"Surprise costs" A hundred dealers in the crosshairs

$395 unexpected “vehicle preparation” charge. Invoice increased by $500 if you pay cash. Believing that many car dealerships in Quebec use these kinds of tactics to attract consumers with "an incomplete and split price", the Montreal firm Lambert Avocat recently filed an application for authorization to institute a class action on behalf of thousands of consumers. .

His goal: to obtain reimbursement of the amounts overpaid, to which would be added $1,000 in punitive damages. The application filed on October 22 has not yet been authorized by the Superior Court, which could take several months.

In total, 103 used vehicle dealers and dealers in Quebec are targeted. Virtually every major group is named, including Park Avenue, Automobile en direct, Gabriel, Gravel Auto, HGregoire and Olivier.

“Unfair practice”

The practice is very widespread, according to the law firm, which explains in a press release that it carried out checks after being alerted by a client of the Mega Center Park Avenue, Vanessa Gervais.

A survey by the Office de la protection du consommateur, reported by the program La invoice on Radio-Canada, had also revealed that 47% of vehicle dealers in Quebec had recourse to "this practice of not including additional costs at the listed price,” the application reads.

This consumer, who became the representative of the group, wanted to buy a 2018 Nissan Leaf advertised on the website at $23,995. Unforeseen additional costs totaling $895 were charged, in contravention of the Consumer Protection Act, which specifies that "[a]no merchant, manufacturer or advertiser may, by any means whatsoever, require for a good or service at a higher price than advertised,” the lawyers argue.

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First, he would have been charged a preparation fee, including inspection and oil change, of $395. It was the cheapest of the “packages” she was forced to choose from. Subsequently, when she said she did not want a financing plan, the salesperson allegedly told her that the price displayed included a $500 rebate that the merchant receives when the customer accepts such a plan.

No merchant, it is recalled, can add hidden additional fees at the time of payment, which would constitute an “unfair practice of price decomposition”.

In addition to the reimbursement of the additional sums demanded, we would like to see punitive damages imposed “to discourage the repetition of such a practice”. All consumers who would have had to pay such hidden fees since May 5, 2018 are targeted.

1.4 million new cars

The examples, in addition to the two raised by the case of ^Ms. Gervais, are numerous. In particular, the application mentions the imposition of administration, financing, documentation, file, inspection, reconditioning, transportation and even “starter kit” fees.

The firm Lambert Avocat also notes in its request that "several" vehicle dealers, in particular Entrepôt Auto Durocher, in the list of 103 targeted traders, "have pleaded guilty to the charges of having demanded a price higher than that announced online " .

These allegations must first be submitted to a judge of the Class Actions Chamber who will assess their merits. According to data from the Quebec Class Action Registry, analyzed by BLG in 2020, 43.9% of class action claims filed were granted, and 29.3% were settled. More than one in four, 26.8% to be exact, was rejected.

The Lambert Avocat firm does not know the exact number of consumers affected, "but estimates it at several hundred thousand people", can we read in the request. According to Statistics Canada, 1.4 million new cars were sold in Quebec between May 2018 and last August.