The FTC and the Maryland Attorney General’s Office announced that Lindsay Automotive Group (“Lindsay”) must pay refunds to consumers the government officials said were misled by Lindsay, under a settlement reached with the dealerships and other defendants.

The settlement resolves allegations that Lindsay and its executives deceived consumers for years with falsely low prices and unwanted add-ons that resulted in buyers paying thousands of dollars more for their vehicles.

While the exact amount to be refunded has not yet been determined, consumers who paid more than $75 million in charges in connection with purchases and leases between April 1, 2020, and December 31, 2025, may be eligible for refunds.  In addition, Lindsay will pay a $3.1 million civil penalty to the Maryland Attorney General’s Office.

Lindsay also will be prohibited from misrepresenting any material facts in connection with their car dealership business, required to provide clear and conspicuous disclosures of the total cost of the price of the vehicles, including all mandatory fees (other than required government charges), and required to obtain consumers’ express and informed consent before imposing any charges.

“Lindsay Auto misled consumers by advertising false low car prices and then adding mandatory fees and other charges during the car buying process,” said Christopher Mufarrige, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The Trump-Vance FTC is focused on ensuring that auto dealers competitors’ are transparently competing on price.”

“This settlement puts money back in Marylanders’ pockets and puts a stop to these predatory practices,” said Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown.

The complaint named as defendants three Lindsay dealerships and their management company, in addition to the company’s part-owner and president Michael Lindsay, COO John Smallwood, and the dealerships’ former general manager, Paul Smyth.

The complaint alleges that Lindsay:

• Touted “deceptively low prices” and charged consumers much more once they arrived at the dealership.
• Often said that customers could not get the advertised price because they did not qualify for a variety of rebates included in the advertised price.
• Deceptively told consumers that they had to finance their purchases through the dealership to get the advertised price, instead of the financing the consumers already had lined up. This included military consumers who had financing through their military branch’s credit union.
• Charged consumers for add-ons such as extra service plans, tire and rim protection, and “guaranteed asset protection” that consumers did not want or had not agreed to buy.

As with other actions the FTC has taken recently in the automotive marketplace, many of these practices would have been prohibited under the FTC’s CARS Rule, which was overturned by the Fifth Circuit on procedural grounds.

In their Concurring Statement approving the settlement, FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson and FTC Commissioner Mark Meador called attention to defendants’ obligation to pay restitution overseen by and a civil money penalty to the Office of the Maryland Attorney General and they urged Congress to enact legislation authorizing the FTC to obtain “equitable monetary relief” for consumers injured by violations of Section 5 of the FTC Act.