Victory Mitsubishi of Larchmont and Victory Suzuki of The Bronx Pay More Than $305,000 in Penalties and Restitution to Consumers for Engaging in Deceptive Business Practices
Attorney General Letitia James announced that restitution payments were mailed to over 400 consumers who were sold a bogus anti-theft window etch product for their automobile without their knowledge or consent. Consumers were charged as much as $4,000 extra for these fraudulent anti-theft products. The award is the result of a Stipulation of Settlement and Order of Damages, stemming from a lawsuit won by the Attorney General’s Office against Victory Motors, LLC (d/b/a/ Victory Mitsubishi of Larchmont) and Victory Auto Group, LLC (d/b/a Victory Suzuki of The Bronx) for engaging in persistent fraudulent, deceptive, and illegal business practices in the sale of a passive security system.
“We are returning money to New Yorkers that was stolen from them,” said Attorney General Letitia James. “These car dealerships ripped off consumers by charging for unwanted, secretive, last-minute add-ons. My office will continue to protect New York’s consumers and ensure that all car dealerships throughout the state comply with the law.”
The Attorney General’s Office filed a lawsuit in December 2017, alleging that Victory Motors, LLC, which closed in 2018, and Victory Auto Group, LLC, charged many consumers for an unwanted and fraudulent anti-theft product that cost up to $4,000 per vehicle. Known as an “after-sale” product, this item was often added onto the final cost of the vehicle without the consumer’s knowledge or consent – after the consumer had agreed upon the purchase price of a vehicle but before the sale transaction was finalized. The court, finding the above-named dealerships liable of engaging in deceptive business practices and repeated and persistent fraud, permanently enjoined Victory Motors, LLC, and Victory Auto Group, LLC, from engaging in persistent fraudulent, deceptive, and illegal business practices in the sale of a passive security system. The court ordered a Stipulation of Settlement directing the dealerships to pay a total of $305,850 in damages, which includes restitution to the victims of the fraud. Consumers were charged amounts ranging from $129 to $3,998 for the bogus anti-theft product. In many instances, the two Victory dealerships added this fee onto the final sales price without the knowledge or consent of the consumers. As a result, the final price paid by the consumers was inflated by the amount charged for the after-sale product.
The two Victory dealerships also failed to clearly disclose the nature of the after-sale product to their customers. The “Vehicle Replacement Discount Allowance,” also known as the “Etch Guarantee,” is supposed to include a permanent etch or engraving of the vehicle’s VIN on the windows of the vehicle – supposedly to deter theft. However, in many instances, the Victory dealerships did not actually etch the VIN onto the windows of the vehicles.
Since 2015, the Attorney General's Office has obtained approximately $19 million in restitution and penalties from auto dealers; nearly 29,000 consumers have been eligible for restitution under these settlements. This case is part of the Attorney General’s wider initiative to end the auto dealer practice of “jamming,” or unlawfully charging consumers for products and services without their knowledge or consent.
The case was handled by Assistant Attorney General Sandra Giorno-Tocco, with the assistance of Investigators Peter Schottenfeld, Michael Christian, and Ralph Dorismond, and Senior Consumer Frauds Representative John Katzenstein, under the supervision of Gary Brown, Assistant Attorney General-in-Charge of the Westchester Regional Office and Jill Faber, Deputy Attorney General for Regional Affairs.
