Despite slamming the brakes on its Combating Auto Retail Scams rule this summer pending legal challenges by auto dealers, the Federal Trade Commission on Thursday secured a $2.6 million settlement with an Arizona dealer chain for just the type of deceptive practices the regulation is meant to combat.
But the two Republican commissioners in the minority on the five-person panel, while concurring generally with penalties against Coulter Automotive Group, accused the FTC’s Democratic majority of its own shenanigans: using Section 5 of the FTC Act to bring claims Coulter discriminated against Latino customers by charging them extra.
