comment will be made public, you are solely
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any
sensitive personal information, like anyone's Social Security number,
date of birth, driver's license number or other state identification
number or foreign country equivalent, passport number, financial
account number, or credit or debit card number. You are also solely
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any
sensitive health information, like medical records or other
individually identifiable health information. In addition, do not
include any ``[t]rade secret or any commercial or financial information
which . . . is privileged or confidential,'' as discussed in Section
6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR
4.10(a)(2). In particular, do not include competitively sensitive
information such as costs, sales statistics, inventories, formulas,
patterns, devices, manufacturing processes, or customer names.
If you want the Commission to give your comment confidential
treatment, you must file it in paper form, with a request for
confidential treatment, and you have to follow the procedure explained
in FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).\1\ Your comment will be kept
confidential only if the FTC General Counsel, in his or her sole
discretion, grants your request in accordance with the law and the
public interest.
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\1\ In particular, the written request for confidential
treatment that accompanies the comment must include the factual and
legal basis for the request, and must identify the specific portions
of the comment to be withheld from the public record. See FTC Rule
4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).
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Postal mail addressed to the Commission is subject to delay due to
heightened security screening. As a result, we encourage you to submit
your comments online. To make sure that the Commission considers your
online comment, you must file it at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/citynissanconsent by following the instructions on the web-based
form. If this Notice appears at http://www.regulations.gov/#!home, you
also may file a comment through that Web site.
If you file your comment on paper, write ``City Nissan Inc.--
Consent Agreement; File No. 1323114'' on your comment and on the
envelope, and mail your comment to the following address: Federal Trade
Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite
CC-5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your comment to the
following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary,
Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex
D), Washington, DC 20024. If possible, submit your paper comment to the
Commission by courier or overnight service.
Visit the Commission Web site at http://www.ftc.gov to read this
Notice and the news release describing it. The FTC Act and other laws
that the Commission administers permit the collection of public
comments to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. The
Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments that
it receives on or before April 27, 2015. You can find more information,
including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, in the
Commission's privacy policy, at http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.
Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment
The Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'') has accepted, subject to
final approval, an agreement containing a consent order from City
Nissan, Inc., also doing business as Ross Nissan. The proposed consent
order has been placed on the public record for thirty (30) days for
receipt of comments by interested persons. Comments received during
this period will become part of the public record. After thirty (30)
days, the FTC will again review the agreement and the comments
received, and will decide whether it should withdraw from the agreement
and take appropriate action or make final the agreement's proposed
order.
The respondent is a motor vehicle dealer. According to the FTC
complaint, the respondent has advertised promotions for the leasing and
financing of automobiles. In advertising lease offers, the complaint
alleges, the respondent has misrepresented that consumers can pay $0 at
lease inception to lease the vehicles shown in the advertisements for
the advertised monthly payment amount. The complaint alleges that, in
fact, consumers must pay substantially more to drive off with these
vehicles. The complaint alleges therefore that the representations are
false and misleading in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act.
The complaint further alleges that the respondent has advertised an
annual percentage rate of 0% to finance the vehicles shown in the
advertisements for the advertised monthly payment. The complaint
alleges that in fact, the annual percentage rate is substantially
greater than 0%. The complaint alleges therefore that the
representations are false and misleading in violation of Section 5 of
the FTC Act.
Additionally, the complaint alleges violations of the Consumer
Leasing Act (``CLA'') and Regulation M for failing to disclose or to
disclose clearly and conspicuously certain costs and terms when
advertising credit. Finally, the complaint alleges violations of the
Truth in Lending Act (``TILA'') and Regulation Z for failing to
disclose or to disclose clearly and conspicuously certain costs and
terms when advertising credit.
The proposed order is designed to prevent the respondent from
engaging in similar deceptive practices in the future. Part I.A of the
proposed order prohibits the respondent from misrepresenting the cost
of: (1) Leasing a vehicle, including but not limited to the total
amount due at lease inception, the down payment, amount down,
acquisition fee, capitalized cost reduction, any other amount required
to be paid at lease inception, and the amounts of all monthly or other
periodic payments; or (2) purchasing a vehicle with financing,
including but not necessarily limited to the amount or percentage of
the down payment, the number of payments or period of repayment, the
amount of any payment, the annual percentage rate or any other finance
rate, and the repayment obligation over the full term of the loan,
including any balloon payment. Part I.B prohibits the respondent from
misrepresenting any other material fact about the price, sale,
financing, or leasing of any vehicle.
Part II of the proposed order addresses the CLA allegations. Part
II.A prohibits the respondent from stating the amount of any payment or
that any or no initial payment is required at lease inception without
disclosing clearly and conspicuously: (1) That the transaction
advertised is a lease; (2) the total amount due at lease signing or
delivery; (3) whether or not a security deposit is required; (4) the
number, amounts, and timing of scheduled payments; and (5) that an
extra charge may be imposed at the end of the lease term in a lease in
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which the liability of the consumer at the end of the lease term. Part
II.B prohibits the respondent from violating any provision of the CLA
or Regulation M.
Part III of the proposed order addresses the TILA allegation. Part
III.A requires the respondent to make all of the disclosures required
by TILA and Regulation Z when any of its advertisements state relevant
triggering terms. It also requires that if any finance charge is
advertised, the rate be stated as an ``annual percentage rate'' using
that term or the abbreviation ``APR.'' In addition, Part III.C
prohibits the respondent from failing to comply in any respect with
TILA and Regulation Z.
Part IV of the proposed order requires the respondent to keep
copies of relevant advertisements and materials substantiating claims
made in the advertisements. Part V requires the respondent to provide
copies of the order to certain of its personnel. Part VI requires
notification to the Commission regarding changes in corporate structure
that might affect compliance obligations under the order. Part VII
requires the respondent to file compliance reports with the Commission.
Finally, Part VIII is a provision ``sunsetting'' the order after twenty
(20) years, with certain exceptions.
The purpose of this analysis is to aid public comment on the
proposed order. It is not intended to constitute an official
interpretation of the complaint or proposed order, or to modify in any
way the proposed order's terms.
By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015-07408 Filed 3-31-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P