VENTURA : Auto Dealer Settles Suit Over False Ads

A Ventura auto dealership charged with selling cars at prices higher than advertised will pay $20,000 to settle a suit brought against it by the Ventura County district attorney’s office.

Under the terms of the settlement, Ventura Toyota is prohibited from making false and misleading advertising claims, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Linda S. Groberg.

Ventura Toyota, which is owned by Boppell-Wintringham Inc., denies any wrongdoing, said Andrew M. Wolf, the lawyer who represented the dealership in the suit. The company wanted to avoid costly litigation and bad publicity, he said.

The civil lawsuit was filed last week after a routine investigation by the stateDepartment of Motor Vehicles found that vehicles were not being sold at the advertised prices and that vehicles that had been sold were still being advertised more than 48 hours later, Groberg said.

California law requires that if a vehicle is advertised at a specific price, it must be sold at that price, even if the buyer is not aware of the ad. The law also requires that once an advertised car is sold, the ad must be withdrawn within 48 hours of that sale.

The DMV, which licenses automobile dealerships, also found other violations, Groberg said. For example, one ad by the company showed several cars available for low monthly payments, but did not clearly state that those cars could only be leased and not purchased, she said.

“People went thinking they could buy the car, when in fact they couldn’t,” Groberg said.

Customers who purchased cars at prices higher than advertised were reimbursed at the time of the DMV investigation, she said.

About 16 transactions that involved violations of regulations were discovered during the investigation, Groberg said. In response to the allegations, Ventura Toyota has hired an independent audit firm to review the accuracy of advertisements and to ensure that all sales conform to advertised prices, Wolf said.