Alaska attorney general files consumer protection lawsuit against Swickard Auto

Filed on Wednesday in Anchorage Superior Court, the 21-page complaint said in part: “Over four months in 2022 and 2023, the Alaska Department of Law’s Consumer Protection Unit (“CPU”) received three complaints against Swickard alleging false advertising tactics — specifically, advertising for the sale of vehicles that Swickard did not actually possess, advertising interest rates that were not available, and failing to honor advertised prices.”

Swickard said the “genesis of the complaint” is its decision to advertise in-transit vehicles and shared inventory.

“While our decision to advertise in-transit and shared inventory vehicles was to provide our Alaska customers with visibility of our pipeline of upcoming vehicles, the AG employee found it to be a frustrating experience and opened an official complaint for him to investigate,” the auto group wrote in its statement. “They reviewed over 100 transactions and did not share any additional complaints or violations.”

The complaint seeks $25,000 for each violation of Alaska’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Act, plus an injunction barring Swickard from using deceptive practices.

“Buying a car is already a stressful process and an important decision for consumers,” Taylor said in a statement. “We will not allow car dealerships to engage in illegal advertising and sales practices that make purchasing a car even more difficult for consumers. Nor will we allow unscrupulous dealerships to gain an unfair advantage over their competitors.”

Messages to the attorney general’s office for further comment were not returned, aside from an email from Assistant Attorney General John Haley to Automotive News directing inquires to the department’s press office.

Swickard Auto owns eight dealerships in Alaska selling the Chevrolet, GMC, Buick, Cadillac, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Porsche brands.

The first complaint alleges the advertised rate of 0 percent interest on a $60,000 truck jumped to 3.89 percent once a customer agreed to buy the vehicle at Swickard Chevrolet.

“CPU forwarded the complaint to Swickard and requested a response. In its response, Swickard claimed the advertisement was mistakenly placed in the vehicle,” according to the court filing.

At Audi Anchorage, a customer wanted to purchase an Audi A4 for the advertised rate of $36,295, but the price jumped to $49,000 and was told “the mark-up included a ‘protection package’ that cost $4,990, an extended warranty that cost $6,000 and various smaller fees,” according to the suit. Swickard blamed an “overzealous salesperson,” according to the state.

The last complaint comes from Joshua Smith, later identified to be an investigator with Alaska’s Department of Law. Smith, according to the state, visited the Swickard Volkswagen of Anchorage website in September 2022. Smith was interested in a vehicle he saw advertised on the site for three days. He was told the price of the vehicle was wrong on the advertisement, and the car was not available. Swickard said it recently had purchased the dealership and was dealing with website issues during the transition.

Smith decided to not buy a car and submitted a complaint to the state.

“In response, Swickard claimed the advertisement was a bona-fide error and Inv. Smith should have known the advertised price was incorrect,” the filing states.

In March 2023, the complaint states, Smith returned to the store and had a similar experience, including a salesperson saying the e-commerce team may have falsely advertised inventory to help drive foot traffic to the store.

“We understand the customer/AG investigator frustration and we believe that our communication surrounding the availability/logistic updates of the vehicle of interest could have been improved,” Swickard’s emailed statement said. “We are committed to maintaining trust, seeking constructive dialogue with the Attorney General’s office, and wanting to improve the consumer experience.”

“Despite the concerns raised in the Attorney General’s report, we believe that the single complaint from a non-affiliated individual was addressed and resolved to the satisfaction of the customer.”

Swickard Auto of Las Vegas, Nev., ranks No. 48 on Automotive News’list of the top 150 U.S. dealership groups, retailing 16,422 new vehicles in 2022. The auto retailer owns dealerships in Oregon, California, Texas, Washington and Alaska, according to its website. In March, Swickard added three more dealerships in California from Anderson Holdings, following a December 2022 transaction with the group.