Nissan of South Atlanta, LLC, Also Doing Business as Nissan South; Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment |
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Topics: Nissan of South Atlanta
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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 3376-3378]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-01001]
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
[File No. 132-3163]
Nissan of South Atlanta, LLC, Also Doing Business as Nissan
South; 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/nissanconsent online or on paper, by
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``Nissan of South
Atlanta, LLC--Consent Agreement; File No. 132-3163'' on your comment
and file your comment online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/nissanconsent 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
[[Page 3377]]
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 ``Nissan of South Atlanta, LLC--Consent Agreement; File No.
132-3163'' 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/nissanconsent 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 ``Nissan of South Atlanta,
LLC--Consent Agreement; File No. 132-3163'' 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 Nissan of
South Atlanta, LLC, also d/b/a Nissan South. 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 finance the
purchase of vehicles by paying $99 per month with a $0 downpayment. The
complaint alleges that, in fact, consumers will pay $99 per month for
only the first two months of an 84-month period. The complaint further
alleges that the advertisements fail to state the amount of each
payment beyond the first two months of financing. 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 that the respondent violated the Truth in Lending Act
(``TILA'') and Regulation Z for failing to clearly and conspicuously
disclose required information concerning costs and credit terms.
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)
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; or (2) 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. 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 TILA allegations. It
requires clear and conspicuous TILA and Regulation Z disclosures when
advertising any of the relevant triggering terms with regard to issuing
consumer credit. It also requires that if any finance charge is
advertised, the rate be stated as an ``annual percentage rate'' using
that term or the abbreviation ``APR.'' In addition, Part II prohibits
any other violation of TILA or Regulation Z.
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.
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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. 2014-01001 Filed 1-17-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P