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The City Department of Consumer Affairs has leveled extensive charges against several used-car dealerships on Northern Boulevard in Long Island City that together comprise Major World.
By Forum Staff
A large Long Island City used car dealer employed deceptive and illegal financing and sales practices to profit from vulnerable low-income and immigrant consumers, according to the City Department of Consumer Affairs.
Agency Commissioner Lorelei Salas last Thursday announced extensive charges against three used car dealerships that together comprise Major World. Consumer Affairs’ complaint document alleges “numerous violations and wide-ranging consumer harm,” and seeks more than $2 million in consumer restitution and fines. The department is also seeking revocation of the company’s three DCA secondhand auto dealer licenses: Major World Chevrolet, 43-40 Northern Blvd.; Major World Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, 50-30 Northern Blvd.; and Major Kia of Long Island City, 44-11 Northern Blvd. Additionally, DCA indicated that it is pushing for the creation of a trust fund for any unidentified consumers who have been harmed.
“Our city’s working families, who often struggle to make ends meet, rely on their cars to accomplish life’s most basic tasks like going to work or going to school,” Salas said. “Buying that car is usually one of the largest purchases a family makes. It is outrageous that Major World, who claims to treat its customers like family, traps these hardworking New Yorkers into loans they can’t afford. Major World has also been marketing aggressively to attract immigrant customers and their deceptive and predatory acts are as much an affront on immigrant communities as the deplorable policies we are seeing from the new federal government. Here in New York City, we are leveraging all the tools we have to curb this burgeoning lending problem that is adding to the national debt crisis.”
The investigation to-date includes 30 consumers, “a fraction” of the number of people likely harmed by Major World, according to DCA. The dealerships allegedly have had a long-standing practice of luring unsuspecting consumers, particularly those with limited English proficiency, with promises of great deals on used cars and financing, regardless of credit history, income, or income-to-debt ratios. DCA announced last week that it has found that Major World has been submitting false information on consumers’ credit applications, such as nature of employment, income levels, and monthly rent obligations, in addition to falsely inflating car values. Major World presumably engages in these practices, according to DCA, to make car deals more attractive to financing companies that then issue loans to consumers who might not, in fact, be qualified to receive those loans.
In the end, consumers who, according to the City, have not been informed of their loans’ financing terms, are left with overpriced and sometimes defective cars, and are saddled with high-interest loans that they should have never received and may not be able to afford.
“Shame on Major World,” said City Councilman Rafael Espinal (D-Brooklyn), chairman of the Council Committee on Consumer Affairs. “The largest lot in New York for used cars is also the largest lot for lemons and frauds. For too long now, this dishonest company has been preying on low-income and immigrant New Yorker’s. It is time we stand up and demand that fair practices be set in place, and that those who deliberately scheme and impoverish people will be brought to justice. Congratulations to DCA on their steadfast investigative work, and I look forward to working closely with the Administration on legislative and policy proposals that will establish better standard and help reign in these bad actors.”
The Department of Consumer Affairs also noted that it is encouraging any consumer who feels Major World lied to them about the price and/or condition of their vehicle to contact the agency by calling 311, or by filing a complaint at nyc.gov/dca.
