Southland Datsun Dealers Agree to Pay $200,000 in Penalties for Commercials

The Southern California Datsun Dealers Assn. Inc. has agreed to pay $200,000 in civil penalties for false advertising in connection with two television commercials that ran in 1986, the Ventura County district attorney said.

A lawyer for the association, which represents 56 dealerships, said Friday that his group agreed to the penalties without admitting any wrongdoing.

“If any advertisement was misleading, it was completely unintentional,” attorney Kenneth J. Murphy said.

Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury said the ads, which offered certain Nissan cars and trucks for $100 per month, were untrue and misleading because terms of the deal actually required a $2,000 investment and involved not purchase but the lease of a vehicle.

The ads, which ran throughout California, included a six-second printed notice explaining terms and conditions of the offer, but Bradbury said the explanation wasn’t “clear and conspicuous enough.”

Last summer, the Northern California Nissan Dealer’s Assn. agreed to pay a $100,000 civil penalty after the Monterey County district attorney’s office filed a civil suit against the group for running the same ads.