A group of Brooklyn car dealerships was hit with more than a half-million dollars in fines and restitution payments after the state Attorney General’s Office discovered the firms were engaging in fraud, dishonest sales practices, deceptive advertising, and offering phony contests that cheated customers.
A Brooklyn Supreme Court judge slammed John Giuffre and his Giuffre Hyundai, Kia, Mitsubishi and Mazda dealerships in Bay Ridge after finding that they had deceived a long line of consumers — many of them elderly.
“The complaints and affidavits are numerous enough to describe a common practice of strong-arm sales methods and unethical conduct,” Supreme Court Judge Bernard Graham wrote in his decision.
“The buyers in many cases are older persons, unsophisticated or unfamiliar with English, and each person wound up owning a car that they never intended to buy or paid a price that was dishonestly represented to them,” the judge wrote.
One unemployed senior citizen who had no driver’s license was called by a Giuffre sales rep and told he had won a prize.
The man showed up at Giuffre Mazda thinking he was getting a car with the prize money, so he signed paperwork — but was unaware that he was actually buying a car, the attorney general’s investigation showed.
“He and a friend attempted to return the car, which the dealer refused to accept — and to add insult, allegedly threw the keys into the street,” the judge wrote.
State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman praised the court’s decision to penalize the dealerships.
“The deceptive conduct led consumers to sign contracts which did not reflect the negotiated sale terms, frequently including unwanted aftermarket add-ons,” Schneiderman said.
“Some of these transactions led to repossessions and ruined credit, as the consumers found themselves owing more than they ever would have knowingly agreed to pay,” he said.
Managers at the Giuffre dealerships declined comment yesterday.