Jim Burke Automotive, Inc.; Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment |
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Topics: Jim Burke Automotive
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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 17434-17435]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-07409]
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
[File No. 152 3036]
Jim Burke Automotive, 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/jimburkeconsent online or on paper, by
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``Jim Burke Automotive,
Inc.--Consent Agreement; File No. 1523036'' on your comment and file
your comment online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/jimburkeconsent by following the instructions on the web-based form. If
you prefer to file your comment on paper, write ``Jim Burke Automotive,
Inc.--Consent Agreement; File No. 1523036'' 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: Sana Chriss, Southeast Regional
Office, (404) 656-1364, 225 Peachtree Street NE., Suite 1500, Atlanta,
Georgia 30303.
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.
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 ``Jim Burke Automotive, Inc.--Consent Agreement; File No.
1523036'' 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/jimburkeconsent 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 ``Jim Burke Automotive,
Inc.--Consent Agreement; File No. 1523036'' 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 Jim Burke
Automotive, Inc., also doing business as Jim Burke 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.
[[Page 17435]]
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. This matter involves the
respondent's advertising of the purchase and financing of its motor
vehicles. According to the FTC's complaint, the respondent has
advertised that vehicles are available for purchase at the prices
prominently advertised when in fact, the complaint alleges, consumers
must pay an additional $3,000 to purchase the advertised vehicles. The
complaint alleges therefore that the representations are false or
misleading in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act.
The complaint further alleges that the respondent has advertised
that specific discounts, rebates, bonuses, or incentives are generally
available to consumers, when in fact, according to the complaint, they
are not generally available to consumers. The complaint alleges
therefore that the representations are false or misleading in violation
of Section 5 of the FTC Act.
In addition, the complaint alleges that the respondent violated the
Truth in Lending Act (``TILA'') and Regulation Z by failing to disclose
or 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) 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, and the repayment obligation over the full term of the loan,
including any balloon payment; or (2) 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. Part I.B prohibits the
respondent from misrepresenting any other material fact about the
price, sale, financing, or leasing of any vehicle.
Part II.A of the proposed order prohibits respondent from
representing that a discount, rebate, bonus, incentive or price is
available to consumers unless, it is available to all consumers and for
all vehicles advertised; or the representation clearly and
conspicuously discloses all material qualifications or restrictions, if
any, including but not limited to qualifications or restrictions on:
(a) A consumer's ability to obtain the discount, rebate, bonus,
incentive or price and (b) the vehicles available at the discount,
rebate, bonus, incentive or price. Part II.B prohibits respondent from
misrepresenting: (1) The existence or amount of any discount, rebate,
bonus, incentive or price; (2) the existence, price, value, coverage,
or features of any product or service associated with the motor vehicle
purchase; (3) the number of vehicles available at particular prices; or
4) any other material fact about the price, sale, financing, or leasing
of motor vehicles.
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 respondent to keep copies of
relevant advertisements and materials substantiating claims made in the
advertisements. Part V requires that respondent 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. 2015-07409 Filed 3-31-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P