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The dealerships under the Nemet Auto Group of Jamaica umbrella are located on Hillside Avenue.
By Forum Staff
State Attorney General Barbara Underwood announced on Friday a settlement resolving an investigation of a family of auto dealers located in Jamaica.
The AG’s Office launched a probe of Hillside Avenue’s Nemet Hyundai, Nemet Kia, Nemet Nissan, and Nemet Motors—collectively known as the Nemet Auto Group of Jamaica—after receiving dozens of complaints from consumers about unwanted charges, fraudulent sales tactics, and other deceptive maneuvers that misled them about the products for which they were paying.
In the settlement, the AG obtained restitution for New Yorkers harmed by the dealerships’ fraudulent business practices, a requirement that the dealerships stop any illegal and deceptive activity, and civil penalties for the alleged deceptive acts, Underwood noted. The Nemet dealerships will refund $108,231 to 22 known consumers. In addition to restitution, the dealerships will also pay $56,250 in penalties to the State. The dealerships’ management has agreed to modify their employee training and to hire an outside monitor for at least three years to ensure compliance with the settlement terms.
The AG alleged that Nemet engaged in “a number of deceptive practices,” including:
• adding unwanted aftermarket items into consumers’ contracts without disclosing the items or their costs to consumers, without obtaining the consumers’ consent, or by misrepresenting that the items were required by lenders;
• preventing consumers from having an adequate opportunity to review their contracts by making them wait for inordinate periods of time, then rushing them through signing their contracts;
• misrepresenting their willingness and ability to refinance consumers’ loans by making fraudulent promises to refinance the loans at specific future dates for particular interest rates; and
• submitting falsified credit applications with inflated income information for applicants, ultimately obtaining loans the consumer were unable to pay.
For example, Shauntel Wilson bought a car from Nemet after a manager promised to refinance her loan in six months, dropping her monthly payments to $548 from an unaffordable $781. Wilson complained when Nemet failed to deliver the promised refinancing and the Attorney General found that Nemet had secured Wilson’s unaffordable loan by inflating her income on a credit application by nearly $15,000 per year. On top of that, Nemet slipped $2,600 worth of undisclosed aftermarket products into her contract.
“We have zero tolerance for those who seek to defraud New York consumers. This settlement ensures impacted consumers will get the restitution they deserve and put an end to the dealerships’ deceptive practices,” Underwood declared.
The AG encourages any consumers who believe they were deceptively sold unwanted aftermarket items or offered false promises to refinance transactions by Nemet dealerships to file complaints online or call (800) 771-7755 before the July 30, 2018 filing deadline.
