Alaska Lawyer Common Treg Taylor filed a lawsuit towards Swickard Auto Group for “alleged violations of shopper safety legal guidelines” at dealerships the group operates in Anchorage and Palmer.
The swimsuit, stemming from three buyer complaints, alleges Swickard Auto marketed vehicles it did not have and did not honor marketed costs and rates of interest.
Swickard Auto mentioned Friday in an e mail to Automotive Information that the group wished to acknowledge the legal professional basic’s issues and provide clarification. The retailer mentioned it serves about 50,000 clients within the state annually.
“Since we’ve been serving the Alaska market, we’ve obtained a complete 3 Lawyer Common complaints,” Swickard wrote. “Of the three complaints, two of them originated from the Lawyer Common or affiliated workers concerning the acquisition of their private autos.”
Filed on Wednesday in Anchorage Superior Court docket, the 21-page criticism mentioned partially: “Over 4 months in 2022 and 2023, the Alaska Division of Legislation’s Shopper Safety Unit (“CPU”) obtained three complaints towards Swickard alleging false promoting ways — particularly, promoting for the sale of autos that Swickard didn’t truly possess, promoting rates of interest that weren’t out there, and failing to honor marketed costs.”
Swickard mentioned the “genesis of the criticism” is its choice to promote in-transit autos and shared stock.
“Whereas our choice to promote in-transit and shared stock autos was to supply our Alaska clients with visibility of our pipeline of upcoming autos, the AG worker discovered it to be a irritating expertise and opened an official criticism for him to research,” the auto group wrote in its assertion. “They reviewed over 100 transactions and didn’t share any extra complaints or violations.”
The criticism seeks $25,000 for every violation of Alaska’s Unfair Commerce Practices and Shopper Safety Act, plus an injunction barring Swickard from utilizing misleading practices.
“Shopping for a automotive is already a annoying course of and an necessary choice for shoppers,” Taylor mentioned in a press release. “We is not going to enable automotive dealerships to interact in unlawful promoting and gross sales practices that make buying a automotive much more troublesome for shoppers. Nor will we enable unscrupulous dealerships to achieve an unfair benefit over their rivals.”
Messages to the legal professional basic’s workplace for additional remark weren’t returned, other than an e mail from Assistant Lawyer Common John Haley to Automotive Information directing inquires to the division’s press workplace.
Swickard Auto owns eight dealerships in Alaska promoting the Chevrolet, GMC, Buick, Cadillac, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Porsche manufacturers.
The primary criticism alleges the marketed fee of 0 % curiosity on a $60,000 truck jumped to three.89 % as soon as a buyer agreed to purchase the car at Swickard Chevrolet.
“CPU forwarded the criticism to Swickard and requested a response. In its response, Swickard claimed the commercial was mistakenly positioned within the car,” in line with the court docket submitting.
At Audi Anchorage, a buyer wished to buy an Audi A4 for the marketed fee of $36,295, however the worth jumped to $49,000 and was informed “the mark-up included a ‘safety package deal’ that price $4,990, an prolonged guarantee that price $6,000 and varied smaller charges,” in line with the swimsuit. Swickard blamed an “overzealous salesperson,” in line with the state.
The final criticism comes from Joshua Smith, later recognized to be an investigator with Alaska’s Division of Legislation. Smith, in line with the state, visited the Swickard Volkswagen of Anchorage web site in September 2022. Smith was involved in a car he noticed marketed on the positioning for 3 days. He was informed the value of the car was unsuitable on the commercial, and the automotive was not out there. Swickard mentioned it lately had bought the dealership and was coping with web site points in the course of the transition.
Smith determined to not purchase a automotive and submitted a criticism to the state.
“In response, Swickard claimed the commercial was a bona-fide error and Inv. Smith ought to have identified the marketed worth was incorrect,” the submitting states.
In March 2023, the criticism states, Smith returned to the shop and had the same expertise, together with a salesman saying the e-commerce crew might have falsely marketed stock to assist drive foot visitors to the shop.
“We perceive the shopper/AG investigator frustration and we imagine that our communication surrounding the provision/logistic updates of the car of curiosity may have been improved,” Swickard’s emailed assertion mentioned. “We’re dedicated to sustaining belief, searching for constructive dialogue with the Lawyer Common’s workplace, and wanting to enhance the patron expertise.”
“Regardless of the issues raised within the Lawyer Common’s report, we imagine that the only criticism from a non-affiliated particular person was addressed and resolved to the satisfaction of the shopper.”
Swickard Auto of Las Vegas, Nev., ranks No. 48 on Automotive Information’ listing of the highest 150 U.S. dealership teams, retailing 16,422 new autos in 2022. The auto retailer owns dealerships in Oregon, California, Texas, Washington and Alaska, in line with its web site. In March, Swickard added three extra dealerships in California from Anderson Holdings, following a December 2022 transaction with the group.