Bill Robertson & Sons, Inc. Doing Business as Honda of Hollywood; Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment

Topics:  Honda of Hollywood

Donald S. Clark
Federal Trade Commission
January 21, 2014

[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 13 (Tuesday, January 21, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3372-3373]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-00973]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

[File No. 132 3142]


Bill Robertson & Sons, Inc. Doing Business as Honda of Hollywood; 
Analysis of 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 or unfair methods of competition. The attached Analysis of 
Proposed Consent Order 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 February 10, 2014.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/hondaconsent online or on paper, by 
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``Honda of Hollywood--
Consent Agreement; File No. 132-3142'' on your comment and file your 
comment online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/hondaconsenthttps://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/fidelitynationalconsent by following the instructions on the web-based 
form. If you prefer to file your comment on paper, mail or deliver your 
comment to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of 
the Secretary, Room H-113 (Annex D), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., 
Washington, DC 20580.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark Glassman, Bureau of Consumer 
Protection, (202-326-2826), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 
20580.

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 January 9, 2014), on the World Wide Web, at 
http://www.ftc.gov/os/actions.shtm. A paper copy can be obtained from 
the FTC Public Reference Room, Room 130-H, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., 
Washington, DC 20580, either in person or by calling (202) 326-2222.
    You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to 
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before February 10, 
2014. Write ``Honda of Hollywood--Consent Agreement; File No. 132-
3142'' 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/hondaconsent 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 ``Honda of Hollywood--
Consent Agreement; File No. 132-3142'' on your comment and on the 
envelope, and mail

[[Page 3373]]

or deliver it to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, 
Office of the Secretary, Room H-113 (Annex D), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue 
NW., Washington, DC 20580. 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 February 10, 2014. 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 Bill 
Robertson & Sons, Inc. d/b/a Honda of Hollywood. 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 cars for leasing. In 
connection with its advertised leasing offers, the complaint alleges 
that the respondent has advertised that consumers can pay ``$0 down'' 
with ``0 first payment'' and ``0 due at signing'' to lease a car, and 
has depicted several cars in its advertisements to which this offer 
applies, listing a specific monthly lease payment for each such car. 
The complaint alleges that, in fact, for a $0 up-front payment, 
consumers cannot lease the cars shown in the advertisements for the 
advertised monthly payment amounts, and that instead, consumers must 
also pay between $1,995 and $2,499 at lease signing. The complaint 
alleges that, therefore, the respondent's representations are false or 
misleading in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act. In addition, the 
complaint alleges a violation of the Consumer Leasing Act and 
Regulation M for failing to clearly and conspicuously disclose the 
costs and terms of certain leases offered, despite the respondent's use 
of certain triggering terms in the advertisements.
    The proposed order is designed to prevent the respondent from 
engaging in similar deceptive practices and law violations in the 
future. Part I.A 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 downpayment, 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 downpayment, 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. 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 allegation. It 
requires that the respondent clearly and conspicuously make all of the 
disclosures required by CLA and Regulation M if it states relevant 
triggering terms, including the monthly lease payment. In addition, 
Part II prohibits any other violation of CLA and Regulation M.
    Part III of the proposed order requires respondent to keep copies 
of relevant advertisements and materials substantiating claims made in 
the advertisements. Part IV requires that respondent provide copies of 
the order to certain of its personnel. Part V requires notification to 
the Commission regarding changes in corporate structure that might 
affect compliance obligations under the order. Part VI requires the 
respondent to file compliance reports with the Commission. Finally, 
Part VII 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. 2014-00973 Filed 1-17-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P