One of my favorite hypocrisies about TV news is that they’ll file countless reports about conmen, rogue contractors, scammers and other “consumer protection” stories and then, once the report ends, turn around and air commercials from shady car dealerships that prey upon consumers.
You know, commercials like this one from Seth Wadley Ford in Pauls Valley:
Yep! That’s right. “The price you see is the price you pay” and “the truth costs less” at Seth Wadley Ford… except, according to the Federal Trade Commission, that may not always be the case.
Thanks to a tip via the Ogle Mole Network, we’ve learned that Seth Wadley Auto Group – the rural Oklahoma dealership chain that enjoyed 15 minutes of national fame during Tiger King – was recently revealed to be one of 97 dealership groups across the country that received a strongly worded letter from the FTC warning about deceptive pricing practices.
Here are the details from TheDrive.com:
Back in March, the Feds sent notice to nearly 100 car dealerships warning them to stop engaging in deceptive pricing practices—or else. But despite making a pretty big deal about the whole thing at the time, the FTC declined to publicly identify the dealerships they’d sent warnings to. Late last week, the FTC dumped the full list of recipients online.
Automotive News shared highlights of the list, which is available (somewhat piecemeal and in no obvious order) on the agency’s website, where you can peruse them at your discretion. There are some nationally recognizable names in the list, including AutoNation and Hendrick Automotive Group. Also among the recipients was Lithia Group, which represents more dealers in the U.S. than any other single entity.
I scrolled through the complete list and, somewhat surprisingly, Seth Wadley appears to be the only Oklahoma auto dealer to make it. Considering we’re the same state that has David Stanley, Sabih Kalidy and Bob Howard, that seems kind of surprising.
Here’s what the letter warned recipients about:
• Advertising a price that does not reflect all required fees,
• Advertising a price that reflects rebates or discounts not available to all consumers,
• Advertising a price that fails to take into account the amount of an additional required down payment,
• Conditioning the advertised price on consumers using dealer financing,
• Requiring consumers to buy additional items not reflected in the advertised price, and
• Advertising unavailable or nonexistent vehicles.
So, basically, the FTC put Seth Wadley on notice for the same type of bait-and-switch dealership nonsense that has made buying a car one of the most miserable consumer experiences in American life. Who knows! Maybe that’s why Seth got that big ass whoopin’ a few years ago!
For giggles, I checked the Oklahoma Motor Vehicle Commission to see if Seth Wadley has paid any recent fines for deceptive advertising, similar to the big $350,000 fine David Stanley was forced to pay about a decade ago, and they appear to be in the clear.
That’s nice for them!
Anyway, I guess you can read more about this story over at TheDrive.com. Or, if you’re patient, maybe you can wait for one of the local TV news stations to cover it in their next hard-hitting consumer protection report… assuming, of course, they can squeeze it in between Seth Wadley commercials.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
