New York Toyota Dealer settles with State Attorney General for $136K
 

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced that his office reached a settlement with New Rochelle Toyota to issue refunds amounting to $86,826 and pay a $50,000 penalty to the state to cover the investigation costs. For a link to the full report - click here

The settlement pertains to a $499 "Administrative Fee" the dealership had been charging their customers and the fact the dealership had the fee amount pre-printed on their buyer's order. The Attorney General indicated the dealership's actions made it appear that the fee was non-negotiable and the customers who paid the fee didn't derive any benefit from having paid the fee.

While the state of New York does allow dealers to charge a Document Fee, the amount of that fee is capped at $75.

While I'm not an attorney, I think whoever came up with the plan to charge an $499 Administration Fee should have seen this problem coming.