[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 62 (Wednesday, April 1, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17435-17437]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-07408]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

[File No. 132 3114]


City Nissan Inc., 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 April 27, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/citynissanconsent online or on paper, by 
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``City Nissan Inc.--
Consent Agreement; File No. 1323114'' on your comment and file your 
comment online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/citynissanconsent by following the instructions on the web-based form. 
If you prefer to file your comment on paper, write ``City Nissan Inc.--
Consent Agreement; File No. 1323114'' 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: John Jacobs, Western Region--Los 
Angeles, (310) 824-4360, 10877 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 700, Los Angeles, 
California 90024.

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 March 26, 2015), on the World Wide Web at: 
http://www.ftc.gov/os/actions.shtm.

[[Page 17436]]

    You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to 
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before April 27, 2015. 
Write ``City Nissan Inc.--Consent Agreement; File No. 1323114'' 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/citynissanconsent 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 ``City Nissan Inc.--
Consent Agreement; File No. 1323114'' 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 April 27, 2015. You can find more information, 
including routine 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 City 
Nissan, Inc., also doing business as Ross Nissan. 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 respondent is a motor vehicle dealer. According to the FTC 
complaint, the respondent has advertised promotions for the leasing and 
financing of automobiles. In advertising lease offers, the complaint 
alleges, the respondent has misrepresented that consumers can pay $0 at 
lease inception to lease the vehicles shown in the advertisements for 
the advertised monthly payment amount. The complaint alleges that, in 
fact, consumers must pay substantially more to drive off with these 
vehicles. The complaint alleges therefore that the representations are 
false and misleading in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act.
    The complaint further alleges that the respondent has advertised an 
annual percentage rate of 0% to finance the vehicles shown in the 
advertisements for the advertised monthly payment. The complaint 
alleges that in fact, the annual percentage rate is substantially 
greater than 0%. The complaint alleges therefore that the 
representations are false and misleading in violation of Section 5 of 
the FTC Act.
    Additionally, the complaint alleges violations of the Consumer 
Leasing Act (``CLA'') and Regulation M for failing to disclose or to 
disclose clearly and conspicuously certain costs and terms when 
advertising credit. Finally, the complaint alleges violations of the 
Truth in Lending Act (``TILA'') and Regulation Z for failing to 
disclose or to disclose clearly and conspicuously certain costs and 
terms when advertising credit.
    The proposed order is designed to prevent the respondent from 
engaging in similar deceptive practices in the future. Part I.A of the 
proposed order prohibits the respondent from misrepresenting the cost 
of: (1) Leasing a vehicle, including but not limited to 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; or (2) purchasing a vehicle with financing, 
including but not necessarily limited to the amount or percentage of 
the down payment, the number of payments or period of repayment, the 
amount of any payment, the annual percentage rate or any other finance 
rate, and the repayment obligation over the full term of the loan, 
including any balloon payment. Part I.B prohibits the respondent from 
misrepresenting any other material fact about the price, sale, 
financing, or leasing of any vehicle.
    Part II of the proposed order addresses the CLA allegations. Part 
II.A prohibits the respondent from stating the amount of any payment or 
that any or no initial payment is required at lease inception without 
disclosing clearly and conspicuously: (1) That the transaction 
advertised is a lease; (2) the total amount due at lease signing or 
delivery; (3) whether or not a security deposit is required; (4) the 
number, amounts, and timing of scheduled payments; and (5) that an 
extra charge may be imposed at the end of the lease term in a lease in

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which the liability of the consumer at the end of the lease term. Part 
II.B prohibits the respondent from violating any provision of the CLA 
or Regulation M.
    Part III of the proposed order addresses the TILA allegation. Part 
III.A requires the respondent to make all of the disclosures required 
by TILA and Regulation Z when any of its advertisements state relevant 
triggering terms. It also requires that if any finance charge is 
advertised, the rate be stated as an ``annual percentage rate'' using 
that term or the abbreviation ``APR.'' In addition, Part III.C 
prohibits the respondent from failing to comply in any respect with 
TILA and Regulation Z.
    Part IV of the proposed order requires the respondent to keep 
copies of relevant advertisements and materials substantiating claims 
made in the advertisements. Part V requires the respondent to provide 
copies of the order to certain of its personnel. Part VI requires 
notification to the Commission regarding changes in corporate structure 
that might affect compliance obligations under the order. Part VII 
requires the respondent to file compliance reports with the Commission. 
Finally, Part VIII 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. 2015-07408 Filed 3-31-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P