By Jody Godoy
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Trade Commission charged Asbury (NYSE:) Automotive Group on Friday, saying three of its dealerships in Texas charged Black and Latino customers higher prices than others and routinely added services to customers’ contracts without their consent.
Up to 75 % of customers at Asbury ‘s David McDavid Ford ( NYSE 🙂 dealership in Fort Worth, and Honda (NYSE:) dealers in Irving and Frisco, Texas, reported being charged for services such as protective coatings, service contracts and insurance without their consent, the FTC said.
In some cases, customers had the services refused or were incorrectly told they were required, while in other cases consent was never asked, the FTC said.
The dealers charged black customers $298 more and Latino customers $214 more on average for the same additional products than white customers who were not Latino, the FTC said.
Asbury said it rejects the allegation and will fight the lawsuit. It denied in a statement that minority customers were charged more for protection products than other customers.
The company said it verified through a Freedom of Information Act request that the FTC received no consumer complaints about McDavid dealers between 2019 and late spring 2024.
“We will not allow the FTC to impose fines on us or subject us to onerous requirements that would negatively impact our customers’ car buying experience, would not apply to others and would put us at a competitive disadvantage in the industry CEO David Hult said in a statement.
Asbury operates more than 155 dealerships in more than a dozen states.
All five FTC commissioners voted to approve the case against Asbury, although Andrew Ferguson, one of the two Republican commissioners, objected to using a separate case settled Thursday against another dealership to classify discrimination as an unfair trade practice .
FTC Chair Lina Khan and Democratic commissioners said Thursday that exempting discriminatory conduct from unfair practices would give companies that discriminate a pass.
