Julie Picache has filed a lawsuit against Smythe European Mercedes Benz in San Jose. Ms. Picache purchased 2007
Mercedes-Benz R350 on December 11, 2011, by entering into the standard contact used by car dealerships. Under the terms of this contract, Smythe had ten days in which to notify Ms. Picache if it was unable to get financing for the contract. If Smythe did not notify her within that 10 day period, then the contract was binding on Smythe, and it was required to accept payments from Ms. Picache. Ms. Picache alleges in her lawsuit that Smythe did not notify her within 10 days of the contract that it was unable to get financing. Thus, Smythe was unable to cancel the contract.
Ms. Picache tried to go forward with the contract — even sending her first monthly payment to Smythe. But, Smythe refused to honor the contract. It sent a repossession company to Ms. Picache’s home who tried to back the car out of her garage while her two young children were in the back seat. Only after the police were called and Ms. Picache’s husband prevented the repossession agent from backing the car out of the garage was Ms. Picache able to get her children out of the car. Unfortunately, she was not able to prevent the car from being taken.
Greg Babbitt is handling the case for Auto Fraud Legal Center . If you have experienced a similar situation with Smythe European or any other dealership, please contact him at 858-348-1005 x104.
Learn MoreDealers who tell customers: “We can’t get you financed unless you buy that $1,500 extended warranty.” Or GAP or etch or whatever.
Dealers who tell customers: “You don’t qualify for credit, but we can get you financed if your wife (or husband) signs with you.”
Dealers who tell customers: “Oh, that’s our Internet price for the car. It’s for good credit customers. Your credit’s lousy, so you’ll need to pay more for the car.”
Read more: http://www.autonews.com/article/20130515/FINANCE_AND_INSURANCE/130519947#ixzz2U3cAauFQ
Learn MoreSeven years after Congress banned payday-loan companies from charging exorbitant interest rates to service members, many of the nation’s military bases are surrounded by storefront lenders who charge high annual percentage rates, sometimes exceeding 400 percent.
The Military Lending Act sought to protect service members and their families from predatory loans. But in practice, the law has defined the types of covered loans so narrowly that it’s been all too easy for lenders to circumvent it. More at: http://www.propublica.org/article/on-victory-drive-soldiers-defeated-by-debt
Learn MoreSo-called forced arbitration clauses say that in the event of a dispute, you won’t be able to file a class-action suit. Instead, your dispute will be settled one-on-one in a private arbitration forum. These clauses are commonly inserted into terms of service agreements, which you must agree to if you want to use the product or service.
For years, this practice was prohibited by law in many states. But in 2011 the Supreme Court ruled in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion that all state laws prohibiting forced arbitration clauses are preempted by the 1925 Federal Arbitration Act. And that opened the floodgates.
More at: http://www.dailyfinance.com/on/forced-arbitration-killing-class-action-lawsuits-tos-agreements/
Learn MoreThe Consumer Financial Protection Bureau expanded its probe into the car loan industry by issuing subpoenas to auto lenders over the sale of financial products such as extended warranties, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the investigation.
The consumer bureau is investigating whether terms and prices for auto loans, as well as additional products like extra insurance, are properly disclosed. The probe follows a similar investigation into deceptive marketing practices by credit card companies, the Journal said. More at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/03/us-autolenders-probe-idUSBRE94207H20130503
Learn More“The Convicted Distracted Driver is sitting in a study carrel in the Cal State Fresno library, which, come to think of it, looks a little like a prison visiting room.
“I don’t relish that title,” said Steven Spriggs. ‘But that’s what I am.’
His crime: looking at his iPhone’s map application while driving.”
More at: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-abcarian-distracted-driving-20130426,0,769309,print.story
Learn MoreCarFax, the provider of vehicle history reports, has been sued by a group of auto dealers for anticompetitive practices.
“Leonard Bellavia, the attorney leading the case, has been looking at Carfax’s practices for the past six months as a growing number of his dealer clients questioned the quality of Carfax’s reports.”
Learn MoreAutomotive News, a magazine that caters to dealers, explains different types of forgery.
Excerpts:
Forgery can exist on any document. There are people who think forging a contract is the only forbidden act. Any other document, that’s “kind of OK” in a lot of people’s opinion. But it can be forgery on any document. It can be the spouse signing the other spouse’s name, if the F&I manager knowingly lets it take place. It could be using “signature on file” or “per phone” on documents instead of a signature. That’s OK on some credit card agreements, but not in F&I. Or it could just be someone in sales or in F&I signing.
Why do dealers do it?
They rationalize their felonies. There are two basic reasons, I guess. There could be a financial incentive. More commonly, I think, it could just be laziness. “I forgot to get the signature. I don’t want to call the customer back in. I’ll just do it myself.”
Learn MoreThe appellate division of a California Superior Court has decided that the Vehicle Code section outlawing use of a cell phone without a handsfree device also outlaws use of the phone for virtually anything else.
“Our review of the statute?s plain language leads us to conclude that the primary evil sought to be avoided is the distraction the driver faces when using his or her hands to operate the phone. That distraction would be present whether the wireless telephone was being used as a telephone, a GPS navigator, a clock or a device for sending and receiving text messages and emails. “
More at: http://www.metnews.com/sos.cgi?0413//JAD13-02
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