Infiniti of Clarendon Hills, Inc.; Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment |
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Topics: Infiniti of Clarendon Hills
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Donald S. Clark
Federal Trade Commission
January 21, 2014
[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 13 (Tuesday, January 21, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3373-3375]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-00974]
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
[File No. 132 3188]
Infiniti of Clarendon Hills, Inc.; 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/infiniticonsent online or on paper, by
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``Infiniti of Clarendon
Hills Inc.--Consent Agreement; File No. 132-3188'' on your comment and
file your comment online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/infiniticonsenthttps://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
[[Page 3374]]
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 ``Infiniti of Clarendon Hills Inc.--Consent Agreement; File
No. 132-3188'' 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/infiniticonsent 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 ``Infiniti of Clarendon
Hills Inc.--Consent Agreement; File No. 132-3188'' on your comment and
on the envelope, and mail 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 Infiniti
of Clarendon Hills, Inc. 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, respondent has advertised that consumers can pay $0 up-front
to lease a car for a specific monthly payment amount. The complaint
alleges that, in fact, the advertised payment amounts exclude
substantial fees, including but not limited to the first month's
payment and an acquisition fee. The complaint alleges therefore that
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
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 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.
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By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2014-00974 Filed 1-17-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P