Critical Shifts:
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Systemic Lease-End Overcharging Uncovered: A state investigation revealed that dozens of franchised dealerships systematically added illegal "junk fees" or falsified vehicle prices when customers tried to execute their contractual end-of-lease buyouts.
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The Captive Lender is Being Held Accountable: The settlement moves beyond individual dealerships to Nissan Motor Acceptance Company (NMAC), the manufacturer's captive finance arm. NMAC must now clean up its business processes, change its lease terms statewide, and refund extra loan interest it collected on these inflated deals.
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Massive Financial Restitution: The scale of the enforcement is substantial. Beyond the initial $5.5 million in penalties and consumer refunds clawed back from 15 specific locations, this expanded NMAC agreement forces full restitution to eligible consumers across all 45 remaining Nissan dealerships in New York,
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New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that the Nissan Motor Assurance Company (NMAC) will provide refunds for all New Yorkers who were unfairly overcharged for their leased vehicles. An investigation by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) found that 15 Nissan dealerships added junk fees or falsified the price of leased vehicles that customers wanted to buy when their lease ended, forcing them to pay higher costs.
As a result of OAG’s investigation, those 15 dealerships have already paid $1 million in penalties for overcharging on end-of-lease buyouts and refunded more than $4.5 million to over 3,100 consumers who paid more for their vehicles than they were promised. This new agreement with NMAC will provide refunds for even more New Yorkers, ensuring that anyone overcharged at any of the 45 New York Nissan dealerships that were not part of the initial settlements will also receive full restitution for any overcharges.
James previously secured settlements with 15 different Nissan dealerships for cheating customers with these illegal fees and inflated prices. The new settlement with NMAC will deliver restitution to all New Yorkers who were cheated by these lease overcharge schemes at all remaining Nissan dealerships in New York. In addition, consumers who took out loans financed by NMAC to buy their leased car at the wrongfully inflated price will be refunded the additional loan interest they paid. The settlement also requires NMAC to make changes to its lease terms and business processes to prevent these overcharges from occurring in the future.
The previous settlements with Nissan dealerships have delivered more than $4.5 million in restitution to consumers and $1 million in penalties.
