The Federal Trade Commission and Connecticut Attorney General jointly secured a $4 million settlement with Manchester City Nissan and its owners over allegations the dealership charged consumers deceptive junk fees for products and services they never agreed to purchase on Aug. 19.
The joint enforcement action targets practices the FTC said included adding unauthorized charges to vehicle purchase agreements. The complaint alleged the Connecticut dealership systematically inflated transaction costs through fees for products buyers did not request.
The settlement is part of the FTC’s nationwide crackdown on deceptive auto dealer fee practices, which the agency has identified as one of the most common sources of consumer financial harm in the auto sales industry.
For American car buyers, junk fee practices can add hundreds or thousands of dollars to the cost of a vehicle without the consumer’s informed consent. The FTC has estimated that deceptive dealer fees cost consumers billions of dollars annually across the industry.
The joint state-federal action signals a coordinated enforcement model that could be replicated in other states. Connecticut’s attorney general worked alongside the FTC to investigate and prosecute the case.
Under the settlement, the dealership and its owners are required to pay $4 million and are prohibited from future deceptive fee practices, the FTC said. The settlement terms also include compliance monitoring provisions.
The National Automobile Dealers Association has previously said that the vast majority of dealers operate transparently and that enforcement actions should target individual bad actors rather than the industry broadly.
The FTC has brought multiple enforcement actions against auto dealers in recent years, building a body of case law and settlement precedent that the agency uses to deter similar practices across the industry. The commission has signaled that auto dealer enforcement remains a priority.