FTC Crackdown Results In Dealership Employees Pleading Guilty To Litany Of Felony Charges
In yet another example of why exactly so many people hate dealing with car dealership salespeople, it just came out the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) recently indicted 8 former employees at a Nissan dealership for a wide range of various forms of criminal and unethical behavior.
Apparently, all 8 employees have already decided to plead guilty, so I’m going to take a wild guess here and say that there’s likely to be something to the charges.
On that note, the FTC has apparently (tip of the hat to “zwede” on the Tesla Motors Club forum) taken at least 252 actions against dealerships around the country over the past year alone — underscoring just how common corruption at these is.
Not that anybody would really be surprised by that, but considering the rhetoric used by the dealers in their fight against Tesla’s direct sales business model, it is worth reiterating.
Amongst the charges present in that figure of 252 are: odometer fraud, deceptive marketing, and (financial) loan fraud; amongst others.
Wow. That really just makes you want to run out to your nearest car dealership, doesn’t it?
I suppose that those criminal activities are where at least some of the money used to fund the dealerships’ campaigning and lobbying efforts against Tesla is coming from. The rest, of course, is coming merely from your everyday, garden variety ripoff — what dealerships are best known for.
Imagine a world where, when you want a new car, you can simply buy one directly from the company that manufactures it — no middlemen, no feeling of being ripped off (well minimized at any rate..), and an overall far more pleasant experience no doubt.
Sounds nice, right?
Image Credit: Tesla Motors
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