NEVER trust a car dealer to make sure a car is safe.

When you shop at a car dealership, you shouldn’t have to worry that they’re deliberately selling you a deathtrap. But that’s what many unscrupulous new and used car dealers all over America are doing.

Car dealers keep getting caught selling vehicles with deadly safety recall defects, like faulty brakes, loss of steering, catching on fire, sticking accelerator pedals, and exploding Takata airbags that shoot metal shrapnel into the passenger compartment, causing drivers and passengers to lose their eyesight, suffer brain damage, or bleed to death.

Car dealers coast-to-coast are exploiting the widespread misconception that if you shop at a dealership, they must have gotten any deadly safety defects fixed. Otherwise, why pay extra, if the car is no safer than if you bought it from a stranger who posted it on Craig’s List?

Even highly sophisticated consumers, including Members of Congress and reporters who cover the automotive industry, suffer from this mistaken belief that somehow vehicles are safer if they’re on a car dealer’s lot.

That erroneous belief tends to be even stronger when the dealer claims the vehicle was thoroughly inspected, and when the dealer is a major franchised dealership.

U.S. Rep. MarkWayn Mullin, of Oklahoma, a GOP Member of Congress, stated at a Congressional hearing on auto safety that “I understand the responsibility of the driver. But at the same time, if you buy a vehicle new or used, you assume everything’s perfect on it.”

The former Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Dr. Mark Rosekind, who was testifying at the hearing on behalf of the Obama Administration, agreed.

Recently, Automotive News reporter Richard Truett wrote:

“For me, there’s a certain trust the comes with buying a used car from a franchised new-car dealer. I feel I’m not going to get an unsafe car. And it’s worth paying a small premium to know that the vehicle has been inspected and that technicians examined the critical items. Most techs, I believe, would not let a used vehicle go out for sale if they wouldn’t put their own family in it.”

Sadly, that trust is terribly misplaced. As many news organizations have reported, and the CARS Foundation and our research partners at U.S.PIRG and the Frontier Group have repeatedly found, both new car dealers and used car dealers routinely fail to get deadly safety recall defects repaired, even though the repairs are free.

A car dealer in Hartford, Connecticut sold a young African-American man who was buying his first car a 2011 Hyundai Sonata SE with an appalling 11 unrepaired safety recalls. The safety defects included: faulty airbags, bad brakes, stalling in traffic, and other life-threatening defects. He fought back and won a favorable decision in arbitration, including a refund and his attorneys fees.

More reports about car dealers who sell unrepaired recalled cars with deadly safety recall defects:

Click here to see CARS’ tips for how to get a good deal on a safe used car without having to deal with professional crooks who put their short-term profits ahead of your safety, and the safety of your family and friends.

CarMax settles charges it illegally dumped hazardous waste throughout California

CarMax agreed to pay $1.6 million to settle lawsuits brought by 16 District Attorneys  charging the auto dealership chain with illegally dumping hazardous materials at CarMax stores throughout the state of California, for six years, from 2014 – 2020.

According to news releases issued by the District Attorneys, CarMax illegally disposed of solvents, aerosols, automotive paints, clear coats, and other hazardous substances that the company used during the auto body repair process.

CarMax also continues to sell hazardous unrepaired recalled used cars without bothering to get the free safety recall repairs done first, placing its customers and others who share the roads at risk of being injured or killed.

See a pattern?

Read more:

CarMax settles environmental lawsuit with San Diego, 15 other California counties

New York Honda dealership penalized over discriminatory practices

Car dealers and lenders keep getting caught engaging in discriminatory practices, cheating consumers based on race, particularly harming car buyers who are African American and Latino.

It’s illegal, but many auto dealers persist in targeting people of color, selling them overpriced junkers and charging them extra for worthless add-ons and sky-high interest rates.

One of the more blatant examples: According to the Federal Trade Commission, “Bronx Honda told their employees to charge African-American and Latino people higher interest rates and fees when they applied for dealer financing.” The agency also said that the dealership paid their employees bonuses for ripping off people of color. The worse the terms, the higher the bonuses.

“People who were shopping for a Certified Pre-Owned Honda were also told that ‘certification’ and other fees (which often added up to $3000) were required. Despite the fact that the cars were Certified Pre-Owned before they arrived on the sales floor.”

The FTC also alleged the dealership often added additional “fees,” in the form of a higher total sales price or monthly installments, without telling the buyers. This scam is very popular among auto dealers, who exploit “e-contracting” to conceal the predatory prices from their victims.

Sometimes, consumers never even see what is on the computer screen. They don’t know what the real cost is until it’s too late.  CARS heard from one consumer who bought a new car from a dealership in Vallejo, California, who was repeatedly promised it would cost $24,000. But when the contract was printed out, with his “e-signature” on it, the price was over $48,000 — more than double what the dealer had promised.

How can you avoid paying too much for your next car? Here are CARS’ tips for car buyers, showing step by step how to get a good deal on a safe, reliable used car without having to buy from a professional, racist crook.

FTC News release: NYC Car Dealer Accused of Discriminatory Lending

Santander to pay $550 million over predatory auto loans

Greedy subprime auto lending giant Santander is settling charges filed by 33 state Attorneys General and the District of Columbia, by paying $550 million.

The law enforcement officials charged Santander with engaging in predatory auto lending practices, including:

  • Approving auto loans Santander knew low-income car buyers could not possibly repay, resulting in an astronomical and devastating default rate of over 70%
  • Turning a blind eye to common scams that auto dealers engage in, such as falsifying loan applications to make it appear the used car buyers had far more income than they really had

“Santander profited by approving high-cost loans to disadvantaged auto buyers who were doomed from the start,” said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra in a statement.

As part of the settlement, Santander will provide over $99 million in relief to thousands of California consumers who Santander approved for its abusive high-cost loans.

Consumers with the lowest quality loans who had defaulted as of December 31, 2019, and have not had their cars repossessed, will be allowed to keep their car and have any deficiency balance on the loan (up to a total value of $45 million in deficiency waivers nationwide) waived.

Santander will also waive the deficiency balances for certain defaulted consumers across the country, with approximately $433 million in immediate forgiveness of loans still owned by Santander, and additional deficiency waivers of loans that Santander no longer owns but is required to attempt to buy back.

When consumers default on auto loans, lenders like Santander swoop in and repossess their vehicles,  often causing them to lose their jobs. When car buyers lose their only way to get to work, some become homeless. In states like California with huge areas that provide little access to public transportation, losing a vehicle can be a death sentence, particularly for people who are elderly or disabled, or live in rural areas or other parts of the state where they are unable to access health care without a car.

Did you have an auto loan with Santander?  Or was your vehicle repossessed by Santander?  We’re very interested in hearing from you. Please contact CARS, so we can listen to your story and help prevent more people from falling prey to scummy subprime auto lenders.

Read more:

Attorney General Becerra Announces Over $550 Million Settlement Against Nation’s Largest Subprime Auto Financing Company for Deceptive Auto Loan Practices

HUGELY popular, hilarious, and biting John Oliver video showing how unscrupulous auto dealers and lenders scam car buyers

California DMV punishes car buyers for others’ debts

Yes, it’s unfair. And yes it’s crazy.  Especially now, when California Governor Gavin Newsom and his administration are working hard to protect consumers from debt collectors during the pandemic, to mitigate the economic fallout.

But if you buy a used car in California, the California Department of Motor Vehicles can sock you with having to pay for past-due registration fees and penalties owed by the former owner.

Imagine the shock car buyers feel when they buy a used car, only to find out later that it comes with an unwanted accessory —  a boatload of bad debt.

This happens even to consumers who shop at auto dealerships. And there’s no limit on how much extra you can be charged. An overdue registration can cost you $300, $1000 or more in hidden, unexpected fees and penalties.

California law allows the DMV to impose a lien on the registration, until it is paid in full. It’s illegal to drive a car with expired license tags or registration. So if you refuse to pay, or can’t afford the unexpected expense, you can lose your car. The California Highway Patrol can pull you over, issue a “fix-it” ticket that you can’t afford to fix, or impound your car. If you aren’t the registered owner, you can’t get your car out of impound, even if you scrape together the cash to pay the hefty towing and impound fees.

Glenn Harris, a U.S. Army veteran and devoted family man with a wife and three children, testified before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary and described their ordeal:

“While I was driving to work recently, the CHP pulled me over. They noticed that I was driving with a temporary sticker that had expired, and my car was impounded. The CHP also said there was over a year of back fees owed to DMV that Express Auto Sales never paid.

They said we had to pay the DMV those extra fees, from before we even bought the car, before it could be registered in our names. We can’t afford to pay DMV those unexpected fees, that were not disclosed when we bought the car, on top of what we’re already paying the bank.

I can’t afford to pay the hefty impound fees, which are hundreds of dollars. I also can’t get the car out of impound because I am not the registered owner. Even if I got the car out of impound, I couldn’t afford to get it registered, so I may get pulled over and ticketed again.”

What will it take for the California DMV and lawmakers to end this grossly unfair practice, which can ruin the lives of innocent used car buyers who have done nothing wrong?  All they did was to buy a car from a licensed dealership.

How many Californians have already been made homeless because the DMV and law enforcement agencies seized their vehicles — often their only means of transportation to get to work or school, buy groceries and access medical care and other necessities of life?

Read more: California Vehicle Code Section 9562. (a) When a transferee or purchaser of a vehicle applies for transfer of registration, as provided in Section 5902, and it is determined by the department that registration penalties accrued prior to the purchase of the vehicle, and that the transferee or purchaser was not cognizant of the nonpayment of the fees for registration for the current or prior registration years, the department may [or may not] waive the registration penalties upon payment of the fees for registration due.

This means that the DMV might choose to waive the penalties, but not the past-due registration fees, even if the consumer can somehow convince the DMV that they are totally innocent and were unaware of the prior owner’s debt.

Auto dealerships re-open – but is shopping there safe?

Buying cars at auto dealerships has always been risky.  But especially now, when you may be exposed to Covid-19, the risks are even greater. Plus Covid-19 isn’t the only health and safety risk you face if you shop at a car dealership.

Many auto dealers don’t care enough about their customers’ safety to take the simple step of ensuring that FREE safety recall repairs are done to fix deadly safety recall defects.

Auto dealers neglect to get free repairs done to fix killer defects like:

  • bad brakes
  • steering wheels that literally come off in the driver’s hands
  • exploding Takata airbags that are like having a hand grenade go off in your face, causing blindness or bleeding to death
  • catching on fire
  • sticking accelerator pedals

So can you trust auto dealers to protect you from Coronavirus?  Obviously, the answer is NO.

Even huge auto dealership chains like CarMax and AutoNation sell hazardous vehicles with safety defects that have killed hundreds of people and seriously injured thousands more.

They spend millions in advertising to lure car buyers to their stores, trumpeting that vehicles they offer for sale must pass an “inspection.” They list over 100 components that are supposedly inspected. But don’t be fooled. They routinely fail to fix components with serious safety recall defects that are likely to kill you or someone you love.

CarMax is the largest retailer of used cars in the U.S.  They raked in over $18 billion in revenue last year, and are publicly traded on Wall Street.

CarMax used to hire employees and task them with delivering recalled cars to nearby new car dealerships for free repairs.  New car dealers liked to get the work. Auto manufacturers compensate their franchised dealers for performing safety recall repairs, so it’s a money-maker for them.

But then CarMax decided they could make more money by lowballing consumers who traded in recalled vehicles, then selling them rapid-fire for high retail as “CarMax Quality Certified” vehicles without waiting for the free repairs.

AutoNation is also publicly traded on Wall Street and boasts they are a Fortune 500 company with over $21 billion in revenue. Their largest investors include the trust controlled by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

At first, AutoNation announced they would guarantee that all their vehicles were recall-free.  But when Trump was elected, faced with competitive pressure from CarMax for investor dollars, they gave up and started selling dangerous recalled vehicles too.

The kicker: If you are injured or killed, or harm someone else because of an unrepaired safety recall defect, the dealers will blame YOU for buying a dangerous car from them.

Learn more:

CBS News:CarMax Accused of Selling Unsafe Vehicles

CBS This Morning: AutoNation Accused of Selling Recalled Cars

CARS tips: How to get a good deal on a nice, safe used car without the risks of buying from a dealer

Greedy car dealers snatch paycheck protection funds from small businesses

Profiles in GREED:

Multi-billion $$ mega-dealers AutoNation, Penske, and Group One Grab

At least $144 million from Paycheck Protection Plan

Trump Administration Aided Giant Corporations in Exploiting Loophole

AutoNation, the nation’s largest retailer of new vehicles, boasts that it’s a “Fortune 500” company with 26,000 employees and stores in over 300 locations in 18 states. In 2019, AutoNation raked in over $21 billion in revenue.

The corporate behemoth is also publicly traded on Wall Street. According to Barrons, “Bill Gates remains AutoNation’s largest shareholder. Through shares held by the [Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation] trust and 18.4 million AutoNation shares that Cascade owns, the co-founder of Microsoft (MSFT) still has total ownership of 19.3 AutoNation shares, a 21.6% stake.”

Penske Automotive, another giant auto dealership chain publicly traded on Wall Street, hauled in over $22.8 billion last year.

Group One Auto’s annual revenue was $12 billion.

So how did AutoNation, Penske, and Group One grab at least $144 million from the U.S. Treasury’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), while struggling businesses like restaurants, beauty parlors, nail salons, print shops, booksellers, self-employed people, and other small businesses tried in vain to access relief that was supposedly going to help them keep the wolves from their doors?

The PPP was supposed to be limited to businesses with fewer than 500 employees. But AutoNation, Penske, and Group One exploited a loophole provided by the Trump Administration’s Small Business Administration for mega-businesses with franchises in multiple locations, allowing them to each file for relief separately, even when they are all owned by the same conglomerate.

The National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) tutored its mega-dealer members on how to exploit the loophole, instructing them how to get around the 500-employee limit. The key to evading that limit was for the auto manufacturers to get a “franchise identifier code” from the Small Business Administration, so their dealerships could all masquerade as “small businesses” even when in reality they are enormous.

The NADA also engaged in various machinations to make sure all their dealer members, regardless their size, could apply for the taxpayer funds. The NADA brags that when the CARS Act was first passed, only about 25% of the U.S. auto manufacturers had obtained the coveted codes from the Small Business Administration. However, “in response to strong urging from NADA, all [the auto manufacturers] without codes quickly applied for them. And again in response to NADA’s advocacy, the SBA has now granted all of those applications.”

Basically, the NADA is trumpeting the fact that huge auto dealership chains exerted their influence with the Trump Administration, to get the SBA to expedite providing those handy “franchise identifier codes” in time to scarf up at least $144 million of taxpayer dollars before day care centers, ice cream parlors, pet sitting services, bakeries, or other mom and pop stores desperate for cash even had a chance.

The NADA’s tips are posted on their website, showing dealers how to game the system.

In fact, AutoNation may have snatched even more. According to the Washington Post, “Documents show the company may have received even more money, a total of $95 million, spread across dozens of locations, an amount that would be more than triple the amount any company is known to have received through the fund.” The article notes that “AutoNation disputes the $95 million figure.”

While AutoNation claims it has returned $77 million in taxpayer funds it scooped up from the PPP, without an independent audit of the program, they can hardly be believed. For weeks, while other corporations like Shake Shak and Ruth’s Christ SteakHouse, facing a firestorm of protests, surrendered their ill-gotten millions. Meanwhile, ignoring the plight of small businesses and laid-off workers, AutoNation callously clung to the vast sums they seized from taxpayers — until they were contacted by reporters from the Washington Post.

This is not the only way AutoNation is exploiting loopholes provided to auto dealers by the Trump Administration.

AutoNation is also jeopardizing public safety by deliberately selling its customers hazardous vehicles without repairing deadly safety recall defects first.

When Trump was elected, AutoNation’s CEO Mike Jackson announced AutoNation was reversing its policy of guaranteeing a recall-free car, and commenced selling dangerous deathtrap vehicles — including vehicles AutoNation knows cannot be repaired for prolonged periods, due to severe shortages of replacement parts.

Last fall, researchers for USPIRG Education Fund, the Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety Foundation, and Frontier Group found that more than 1 in every 9 vehicles AutoNation offered for sale at 28 dealerships in 12 states, among 2,400 vehicles surveyed, had at least one unrepaired safety recall. Typical defects: catching on fire, faulty brakes, loss of steering, sticking accelerator pedals, and explosive Takata airbags that are ticking time bombs that spew shrapnel into drivers’ and passengers’ faces and necks, causing serious injuries including blindness and bleeding to death.

Read more:

Washington Post: “AutoNation, a Fortune 500 company worth billions, says it received nearly $80 million in SBA funds”

Automotive News: AutoNation retreats on used car recall policy

Unsafe Used Cars for Sale: Unrepaired recalled vehicles for sale at AutoNation dealerships

Beware: Auto Lending Scams Can Cost You $$ and Harm Your Credit

Times of crisis tend to bring out the best in some people — and the worst in others. At the same time the nation is cheering on the courageous doctors, nurses, emergency medical technicians, firefighters, delivery workers, grocery store workers, and others toiling on the front lines to save lives, unscrupulous auto dealers continue to scam car buyers who fall into their clutches.

Auto sales have plummeted drastically. Some states have ordered auto dealerships to close their doors. But others are allowing them to remain open, deeming them to be an “essential” service, particularly for performing safety recall repairs.

Consumers are wise to be wary about making a major purchase when they are being laid off in record numbers, or their jobs are uncertain, at best.  Plus no one knows for sure how long it will take for the economy to recover.

Auto manufacturers and dealers are responding to consumers’ anxiety and the downturn in car sales by advertising 0% financing and delayed payments, in an attempt to lure car buyers. But beware: many car buyers may not quality for those special rates, and after the “payment holiday” is over, you may be hit with hefty fees or other extra charges hidden in the fine print.

Even more than before, it pays to be cautious and shop around for credit before you buy.  The safest thing to do is to join a credit union and get financing approved before you shop for a car. NEVER trust a dealer to find you the best terms for an auto loan.

Car dealers don’t want you to know this, but they rake in extra profits from lenders in exchange for raising the interest rate on auto loans, above the rate you qualify to get, based on your creditworthiness. The extra kickback is known as the “dealer markup” or “dealer participation.” It’s usually split with the lender, and can add thousands of dollars onto the price of your auto loan. It’s added profit, at your expense, and a huge source of revenue for auto dealers and lenders.

Beware: Auto dealers often claim in advertising and in person that they are shopping around for financing in order to find you “the best rate.” What they really mean is the best rate for THEM, not for YOU. In fact, lenders compete with each other to offer dealers incentives and sweeteners for assigning auto loans to them — costing you more.

You may also be surprised to learn that even if you never buy a car from a dealership, but just happen to walk onto a car dealer’s lot and browse around or test drive a car, unethical dealers may get your name, then pull your credit report and shop around for financing — without your permission. Their goal: to find out what you can afford to pay, and how much added “markup”  they can get from various lenders for selling you a car, and assigning the sales contract to one of those lenders.

When dealers pull this stunt and shop around among many lenders, it’s known in the automotive trade as “shotgunning” credit. Under some circumstances, it may cause only a small dip in your credit score. But particularly if dealers pull your credit repeatedly, over a period of time, it can cause your credit score to plummet, greatly increasing the cost of credit for future purchases. It’s also an invasion of your privacy and may leave you more vulnerable to identity theft.

In one court case that is now pending in Pennsylvania, a consumer alleges that she popped into a Volkswagen dealership, but made it clear she wasn’t going to buy a car, and was just scoping out various models. She didn’t sign anything. But the dealer made 7 “hard pulls” on her credit, causing her credit score to take a nose dive.

According to the lawsuit, this was a violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The complaint filed by her attorneys says that the Federal Trade Commission warned car dealers in 1998 not to pull consumers’ credit reports unless there is a  “legitimate business need for the information in connection with a business transaction that is initiated by the consumer.

The FTC noted that the Texas Automobile Dealers Association asked for an official opinion whether federal law “allows a dealer to obtain a consumer report on a person who ‘comes to an automobile dealership and requests information’ from a salesman about one or more automobiles.” The FTC replied: “In our view it does not, because a request for general information about products and prices offered does NOT involve a business transaction initiated by the consumer.” (FTC Advisory Letter to Coffey, 2-11-98. Emphasis added.)

Bottom line: Especially now, you’re smart to shop around for credit before you set foot on a car dealer’s lot, and to be wary of enticing deals that sound too good to be true.

Has a car dealer “shotgunned” your credit, without your permission?  If so, we would like to hear from you. Here’s where to contact CARS: http://carconsumers.org/feedback.php

Thank you! Your stories help raise awareness and help prevent predatory auto lending practices that harm even the most savvy consumers and their families.

Read more:

PocketSense: “Is a Credit Score Affected by Car Dealer Searches?”

Credit Karma’s Advice “The Best Place to Get a Car Loan”

Are car dealers exposing people to coronavirus?

Many car dealers engage in reckless practices that put lives at risk. Like selling new or used vehicles without bothering to get the FREE safety recall defects fixed first. Tragically, some people have been seriously injured or killed by car dealers who sold them cars, trucks, or SUVs with deadly defects.

So it’s only reasonable to ask: Are auto dealers also exposing car buyers and their families to the coronavirus? Some car dealers are attempting to reassure prospective car buyers, who are understandably concerned about the coronavirus pandemic, not to worry. For example, AutoNation claims on Twitter that it ” can service and then sanitize your vehicle with Clorox® Total 360®.” The use of the term “sanitize” implies that there’s nothing to worry about.

But how can anyone trust AutoNation, when their then-CEO told the whole world — right after Pres. Trump was elected — they were going to rev up their sales of seriously defective recalled used cars? Especially vehicles where there are no replacement parts available, so if you buy one of their “cream puffs,” there’s no way you can get it fixed, for weeks or months. Meanwhile, you are left to ride around in a potential deathtrap.

Last fall, Researchers found that more than 1 in 9 vehicles AutoNation was offering for sale at various stores across the nation had at least one unrepaired safety recall defect. Like faulty brakes, catching on fire, loss of steering, accelerator pedals that stick, stalling in traffic, hoods that fly up and obscure the driver’s vision, and many vehicles with ticking time bomb Takata airbags that explode like having a hand grenade go off in your car, causing devastating injuries such as blindness or bleeding to death.

If a huge car dealership chain that rakes in billions of dollars a year, is a Fortune 500 company, and touts Bill Gates as its biggest investor, will stoop to deliberately selling vehicles that grossly defective and unsafe, can you trust them to protect you from an unseen threat like coronavirus? Do you want to bet your life on it?

Too Risky: Buying A Car from a Dealer can Ruin Your Life

The car dealership looks like a gleaming palace. But what is really happening inside?

Some car dealers sell vehicles they don’t own. They also fail to pay off the loans on vehicles that are traded in. They ruin their customers credit and sometimes also their lives.

Robert Anglen, consumer reporter for the Arizona Republic, investigated dealerships in Arizona that ripped off consumers in multiple states, leaving them with faulty vehicles and stuck trying to make loan payments on two cars — even ones they had traded in, that were sold to someone else. Here’s what he found:

Read more: Arizona dealer didn’t pay off trades or transfer titles

How can you avoid become a victim of an unscrupulous auto dealer?  CARS tips for how to get a good deal on a safe, reliable used car, without having to set foot on a car dealer’s lot:  How to Buy a Used Car, Painlessly.

Truck from CarMax catches fire, nearly destroys home

Californian Anthony Santos’ house nearly burned down, after CarMax sold him an unrepaired, recalled, defective Ford F-150 truck that was prone to catching on fire. Before CarMax sold him the truck, Ford issued a safety recall, warning that the truck could short-circuit and cause a fire. But CarMax failed to take the truck to a Ford dealer for a free repair.

Making matters worse, CarMax also advertised that the truck passed its “125 point inspection.” But what good is an “inspection” that doesn’t catch safety recalls and get them fixed?

Mr. Santos hired a law firm to pursue justice against CarMax, under California state laws against fraud and other bad practices, aimed at protecting consumers from unscrupulous car dealers and other crooks. CarMax is evading responsibility and trying to foist off the blame on him.

Please help spread the word: Beware of CarMax. They sell dangerous cars and if the worst happens, they try to shift  the blame onto you.

Watch NBC Los Angeles news report about Mr. Santos and his flaming truck from CarMax.

California’s new temporary license tag law: for some car buyers, a nightmare on wheels

California car buyers face new headaches and hazards, thanks to a new law that took effect on January 1, 2019.  Some unlucky car buyers may end up losing their cars, and their jobs, or in prison — because someone else screwed up.

The new law requires car dealers to install temporary license tags that expire 90 days after consumers purchase a new or used car.

Until this year, dealers who sold cars without permanent plates taped a folded-up “report of sale” inside the back window, where the expiration date was difficult, or impossible, to read. The new temporary tags have prominent expiration dates and bar codes that make them easy for toll collectors, police, repossession companies, parking enforcement, and others to target, simply by scanning the tags with an inexpensive scanning tool.

In many other states, when you buy a car from a car dealer, the dealer must install permanent metal plates on your car before it leaves the lot. But in California, now dealers give you temporary tags, while you wait for the permanent plates to arrive.

Under California law, you must install the permanent plates as soon as you get them, or within that 90-day window. But here’s the catch:  if you don’t get the permanent plates on time, you can be pulled over by the police or Highway Patrol while you’re driving along and minding your own business, and ticketed for having expired tags — even if it’s not your fault.

You read that right. YOU are the one who suffers, even when it’s the car dealer, Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), or “first line service provider” chosen by the car dealer who failed to send you the permanent plates on time.

After 90 days are up, you are suddenly subject to being pulled over and ticketed, or worse.  The penalties don’t fit the “crime,” especially since the license numbers on the temp tags are clearly visible for an extended period, and may be legible for many more months, making your car easy for law enforcement, toll collectors, or others to spot.

Temporary tags may cause tickets to skyrocket

What will happen in California, now that temporary tags make it ridiculously easy for police, repossession companies, and others to track cars and scan the tags, so they can target consumers stuck with expired tags?

Here’s what happened in a small village on Long Island, New York, when police started using scanners to track cars: “Since the scanners went live Nov. 2, they have been triggering an average of 700 alarms a day, mainly about cars on the road with expired or suspended registration stickers. Officers have impounded 500 vehicles. They’ve written more than 2,000 court summonses, mostly for minor violations.”

When that’s what happens in a small village, how many more car owners will be ticketed, lose their cars, or be hauled into court in California?  Fasten your seatbelts. We’re in for a rough ride.

In response to a recent Public Records Act request from Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, the California Highway Patrol provided data showing that from January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2018, the CHP impounded 54,442 vehicles. Those numbers are likely to skyrocket.  Plus police and parking enforcement in cities, towns, and rural areas will issue more tickets and add even more cars to the pool of impounded vehicles.

No warning

The DMV fails to have a system in place to warn consumers about the potentially serious consequences of having an expired temp tag, or to remind hapless car buyers when the deadline is near. In fact, DMV officials tout being pulled over on the freeway, with traffic zooming by, or on a remote, isolated rural road, as an appropriate, effective way to learn your temp tags have expired and you are entering the twisted Twilight Zone of attempting to deal with deadbeat dealers and the DMV.

Serious risks

For most motorists, at a minimum, traffic stops cause anxiety and delays. The tickets are also costly and can cause real hardship.  For some, they can be fatal. What starts out as a routine traffic stop may escalate and rapidly spiral out of control. Relatively trivial violations sometimes lead to violent death. Especially when drivers are African-American, Latino, or other persons of color, they face a higher degree of serious, potentially life-threatening risks. Remember Philando Castile? And Sandra Bland?  They lost their lives during traffic stops for minor violations. But California’s DMV and other state officials blithely dismiss concerns about the safety of motorists who are pulled over by police or the CHP just because they have expired tags.

A fix-it ticket you cannot fix

The DMV also scoffs at the notion that being ticketed can have devastating economic consequences.  According to the DMV, “The fine amount can differ depending in the county where a violation occurs. The fines range from $25 with proof of correction up to $197 without proof of correction.” That may not seem like much to a highly paid, high-level DMV executive, but for many families struggling to make ends meet, that can be a real hit.

As if that’s not bad enough, the DMV adds: “Drivers may receive multiple tickets if they delay making the correction.” Uh-oh.

For many car buyers, trying to get “proof of correction” from the DMV is an exercise in extreme frustration. A common scenario: a car dealer goes out of business without submitting the registration documents, leaving hundreds of consumers unable to get their permanent plates.  When that happens, it can take the DMV more than a year to sort things out.

Meanwhile, YOU are the one waiting in line at the DMV, pleading for help, and getting hit with tickets — over and over again, sometimes until your car is towed away and impounded. Then you get hit with hefty towing and impound fees. Catch 22: If you’re not the registered owner, even if you pay all the fees, you still cannot reclaim your car.

Bottom line: Those tickets can add up. Fast. Even if you are trying desperately to get things fixed. Get too many citations, and your car is impounded by the police or CHP.  For someone who needs their vehicle to keep their job, or take their disabled child for medical treatments, or get their kids to day care or school, losing a car because it was impounded can be a disaster.

Whose idea was this absurdly unjust system?

Assemblymember Kevin Mullin (D-San Mateo) authored this anti-consumer legislation (AB 516) at the behest of toll companies, car dealers, “service providers” chosen by car dealers, and police agencies.

In 2013, toll companies complained to Mullin that they were losing millions of dollars in revenue when scofflaws driving newly purchased cars with car dealer tags on them blew through toll booths without paying the tolls.  The car dealer tags typically trumpet the name of the dealership — like “Toyota of XXX” — but provide no identifying number so that toll operators can locate the drivers and collect.

The toll collectors convinced Mullin to carry a bill to require temp tags, to stop the scofflaws and increase their revenues. But the first version of Mullin’s legislation, introduced in 2014, failed to pass, because it was opposed by the California New Car Dealers Association.

The dealers view tags that display their names as a terrific way to advertise. Temp tags could interfere with their unique way of getting their names in front of more eyeballs, on the roads and in driveways.

To appease the car dealers, the next year Mullin added an increase in the so-called “document fee” and other fees that car dealers and their “service providers” are allowed to charge consumers.  He also allowed the dealers to include the name of their dealership on the temporary tags, for advertising purposes.

The toll company / car dealer legislation was opposed by non-profit pro-consumer and civil rights groups, who sought reasonable protections for car buyers who cannot get their vehicles registered, or get their permanent plates, through no fault of their own. Those groups and attorneys who represent victims of abusive car dealer / DMV practices cited numerous examples of totally innocent consumers who have been pulled over and ticketed, even before the new law was on the books.

Some victims were also threatened with arrest, or actually handcuffed and arrested. Some had their cars towed away and impounded. Then the DMV refused to allow them to get their cars out of impound, even if they paid all the tickets and the hefty impound fees, because they weren’t the registered owners.  All because a car dealer, “service provider,” or the DMV messed up or deliberately stalled handing over their permanent plates.

New law threatens to harm low-income consumers and communities of color

One of the civil rights non-profits opposed to Assemblymember Mullin’s legislation, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the Bay Area, wrote:

“LCCR recently published, in collaboration with other groups, a report entitled Not Just a Ferguson Problem: How Traffic Courts Drive Inequality in California, which shows the many ways that low-income California drivers, and particularly communities of color, are impacted by unfair laws that result in license suspensions and hefty fines, and that lead people into an endless cycle of debt and court involvement from which they cannot extricate themselves. Rather than reverse this trend, AB 516 would contribute to it.”

Read more:  Letter from Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the Bay Area

Making matters worse: In California. car dealers are not required to provide car buyers their permanent plates within 90 days.  In fact, California’s DMV actually allows car dealers to have the plates sent to themselves, instead of the car buyers. This is an open invitation for dealers to cheat their customers.

Adding insult to injury: the car buyers pay the car dealer for the permanent plates and the registration when they buy the car. But they have no control over when their car is registered, or when they get their plates. They are at the mercy of the car dealers, the dealers’  “service providers,” and the DMV.  But it’s the car buyers who are penalized if the plates are late, or never arrive.  Obviously, this insane “Catch-22” system is rife for abuse.

Looking for help from the DMV? Good luck with that.

In response to complaints about abuses, DMV officials shrug and dismiss them, claiming that when a ticket is issued, it is merely a “fix-it” ticket.  But here’s the hitch: you cannot get it fixed.  Hapless car buyers have spent countless hours waiting in lines at the DMV, going back over and over again, pleading to have their registrations completed, only to be told:

  • “Sorry, there’s nothing the DMV can do.”
  • “Sorry, it’s under investigation and we have no idea how long that will take. It might take years.”
  • Sorry, before you can get the registration, and your plates, you need to post a bond.
  • “Sorry, there’s a problem with the registration, and you need to work it out with the dealer.”
  • “Sorry, someone needs to pay off a lien, that costs thousands of dollars, before the dealer can get the title and complete the registration.”
  • “Sorry, you need to pay off all the parking and speeding tickets — issued to the former owner — first.”
  • “Sorry, you need to pay the DMV for past registrations that were overdue, including the penalties.”

Temporary Operating Permits Scarce, Unpredictable

Occasionally, the DMV  doles out a “Temporary Operating Permit” to a consumer caught in this bind, but according to an official with the California State Transportation Agency, the DMV has no standards for deciding who gets a permit, or how long it lasts, leaving it up to the office manager’s “discretion.”  That lends itself to discrimination, based on whatever the manager’s biases may be.

However, before you can get a “Temporary Operating Permit,” the official wrote that “one requirement is that the registration fees have been paid”  — by the dealer. Good luck with that. That’s the deadbeat who ripped you off and went belly up without paying the fees to the DMV, or the arrogant characters in the gleaming palatial new car dealership who hang up on you whenever you call to inquire about when you can drive again without fear of being pulled over at gunpoint.

Why can’t you get your car registered, or get your permanent plates on time?

Common situations that lead to this nightmare scenario:

  • Glitches at the DMV, like entering the wrong Vehicle Identification Number, or losing track of the registration documentation.

 

  • Dealers who sell used vehicles without having the title, often because the former owner still owed money when he or she traded in their car. Their lender has a lien on the title, until the loan is paid in full. Until the dealer has a clear title, they may not be able to register the car.

 

  • Dealers who have the permanent license plates sent to them, instead of to the consumer.  The dealer refuses to send them the plates, and instead demands extra money  — holding the plates for ransom.

 

  • Dealers or “first line service providers” chosen by the dealer and approved by the DMV who fail to send the permanent plates on time, or send them to the wrong address

Dealers holding plates for ransom

Last year, a bus driver in Los Angeles  bought a used car from an independent used car lot.  As usual, she paid for the permanent plates and the registration. Without telling her, the dealer chose to have the permanent plates sent to the dealership, instead of to her. Over 90 days later, she was still waiting for her plates.  One day, the police pulled her over and handed her a so-called “fix-it” ticket. She explained the situation, but the officer was unsympathetic.

She called the dealership. The dealer said he had her permanent plates. But he refused to give her the plates, unless she paid nearly $300 extra for them. The dealer refused to put his demand in writing, or to accept a check or credit card. He told her to bring cash.

She was infuriated, and considered filing a lawsuit.  But her resistance wore down, after she was pulled over and ticketed again, and again. The tickets cost her hundreds of dollars.  But even worse — If she didn’t get the plates soon, she faced being arrested and having her car towed and impounded.  She finally paid the dealer nearly $300 more for permanent plates she had already paid for, when she bought the car.

Even Kansas has better laws against such practices

Consumers in other states, like Kansas, have better protections against car dealers who jerk consumers around and withhold car titles. For example, car dealers in Kansas are required to provide car buyers with title to their cars within 60 days. If the dealer fails to comply with the law, the transactions are void and consumers are entitled to a full refund.

Read more: Wichita car lot hit with $140,000 fine over business practices

Who opposed AB 516?

Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety

Consumer Federation of California

California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation

Lemon law / auto fraud attorney and Judge Pro-Tem Steven Simons

Lemon law / auto fraud attorney David Valdez

Lemon law / auto fraud attorney Greg Babbitt

Lemon law / auto fraud attorney Balam Latona

Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the Bay Area

Citizens United for a Responsible Budget (CURB)

Law firm of Kemnitzer, Barron & Krieg

Courage Campaign

News reports

News reports highlight car buyers’ nightmarish experiences with dealers who failed to complete their registrations, even though they had paid the dealers to handle the paperwork, and were dependent on them to do their jobs. Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety alerted the news media about these cases:

ABC Channel 10 (San Diego): U.S. Military Veteran faces ordeal because of car dealer who failed to register his car

ABC Channel 30 (Fresno): Clovis car dealer leaves hundreds in limbo

NBC Bay Area (San Jose): Dealer can’t register car, woman wants refund

Roger Lanctot in LinkedIn: Car dealers making yo-yo’s out of legislators

 

San Francisco Chronicle Editorial calling for a “quick fix” to address “legitimate concerns” with Assemblymember Mullin’s legislation:

San Francisco Chronicle Editorial: “License plate bill needs a quick fix”

Change an expiration date, go to jail

Raising alarms among groups that oppose adding more laws that result in imprisonment for minor offenses — selectively criminalizing  low-income consumers and people of color — AB 516 would make altering just the expiration date on a temporary tag a wobbler/ felony offense, subjecting car buyers to a potential prison sentence of 2-3 years.

Imagine: you are a single mom with three kids. You have only one car. You keep being pulled over by the police and ticketed because you have not received your permanent plates. You take time from work and go to the DMV, waiting in line over and over again, to no avail. Each time, you lose desperately needed income.

If you are detained by the police one more time, making you late for work, you will lose your job. In your desperation, you take a magic marker and change just the expiration date on your temporary tags. You do NOT alter the number on the tags, so toll agencies and law enforcement officers can still readily identify the car, for toll collection or public safety purposes.  For this offense, you could be heavily fined, convicted of a FELONY, and sent to prison for 2- 3 years.

Law enforcement agrees: consumers should not be punished for the wrongs committed by car dealers or the DMV

Consumer groups and the California Police Officers Association worked together and drafted amendments to AB 516 that would have addressed the serious problems with the bill, and presented those to the author’s staff, at an in-person meeting. The amendments would have changed the bill so that:

  • When law enforcement officials detect that your car has a temporary tag with an expired date, they would have to check an existing law enforcement database, that they can already access electronically, to find out whether you were issued permanent plates. In a matter of seconds, they can tell. If the plates have not been sent to your address, you would not be pulled over or issued a citation.

 

  • It would be an infraction — not a wobbler / felony —  to alter just the expiration date on a single temporary tag, leaving the rest of the tag unaltered and readily traceable.

The California Police Officers Association, to its credit, expressed the sentiment that its members are not anxious to pull over and detain people who are already frustrated because they cannot get their permanent plates, so long as they properly display the temporary tags, and the car is readily identifiable for public safety purposes.

However, Assemblymember Mullin refused to accept those amendments. Instead, he added a “fig leaf” to the bill that would require consumers who have not received their permanent plates to prove their own innocence by obtaining a form from the DMV and showing it, if they are detained.

That may sound easy, but in reality, it’s just another Catch-22. The form cited in the bill requires that you sign, under penalty of perjury, that you are the “registered owner of record.” But that’s the problem. You are not the registered owner. The DMV has a history of rejecting car buyers’ attempts to fill out and submit those forms, unless their registration is already complete, and in their names. But that’s the problem. It’s up to the dealer to complete the registration.  Gotcha.