[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 230 (Tuesday, December 1, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75105-75106]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-30358]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

[File No. 142 3133]


Progressive Chevrolet Company and Progressive Motors, Inc.; 
Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION: Proposed consent agreement.

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SUMMARY: The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged 
violations of federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or 
practices. The attached Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes both 
the allegations in the draft complaint and the terms of the consent 
order--embodied in the consent agreement--that would settle these 
allegations.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before December 28, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/progressivechevroletconsent online or on 
paper, by following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of 
the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``Progressive 
Chevrolet Company and Progressive Motors, Inc.--Consent Agreement; File 
No. 142 3133'' on your comment and file your comment online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/progressivechevroletconsent by following 
the instructions on the web-based form. If you prefer to file your 
comment on paper, write ``Progressive Chevrolet Company and Progressive 
Motors, Inc.--Consent Agreement; File No. 142 3133'' on your comment 
and on the envelope, and mail your comment to the following address: 
Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania 
Avenue NW., Suite CC-5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20580, or deliver 
your comment to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office 
of the Secretary, Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor, 
Suite 5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Rose, East Central Region, 
(216) 263-3412, 1111 Superior Avenue, Suite 200, Cleveland, OH 44114.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to Section 6(f) of the Federal 
Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 2.34, 16 CFR 2.34, 
notice is hereby given that the above-captioned consent agreement 
containing consent order to cease and desist, having been filed with 
and accepted, subject to final approval, by the Commission, has been 
placed on the public record for a period of thirty (30) days. The 
following Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes the terms of the 
consent agreement, and the allegations in the complaint. An electronic 
copy of the full text of the consent agreement package can be obtained 
from the FTC Home Page (for November 24, 2015), on the World Wide Web 
at: http://www.ftc.gov/os/actions.shtm.
    You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to 
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before December 28, 
2015. Write ``Progressive Chevrolet Company and Progressive Motors, 
Inc.--Consent Agreement; File No. 142 3133'' on your comment. Your 
comment--including your name and your state--will be placed on the 
public record of this proceeding, including, to the extent practicable, 
on the public Commission Web site, at http://www.ftc.gov/os/publiccomments.shtm. As a matter of discretion, the Commission tries to 
remove individuals' home contact information from comments before 
placing them on the Commission Web site.
    Because your comment will be made public, you are solely 
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any 
sensitive personal information, like anyone's Social Security number, 
date of birth, driver's license number or other state identification 
number or foreign country equivalent, passport number, financial 
account number, or credit or debit card number. You are also solely 
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any 
sensitive health information, like medical records or other 
individually identifiable health information. In addition, do not 
include any ``[t]rade secret or any commercial or financial information 
which . . . is privileged or confidential,'' as discussed in Section 
6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR 
4.10(a)(2). In particular, do not include competitively sensitive 
information such as costs, sales statistics, inventories, formulas, 
patterns, devices, manufacturing processes, or customer names.
    If you want the Commission to give your comment confidential 
treatment, you must file it in paper form, with a request for 
confidential treatment, and you have to follow the procedure explained 
in FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).\1\ Your comment will be kept 
confidential only if the FTC General Counsel, in his or her sole 
discretion, grants your request in accordance with the law and the 
public interest.
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    \1\ In particular, the written request for confidential 
treatment that accompanies the comment must include the factual and 
legal basis for the request, and must identify the specific portions 
of the comment to be withheld from the public record. See FTC Rule 
4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).
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    Postal mail addressed to the Commission is subject to delay due to 
heightened security screening. As a result, we encourage you to submit 
your comments online. To make sure that the Commission considers your 
online comment, you must file it at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/progressivechevroletconsent by following the instructions on the 
web-based form. If this Notice appears at http://www.regulations.gov/#!home, you also may file a comment through that Web site.
    If you file your comment on paper, write ``Progressive Chevrolet 
Company and Progressive Motors, Inc.--Consent Agreement; File No. 142 
3133'' on your comment and on the envelope, and mail your comment to 
the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the 
Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite CC-5610 (Annex D), 
Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your comment to the following address: 
Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Constitution Center, 
400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 
20024. If possible, submit your paper comment to the Commission by 
courier or overnight service.
    Visit the Commission Web site at http://www.ftc.gov to read this 
Notice and the news release describing it. The FTC Act and other laws 
that the Commission administers permit the collection of public 
comments to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. The 
Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments that 
it receives on or before December 28, 2015. You can find more 
information, including routine

[[Page 75106]]

uses permitted by the Privacy Act, in the Commission's privacy policy, 
at http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.

Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment

    The Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'') has accepted, subject to 
final approval, an agreement containing a consent order from 
Progressive Chevrolet Company and Progressive Motors, Inc. The proposed 
consent order has been placed on the public record for thirty (30) days 
for receipt of comments by interested persons. Comments received during 
this period will become part of the public record. After thirty (30) 
days, the FTC will again review the agreement and the comments 
received, and will decide whether it should withdraw from the agreement 
and take appropriate action or make final the agreement's proposed 
order.
    The respondents are motor vehicle dealers. According to the FTC 
complaint, respondents advertised that consumers could lease the 
advertised vehicles at the monthly payment amounts prominently stated 
in their advertisements. The complaint alleges that respondents 
violated Section 5(a) of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 
45(a), because they failed to disclose, and/or failed to disclose 
adequately, that the offer requires a minimum credit score that is 
greater than the credit score of the majority of consumers. This 
information would be material to consumers in deciding whether to visit 
respondents' dealerships and/or whether to lease an automobile from 
respondents. The complaint also alleges that respondents' leasing 
advertisements violated the Consumer Leasing Act (CLA) and Regulation M 
by failing to disclose or to disclose clearly and conspicuously 
required terms. Specifically, respondents' advertisements prominently 
stated the monthly payment amounts for a vehicle lease--a triggering 
term under the CLA--but failed to disclose, or inconspicuously 
disclosed at the bottom of the ad in much smaller type, the required 
information set forth by the CLA. The proposed order is designed to 
prevent the respondents from engaging in similar deceptive practices in 
the future.
     Part I.A. addresses the Section 5 allegation by 
prohibiting respondents from advertising the amount of any monthly 
payment, periodic payment, initial payment, or down payment, or the 
length of payment term, unless the representation is non-misleading, 
and respondents clearly and conspicuously disclose all qualifications 
or restrictions on the consumer's ability to obtain the represented 
terms, including qualifications or restrictions based on the consumer's 
credit score. Additionally, if a majority of consumers likely will not 
be able to meet a credit score qualification or restriction stated in 
the advertisement, respondents must clearly and conspicuously disclose 
that fact.
     Part I.B.1. provides that the respondents shall not 
misrepresent the cost of financing the purchase of an automobile, 
including by misrepresenting the amount or percentage of the down 
payment, the number of payments or period of repayment, the amount of 
any payment, and the repayment obligation over the full term of the 
loan, including any balloon payment.
     Part I.B.2. provides that the respondents shall not 
misrepresent the cost of leasing an automobile, including by 
misrepresenting the total amount due at lease inception, the down 
payment, amount down, acquisition fee, capitalized cost reduction, any 
other amount required to be paid at lease inception, and the amounts of 
all monthly or other periodic payments.
     Part I.C. provides that the respondents shall not 
misrepresent any other material fact about the price, sale, financing, 
or leasing of any automobile.
     Part II of the order addresses the CLA and Regulation M 
allegations by prohibiting lease advertisements that:
    A. State the amount of any payment or that any or no initial 
payment is required at lease inception, without disclosing clearly and 
conspicuously the following terms:
    [cir] That the transaction advertised is a lease;
    [cir] The total amount due prior to or at consummation or by 
delivery, if delivery occurs after consummation;
    [cir] the number, amounts, and timing of scheduled payments;
    [cir] whether or not a security deposit is required; and
    [cir] that an extra charge may be imposed at the end of the lease 
term where the consumer's liability (if any) is based on the difference 
between the residual value of the leased property and its realized 
value at the end of the lease term.
    B. Fail to comply in any respect with Regulation M, 12 CFR part 
213, as amended, and the Consumer Leasing Act, 15 U.S.C. 1667-1667f, as 
amended.
     Part III requires respondents to keep copies of relevant 
advertisements and materials containing representations.
     Part IV requires that respondents provide copies of the 
order to certain of their personnel.
     Part V requires notification to the Commission regarding 
changes in corporate structure that might affect compliance obligations 
under the order. Part VI requires the respondents to file compliance 
reports with the Commission. Finally, Part VII is a provision 
``sunsetting'' the order after twenty (20) years, with certain 
exceptions.
    The purpose of this analysis is to aid public comment on the 
proposed order. It is not intended to constitute an official 
interpretation of the complaint or proposed order, or to modify in any 
way the proposed order's terms.

    By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015-30358 Filed 11-30-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P