More than being just the home of the world-famous UMBC Retrievers, Catonsville is also known as “Music City, Maryland.” Located between Arbutus and Woodlawn, right outside of downtown Baltimore, and close to Ellicott City, Catonsville has been ranked as the 49th best place to live in the United States.
Car dealerships in Catonsville include Hyundai, Toyota, Mazda and Mercedes. When you buy a new or used car, certain behavior crosses the line from making a profit to auto fraud. Common illegal actions include false online price advertising, spot delivery violations, hiding salvage titles, odometer fraud, keeping down payments when financing falls through, and running customer’s credit scores and reports without customer’s written permission. When these schemes happen, victims often need a lawyer to help, and can eventually sue the dishonest car dealership to recover their money.
We understand that when you do business with dealers in Catonsville and others in Arbutus, Hanover and Essex, you are at risk of unscrupulous business practices such as overcharging and lying. If you are a victim of car dealer fraud, Whitney, LLP’s consumer lawyers can help sue the dealership and take strong legal action to get your money back.
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. Whitney, LLP offers Legal Consultations. Call us at (410) 583-8000 or use our online form to request your free initial consultation today.
Attorney to Sue a Car Dealership in Catonsville, MD
When you walk into a car dealership, you expect them to play certain games because that is how most dealers do business. However, there is a fine line between gamesmanship and auto fraud. For example, when a dealer makes an online price advertisement misrepresentation, and requires you to pay a higher price when you arrive at the store, you have legal rights and can bring a claim.
Other things that a dealership cannot do are bait-and-switches, deceptively inflating the car’s price for options that do not exist, and failing to disclose material facts about a vehicle. For example, if you are buying a used car and the dealer makes a misrepresentation and says that the car has never been in an accident when it has, you may be able to sue the car dealership.
In spot delivery cases, dealers let customers drive away in their new car although the bank has not approved the financing. When this happens, the dealership has four days to provide a written notice that financing was not approved. When financing is not approved, the dealership tells the customer to return the car, they cannot keep or steal the down payment or charge mileage fees when they take the car back. Whitney, LLP can help recover down payments from dealerships that try to keep them illegally.
Odometer fraud happens when dealerships lower the odometer before selling the car. Odometer fraud is usually detected when the customer looks at a CarFax report and sees the higher or different mileage, or when they take the car to get serviced and the service technician reports a difference in mileage. Whitney, LLP’s odometer fraud lawyers can help and will sue car dealerships when the dealership changes the mileage.
Car dealerships are not allowed to run credit reports or pull credit scores without a customer’s permission. If a car dealership ran your credit without permission, or if you complained that “the dealership ran my credit without permission” Whitney, LLP can help you sue the dealership, remove the credit inquiry line from your report and recover financial compensation for you.
Catonsville, MD, Lawyer Near Me for Car Dealer Forgery and Fraud
You would think that the car dealership would have the good sense to realize not to engage in forgery with your car’s sales contract. They do not. Some dishonest car dealers in Catonsville forge signatures and initials, for the purpose of stealing customers’ money.
Forging a signature is not only illegal, it is a very serious criminal offense. Whitney, LLP has represented customers with forged signatures and initials on lease contracts, buyer’s orders, and finance contracts. If your monthly payment amount is higher or lower than you agreed, the interest rate is different, the amount financed is different, or any other financial term seems to be something different than what you agreed to at the dealership, call Whitney, LLP’s car dealership forgery attorneys for help.
When you walk away from the dealer feeling ripped off, you do not have to simply take it. When shopping for a car in Catonsville or nearby Arbutus, Columbia, Essex or Hanover, as a Maryland consumer, you have certain rights, and when you are the victim of fraud and deception, you have legal rights. Whitney, LLP can help.
Watch our YouTube Channel and read our Auto Fraud blog for more information on dealer fraud cases.
Consumer Fraud Attorney in Catonsville, MD
While car dealers often ignore upset customers, and seem to be more powerful than customers, once you get an experienced lawyer, the tide turns, and any advantage that they may have in the showroom goes away in the eyes of the law. The experienced auto dealer fraud attorneys at Whitney, LLP have a history of making dishonest Maryland car dealers answer for their shady business practices when they have crossed the line to fraud. Contact Whitney, LLP when you need a lawyer to sue a car dealership. To request a Legal Consultation, use our online form or call us at (410) 583-8000.