[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 230 (Tuesday, December 1, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75105-75106]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-30358]
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
[File No. 142 3133]
Progressive Chevrolet Company and Progressive Motors, Inc.;
Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.
ACTION: Proposed consent agreement.
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SUMMARY: The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged
violations of federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or
practices. The attached Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes both
the allegations in the draft complaint and the terms of the consent
order--embodied in the consent agreement--that would settle these
allegations.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before December 28, 2015.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/progressivechevroletconsent online or on
paper, by following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of
the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``Progressive
Chevrolet Company and Progressive Motors, Inc.--Consent Agreement; File
No. 142 3133'' on your comment and file your comment online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/progressivechevroletconsent by following
the instructions on the web-based form. If you prefer to file your
comment on paper, write ``Progressive Chevrolet Company and Progressive
Motors, Inc.--Consent Agreement; File No. 142 3133'' on your comment
and on the envelope, and mail your comment to the following address:
Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania
Avenue NW., Suite CC-5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20580, or deliver
your comment to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office
of the Secretary, Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor,
Suite 5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Rose, East Central Region,
(216) 263-3412, 1111 Superior Avenue, Suite 200, Cleveland, OH 44114.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to Section 6(f) of the Federal
Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 2.34, 16 CFR 2.34,
notice is hereby given that the above-captioned consent agreement
containing consent order to cease and desist, having been filed with
and accepted, subject to final approval, by the Commission, has been
placed on the public record for a period of thirty (30) days. The
following Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes the terms of the
consent agreement, and the allegations in the complaint. An electronic
copy of the full text of the consent agreement package can be obtained
from the FTC Home Page (for November 24, 2015), on the World Wide Web
at: http://www.ftc.gov/os/actions.shtm.
You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before December 28,
2015. Write ``Progressive Chevrolet Company and Progressive Motors,
Inc.--Consent Agreement; File No. 142 3133'' on your comment. Your
comment--including your name and your state--will be placed on the
public record of this proceeding, including, to the extent practicable,
on the public Commission Web site, at http://www.ftc.gov/os/publiccomments.shtm. As a matter of discretion, the Commission tries to
remove individuals' home contact information from comments before
placing them on the Commission Web site.
Because your comment will be made public, you are solely
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any
sensitive personal information, like anyone's Social Security number,
date of birth, driver's license number or other state identification
number or foreign country equivalent, passport number, financial
account number, or credit or debit card number. You are also solely
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any
sensitive health information, like medical records or other
individually identifiable health information. In addition, do not
include any ``[t]rade secret or any commercial or financial information
which . . . is privileged or confidential,'' as discussed in Section
6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR
4.10(a)(2). In particular, do not include competitively sensitive
information such as costs, sales statistics, inventories, formulas,
patterns, devices, manufacturing processes, or customer names.
If you want the Commission to give your comment confidential
treatment, you must file it in paper form, with a request for
confidential treatment, and you have to follow the procedure explained
in FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).\1\ Your comment will be kept
confidential only if the FTC General Counsel, in his or her sole
discretion, grants your request in accordance with the law and the
public interest.
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\1\ In particular, the written request for confidential
treatment that accompanies the comment must include the factual and
legal basis for the request, and must identify the specific portions
of the comment to be withheld from the public record. See FTC Rule
4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).
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Postal mail addressed to the Commission is subject to delay due to
heightened security screening. As a result, we encourage you to submit
your comments online. To make sure that the Commission considers your
online comment, you must file it at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/progressivechevroletconsent by following the instructions on the
web-based form. If this Notice appears at http://www.regulations.gov/#!home, you also may file a comment through that Web site.
If you file your comment on paper, write ``Progressive Chevrolet
Company and Progressive Motors, Inc.--Consent Agreement; File No. 142
3133'' on your comment and on the envelope, and mail your comment to
the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the
Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite CC-5610 (Annex D),
Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your comment to the following address:
Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Constitution Center,
400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC
20024. If possible, submit your paper comment to the Commission by
courier or overnight service.
Visit the Commission Web site at http://www.ftc.gov to read this
Notice and the news release describing it. The FTC Act and other laws
that the Commission administers permit the collection of public
comments to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. The
Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments that
it receives on or before December 28, 2015. You can find more
information, including routine
[[Page 75106]]
uses permitted by the Privacy Act, in the Commission's privacy policy,
at http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.
Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment
The Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'') has accepted, subject to
final approval, an agreement containing a consent order from
Progressive Chevrolet Company and Progressive Motors, Inc. The proposed
consent order has been placed on the public record for thirty (30) days
for receipt of comments by interested persons. Comments received during
this period will become part of the public record. After thirty (30)
days, the FTC will again review the agreement and the comments
received, and will decide whether it should withdraw from the agreement
and take appropriate action or make final the agreement's proposed
order.
The respondents are motor vehicle dealers. According to the FTC
complaint, respondents advertised that consumers could lease the
advertised vehicles at the monthly payment amounts prominently stated
in their advertisements. The complaint alleges that respondents
violated Section 5(a) of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C.
45(a), because they failed to disclose, and/or failed to disclose
adequately, that the offer requires a minimum credit score that is
greater than the credit score of the majority of consumers. This
information would be material to consumers in deciding whether to visit
respondents' dealerships and/or whether to lease an automobile from
respondents. The complaint also alleges that respondents' leasing
advertisements violated the Consumer Leasing Act (CLA) and Regulation M
by failing to disclose or to disclose clearly and conspicuously
required terms. Specifically, respondents' advertisements prominently
stated the monthly payment amounts for a vehicle lease--a triggering
term under the CLA--but failed to disclose, or inconspicuously
disclosed at the bottom of the ad in much smaller type, the required
information set forth by the CLA. The proposed order is designed to
prevent the respondents from engaging in similar deceptive practices in
the future.
Part I.A. addresses the Section 5 allegation by
prohibiting respondents from advertising the amount of any monthly
payment, periodic payment, initial payment, or down payment, or the
length of payment term, unless the representation is non-misleading,
and respondents clearly and conspicuously disclose all qualifications
or restrictions on the consumer's ability to obtain the represented
terms, including qualifications or restrictions based on the consumer's
credit score. Additionally, if a majority of consumers likely will not
be able to meet a credit score qualification or restriction stated in
the advertisement, respondents must clearly and conspicuously disclose
that fact.
Part I.B.1. provides that the respondents shall not
misrepresent the cost of financing the purchase of an automobile,
including by misrepresenting the amount or percentage of the down
payment, the number of payments or period of repayment, the amount of
any payment, and the repayment obligation over the full term of the
loan, including any balloon payment.
Part I.B.2. provides that the respondents shall not
misrepresent the cost of leasing an automobile, including by
misrepresenting the total amount due at lease inception, the down
payment, amount down, acquisition fee, capitalized cost reduction, any
other amount required to be paid at lease inception, and the amounts of
all monthly or other periodic payments.
Part I.C. provides that the respondents shall not
misrepresent any other material fact about the price, sale, financing,
or leasing of any automobile.
Part II of the order addresses the CLA and Regulation M
allegations by prohibiting lease advertisements that:
A. State the amount of any payment or that any or no initial
payment is required at lease inception, without disclosing clearly and
conspicuously the following terms:
[cir] That the transaction advertised is a lease;
[cir] The total amount due prior to or at consummation or by
delivery, if delivery occurs after consummation;
[cir] the number, amounts, and timing of scheduled payments;
[cir] whether or not a security deposit is required; and
[cir] that an extra charge may be imposed at the end of the lease
term where the consumer's liability (if any) is based on the difference
between the residual value of the leased property and its realized
value at the end of the lease term.
B. Fail to comply in any respect with Regulation M, 12 CFR part
213, as amended, and the Consumer Leasing Act, 15 U.S.C. 1667-1667f, as
amended.
Part III requires respondents to keep copies of relevant
advertisements and materials containing representations.
Part IV requires that respondents provide copies of the
order to certain of their personnel.
Part V requires notification to the Commission regarding
changes in corporate structure that might affect compliance obligations
under the order. Part VI requires the respondents to file compliance
reports with the Commission. Finally, Part VII is a provision
``sunsetting'' the order after twenty (20) years, with certain
exceptions.
The purpose of this analysis is to aid public comment on the
proposed order. It is not intended to constitute an official
interpretation of the complaint or proposed order, or to modify in any
way the proposed order's terms.
By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015-30358 Filed 11-30-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P