MD AG sues Bowie car dealership over ‘unfair and deceptive’ sales

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The office of Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown charged a Bowie Honda dealership with misleading customers and inflating its prices on Thursday.

DARCARS Honda, on Crain Highway in Bowie, violated the Maryland Consumer Protection Act by charging hidden and misleading fees that made their cars more expensive — in some cases by thousands of dollars — than the advertised price, the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division alleged.

Thousands of customers paid what the dealership called a 2% “sales commission” that was “optional,” but the fee didn’t go to a salesperson and customers weren’t informed that the fee wasn’t required.

The charging document characterizes the fee as “simply an increase to the price of the vehicle.”

“Respondents are obligated to pay sales commissions and salaries to their employees regardless of whether consumers pay the supposedly optional (fee),” the statement of charges says. “When a consumer pays the 2% Overhead Fee, the entire benefit from the payment goes entirely to the Respondents … The fee simply shows up, unexplained, in the paperwork.”

The AG’s office also alleges the company often sells its cars for thousands of dollars more than the price advertised online, charges extra for unwanted and unnecessary equipment that had already been installed, and more.

The statement of charges says the company’s owners “know that their advertisements are omitting significant additional charges.”

The Consumer Protection Division wants a court to stop DARCARS Honda from charging the fees and to pay restitution and other costs. A hearing will be held October 16-25 at the Office of Administrative Hearings in Hunt Valley, a press release states.

“Over the last two years, Honda of Bowie has cooperated fully with the Maryland Attorney General to respond to its request for information and address its concerns,” the company said in a statement to The Daily Record. “This is an instance where the premise of the case is not supported by the record or the facts.”

“We feel confident about our level of disclosure on this matter and proactively sought to partner with the Attorney General to establish new industry best practices that could benefit all Maryland consumers. We are prepared to defend our company and our lawful practices in court against these baseless claims, while continuing to provide our customers with the industry’s best service in every market we serve.”