Honest Abe Auto Sales – a string of four car dealerships in the Indianapolis area – is being forced to pay back nearly half a million dollars to customers it, well, lied to. The dealers, which are operated by Sycamore Companies, were accused of bait-and-switch sales tactics, false advertised prices and preying on shoppers with poor credit scores.
The stores would apparently advertise specific prices on vehicles, but the salespeople would increase the prices by thousands of dollars when customers with poor credit tried to buy them, according to the Indianapolis Star. On top of that, the stores would not disclose the price increase as a cost of credit. It’s just a shitty move all-round, and not befitting of the “Honest Abe” name. More than 250 customers were scammed by the dealer, and now it has settled with the attorney general’s office and agreed to pay back customers a total of $470,646.
Here’s more on the July 7 settlement, from the IndyStar:
“We won’t tolerate businesses breaking the law and duping Hoosiers into paying higher prices than advertised,” Attorney General Rokita said. “Regardless of their credit scores, consumers should never encounter bait-and-switch tactics in which prices change the second customers arrive in person.”
[…]
“The fact they call themselves ‘Honest Abe’ just makes the facts of this case especially rich,” Rokita said.
The business is now barred from using similar deceptive tactics in the future, according to Fox 59.
Perhaps they will change their ways, but if we know anything about car dealers, this probably isn’t the case. Dealers have been on a bit of a bad-boy streak lately. Recently we’ve covered how one of them totaled a $97,000 Camaro while joyriding in it, a dealer who sold a customer’s Mustang to a fundraiser without his permission and a dealer that is being sued because it took back a man’s new car after his credit was retroactively denied.