Press Releases, Reports, Letters and Comments

Report: Time to Stop Racing Cars: The Role of Race and Ethnicity in Buying and Using a Car, April 2019 Press Release

Group letter to the Colorado Motor Vehicle Dealer Board urging the Board to change its policy language in order to further protect consumers in Colorado against yo-yo financing by automotive dealers, Jan 23, 2019

Report: Auto Add-Ons Add Up: How Dealer Discretion Drives Excessive, Arbitrary, and Discriminatory Pricing, October 2017

Advocates’ letter to the U.S. Senate opposing riders to the 2017 appropriation bill that would obstruct the CFPB’s ability to protect consumers against discriminatory and unfair auto lending, May 16, 2016

Group comments to the FTC re: sale of certified used cars with unrepaired safety recalls, February 29, 2016

Group comments urging the FTC to retain and strengthen the Holder Rule, Feb. 12, 2016

Policy Brief: Racial Disparities in Auto Loan Markups: State-by-State Data, June 2015

Group comments to the CFPB re: defining larger participants in auto financing, Dec. 8, 2014.

Group letter to the FTC petitioning enforcement action against CarMax for deceptive ads and sales practices, June 23, 2014.

Group comments to the FTC opposing the Used Car rule, March 12, 2013

Letter to California Gov. Jerry Brown urging enactment of CA AB 1447 to increase consumer protections on “Buy Here, Pay Here” car dealer sales, Sept. 4, 2012

Group comments to the Federal Trade Commission on the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act Review on auto warranties a and defects. (October 2011)

Comments: Credit Risk Retention. National Consumer Law Center and National Association of Consumer Advocates. (August 2011)

Webinar Recording: Cars and Working Families, Part 1: Asset Limits. John Van Alst (NCLC), Nick Straley, Hosai Ehsan, David McMahon.

State-by-State Racial Disparities in Auto Lending by Auto Dealers. Policy Brief. National Consumer Law Center. (2010).

The Proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency: Implications for Consumers and the FTC. Testimony of Gail Hillebrand, Consumers Union (CU), joined by NCLC. Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, July 8, 2009.

Publications 

Automobile Fraud. National Consumer Law Center.

Asymmetric Information, Adverse Selection and Online Disclosure: The Case of eBay Motors. Gregory Lewis. Harvard University. (2011).

How to Buy a Used Car Without Being Taken for a Ride: What You Need to Know Before Buying a Used Car or Truck to Get a Good Vehicle at a Fair Price. Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition. Funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Car Salesmen, Lobbyists, and Charts: Illustrating the Dangers of Biased Use of Data. Cambridge Winter. (2010).

Signs of Predatory Auto Loans. Center for Responsible Lending

Car-Title Lending.  Center for Responsible Lending

Insider Car Report -Sharpen Your Game When Car Buying. Consumers for Auto Reliability and Conscious Youth Media Crew. (2010)

Driving a Bargain: Coming Out Ahead at the End of Your Auto Lease. Consumer Federation of America.

Asymmetric Information, Adverse Selection and Online Disclosure: The Case of eBay Motors. Gregory Lewis, Working Paper. Department of Economics, Harvard University.

Auto Race to the Bottom: Free Markets and Consumer Protection in Auto Finance. Raj Date & Brian Reed. Cambridge Winter Center for Financial Institutions Policy.

Car Trouble: Predatory Auto Loans Burden North Carolina Consumers. Delvin Davis & Joshua M. Frank. Center for Responsible Lending.

Auto Dealers’ Lending Abuses Cost Billions: Car Loans Are Too Important To Be Excused From CFPA. Kathleen Keest. Center for Responsible Lending.  

When Your Car Dealership Goes Broke. Jim Hawkins. Journal of Consumer and Commercial Law.

Disclosure and Transparency in the Automobile Finance Industry – A Call To Action. Carolyn Hayden & Sheela Cooper. Annie E. Casey Foundation &  Opportunity Cars & One World Consulting Group, LLC. (2008).

Buying and Keeping a Used Car. Illinois Legal Aid. (2007).

Imperfect Competition in Auto Lending: Subjective Markup, Racial Disparity, and Class Action Litigation. Mark Cohen. Vanderbilt University Law School.  (2007).

Car Financing for Low and Moderate Income Consumers. Remar Sutton & Kirsten Moy. The Aspen Institute, The Consumer Task Force for Automotive Issues, with funding by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. (2007).

New California Car Buyer’s Bill of Rights: New Law Brings Sweeping Changes to New, Used Car Buying. Josh Ridout, Consumer Action. (2006).

Car Title Lending: Driving Borrowers to Financial Ruin. Amanda Quester & Jean Ann Fox. Center for Responsible Lending & Consumer Federation of America.(2005).

Driven into Debt-CFA Car Title Loan Store and Online Survey. Jean Ann Fox & Elizabeth Guy. Consumer Federation of America. (2005).

Auto Finance Add-Ons: Little Bang for the Buck. Sharon Hernandez-Darrow, Consumers Union.(2003).

Rip-Off Nation: Auto Dealers’ Swindling of America. Public Citizen, Report.  (2003).

Litigation

Amicus Brief, Ninth Circuit, Issue: Auto Financing (CA law impacting repossession). Center for Responsible Lending, AARP, NCLC, et al. Filed March 5, 2010.

Auto Dealers Should Play By The Same Rules As Everyone Else. Center for Responsible Lending. Policy Brief.(2010).   

Ford Settlement Agreement. This class action was filed on April 16, 2002, challenging the “mark-up policy” as being in violation of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1691 et seq. (the “ECOA”). Nashville Tennesee, November 2006.

Expert Report of Economist and Lawyer Ian Ayers. American Honda Finance Corporation Class Action Lawsuit. Nashville, Tennessee (2004).

Media coverage

Wheels of Fortune. Ken Bensinger. Los Angeles Times. (2011). The three-part investigative series, along with online multimedia components, documents how “Buy Here Pay Here” used car dealers, who prey on people with credit problems, are thriving in California. Link to the full series and view key research documents.