|
Dear Consumer,
I would strongly
encourage you to take the time to read each portion of the, “Have Floridians
Been Sold Out?” section on the StopAutoFraud.com site. Why? Because this important case
between the State of Florida Attorney General’s Office and Sonic Automotive,
Inc., is a prime example of how the automotive sales industry manipulates
the political and legal system to stay in business. These documents will
take you behind the scenes of the investigation and introduce you to some of
the key players.
Some points to think about:
1. How
is it that Steve Burton, attorney for the Broad and
Cassel law firm, can serve as
defense counsel for Sonic Automotive, Inc. while also being paid to provide
outside counsel for the Florida House of Representatives? Isn’t it the job
of the Florida House to represent the people of Florida? If so, then
shouldn’t Mr. Burton have been looking out for the citizens of
Florida,
instead of the automotive sales industry? Furthermore, doesn’t the
Department of Banking and Insurance and the Attorney General’s Office also
have to answer to the House?
2. Could
that explain why Sonic Automotive, Inc. was ordered to pay only $64,438 in
legal costs for fraudulent practices, as opposed to the more than $30
million in fines and penalties that should have been paid out? And
this settlement was for just two of Sonic’s 65 dealerships throughout the
state. What if each dealership was to be held legally accountable? It‘s
estimated that fees paid on fines and penalties alone could pay for the
state’s deficit for many years, without having to cut valuable social and
health programs.
3. The
sampling of contracts that investigators for the Attorney General’s Office
looked at to determine the number of fraudulent transactions was grossly
flawed. The sampling only looked at contracts on “purchased units,” and did
not include contracts on leased vehicles. Insiders know that it is easier to
hide or “stuff” aftermarket products into leases rather than on purchases.
As a result, only 9,000 notices were mailed to consumers instead of the
27,000 who should have been eligible for financial remuneration. Duane
Overholt’s attempts to explain these flaws were simply ignored by the
attorney’s on both sides. Bottom line, the State of Florida settled the case
for a mere one cent on the dollar.
4. Furthermore,
the sampling also included wholesale and traded units, which skewed the
percentages in favor of the dealer. You see, many of the cars on dealer’s
lots are sent to used car wholesalers to sell at auctions, or are traded to
other dealers for resale. Therefore, these units do not represent actual
sales transactions, which moves the percentage of fraudulent contracts in
the sampling from 30 percent to about 50 percent in each dealership. This
would have made the number of eligible consumers and amount of payout much
higher.
5. If
nearly half of the sales contracts in each dealership contained extended
warranties and other aftermarket products that the consumer did not even
know about, then who actually signed the documents? According to the law, if
sales contracts are deemed fraudulent, then the contract becomes invalid. Is
it possible that some consumers may not be held liable for their current
auto loans if they knew how to interpret their documents correctly?
6. The
settlement negotiated between the Attorney General’s Office and Sonic’s
attorney never required that Sonic admit their guilt in conducting these
deceptive sales practices. Rather, the case was considered a “Voluntary
Compliance” agreement. Nor were the issues of millions of dollars in tax
misrepresentation and document forgeries ever addressed by state
authorities.
For many
consumers, the issues presented here seem complicated and difficult to
understand. The truth is, they’re really very simple. Like many industries,
the automotive industry has it’s own jargon and terminology. Once you
understand the language, the rest is easy to prove.
Have Floridian’s been the
victims of political sellout? You decide. |
