Montgomery Village is a planned suburban community that was built 50 years ago outside of Gaithersburg and Rockville. The builders bought numerous farms and built a thriving suburb near Olney and Germantown that is also close to many natural and wooded areas. The population has nearly doubled since 1980 as the area has been built.
If you live in Montgomery Village you are close to several new car dealerships including Acura, Kia and Mini, and many used car dealerships. However, some dishonest car dealers may resort to unscrupulous tactics to convince you to buy a car and pay more than you should. There are several tactics they may use, including forgery, lying about the car’s accident, salvage and damage history, not disclosing the vehicle used to be a rental car, odometer and mileage fraud, deceptive online false advertising, overcharging, spot delivery schemes including keeping the down payment when financing is not approved, keeping GAP Insurance and warranty money without obtaining the coverage for you, and even running credit checks without permission.
If a dealer has defrauded you, Maryland law gives you the ability to take legal action against them. The lawyers at Whitney, LLP have years of experience suing new and used car dealerships and can help you when it comes to suing a car dealership and fighting back against fraud.
Here are reviews from what some of our past clients have said about us, and here are some of our past settlement results in claims and lawsuits against car dealerships. We offer Legal Consultations. Call us at (410) 583-8000 or use our online form to request your free initial consultation today.
Car Sales Contract Forgery in Montgomery Village
One of the worst possible examples of auto fraud is forgery. This happens when the dealer, usually through the finance manager, uses forged signatures or forged initials to fraudulently alter a sales, finance or lease contract that you already signed to get you to pay more money than the agreed-upon price.
There are several signs that you have been a victim of car dealership forgery. These include your interest rate being different than what you agreed to at the dealership when you signed your paperwork, the monthly payments being higher or lower than what you decided, your amount financed being different, and the balance on your credit report being different.
Whitney, LLP’s auto fraud attorneys have experience suing car dealerships for forgery. We have found that there are usually other victims of forgery at the same dealership, and the finance manager who forged the signatures has done it to other customers. If you have been a victim of forgery, we can help.
Attorney to Sue a Car Dealership Near Me in Montgomery Village
Car dealerships in Montgomery Village, Gaithersburg and Rockville may try a number of other schemes to make an illegal profit. One of these is overcharging customers for their vehicles. Overcharging does not just mean selling you a car at an inflated price. It may also mean adding phantom options or choices that actually exist but that you did not agree to purchase. False advertising online with low prices that vanish when the customer appears at the dealership is a common occurrence,
They may engage in misrepresentation of the vehicle as well. They may list the car for sale online at a low price, but when you go to the dealership, it has a higher price or a higher mileage than advertised, or it may lack features listed in the ad. They may additionally fail to disclose a rental car history, past accident history or damage, and they may conceal past salvage titles from you. They may even tamper with and engage in odometer fraud to show a lower mileage. These types of misrepresentation are auto fraud and can result in losses for the victim. Whitney, LLP’s lawyers represent victims of auto fraud.
Other schemes may involve deception in the stages of signing the paperwork. There are heavy regulations regarding who is allowed to run hard credit checks on you. Car dealerships must have consent in order to run a credit check, but some may do it without your consent, and this can damage your credit score.
A Spot Delivery, which is when a customer takes delivery of the car although financing has not yet been approved, has many regulations that Maryland car dealerships routinely fail to follow. A dealership often collects a down payment without getting your financing approved first. When this happens, your financing can be declined by the bank afterwards, and the dealer may try to keep or steal your down payment, or try to charge you fees and reduce the amount of your down payment they will return in order to make an illegal profit. Maryland has strict Spot Delivery laws, including written notice within 4 days when financing has not been approved, and the return of down payments, and prohibiting dealerships from charging fees in most situations when financing has fallen through.
Whitney, LLP’s consumer lawyers have experience helping car buyers across Maryland against dishonest car dealerships.
Montgomery Village, MD, Car Dealership Fraud Attorneys
When you find yourself with a damaged vehicle or upset about dishonest behavior by a car dealership, contact the attorneys at Whitney, LLP. While many dealers ignore customer complaints, they are unable to ignore a lawsuit without serious consequences. Call us today at (410) 583-8000 for your Legal Consultation, or use our Online Quick Contact Form.