New Jersey Lemon Law Lawyer Blog

CONSUMER ARBITRATION AND MAJOR CREDIT CARDS Recently Bank of America and Chase have decided to change their ways. Both of these major credit card issuers have chosen to drop arbitration clauses from their card holder agreements. There is no coincidence that there have been many recent filings of lawsuits against National Arbitration Forum with regard to these agreements. It appears as though National Arbitration Forum got with their hand in the cookie jar by the Minnesota Attorney General. It is also relevant that there is pending legislation where the sponsors have attempted to prohibit arbitration agreements in consumer contracts and employment agreements. This bill is sponsored by Senator Feinstein of California.

Buying a car and consumer fraud, part 2

Many processes are used such as keeping people at the dealership for a long period of time, separating couples, confusing customers with various documentation and keeping them in the air. There are many, many dealership terms that characterized the types of process that are undertaken. If one were to think that negotiating a purchase of the car is simply speaking about the price and then getting the financing approved, they are mistaken. The dealership has various devices to ‘squeeze you’ for additional money and time. All of the squeezing that the dealership does ultimately breaks down your defenses and I have had many clients who have said I was there for so long, I just signed whatever documents that they put in front of me. This is exactly what a dealership is trying to do.
Therefore, if you are buying a vehicle, it is important that you go there when you are well-rested and taken aggressive attitude with the dealership and understand that nothing that they say can be trusted. If you take this approach and get aggressive with them and start asking questions of them to see what price they want and what financing they want and what interest rate they can provide, they will be on the defensive. Ultimately, the dealership knows that you can walk out of the dealership, go to another dealership across the street or down the road and get a better deal and cost them a sale. Dealerships count on certain percentage of all people entering the dealership to purchase vehicles. This is a known statistic by the dealerships.

Buying a Car and Consumer Fraud

Many consumers confide that buying a vehicle is one of the worst experiences of their life. Frequently, they come into my office and they are embarrassed and ashamed of the situation in which they have found themselves.
When one understands how a car dealership sells cars, there is a complete understanding of the circumstances leading to a vehicle purchased and there should be no reason to be embarrassed. Quite frankly, people do not understand the extensive processes at work when buying a car. Actually, the appropriate statement would be most people do not understand the processes at work used by a dealership to force the sale of vehicles. This process has been honed for many years for which the dealership employees at all levels have been trained. All levels of dealership employees including salesman, sales manager, finance and insurance managers, general managers and other owner representatives have been extensively trained in the process of selling cars.
The process starts in the advertisement. Nowadays, the internet, in my opinion, has overtaken the use of newspaper advertisements. This is step one to get interest in a vehicle whether it be through the internet or through newspaper advertisement or TV. The next step is to get the person into the dealership when they can use their training and skills to ‘convince’ a potential purchaser to purchase a vehicle. There are many tools that they use to gain a consumer’s confidence and trust the dealership representatives in the sales process. However, this is completely phony and consumers need to understand that they cannot trust these representatives in any way, shape or form. These representatives are using this trust as a coercion factor to get them to purchase vehicles.

The New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance is an excellent resource for most consumers. The department’s main offices are located at Mary Roebling Building at 20 West State Street in Trenton, New Jersey. The mission of the Department of Banking and Insurance is regulation of banking and insurance in the real estate industries, to protect and educate consumers and promote growth and financial stability. The site provides a host of consumer information in the insurance industry, personal finance industry and real estate industry. There is an entire section for consumer inquiries and complaints. There are online forms for filing a formal banking complaint, online forms for filing formal insurance complaint and online forms for filing real estate complaints. The fax is 609-777-0508.

There is the Division of Banking which consists of two major units such as the Office of Consumer Finance and the Office of Depositories. This department has the ability to issue cease and decease orders as an example for the order issued against Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corporation. There is an entire insurance division which regulates insurance companies throughout the State of New Jersey. There is a list of hot topics on the site which indicate proposed acquisition of Health Net of New Jersey by Oxford Health Plans, limited benefits under New Jersey Health Plan Benefits, issues with regard to personal injury protection and various other items including Federal Stimulus for New Jersey Groups Not Subject to COBRA.

There is an entire real estate commission in the Division of Banking and Insurance to enforce New Jersey’s real estate licensing law. There is an entire section to research and find banking insurance and real estate licenses. There is an entire section for rules, orders and bulletins, and the applications and forms for those including motor vehicle installment sellers. According to the consumer inquiries and complaints section on the website, you may contact the unit in several ways by telephone, web, mail, fax or in person. Then, a tracking number is assigned for inquiries or assistance of filing a complaint. The phone number is 609-292-7272 or hotline of 18004467467. The mailing address is NJ DOBI, P.O. Box 471, Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0471.

NEW JERSEY DIVISION OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS

The New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, a subdivision of the Department of Law and Public Safety, provides an excellent website with links to all of the relevant New Jersey departments, links to all of the relevant inquiries pertaining to the Division of Consumer Affairs and current headlines or investigations undergoing or undertaken by representatives of the Division of Consumer Affairs. As an example, there are headlines on the site and the current headlines as of the writing of this blog indicate that there are various ticket sellers which agree to stop speculative ticket sales, a Hudson County Senior Fraud Education and Protection Program, a notice on chimney repair scams and an announcement that the state through Governor Corzine and Attorney General Milgram are going to provide consumers with titles when the dealerships have gone out of business. The Division of Consumer Affairs also has links to Division of Criminal Justice, Division of Civil Rights, Division of Gaming and Enforcement, Division of Highway Traffic Safety, Division of Law, Juvenile Justice Commission, New Jersey Racing Commission, State of Athletic Control Board, Division of State Police and Victims of Crime Compensation Office. There are also numerous consumer briefs which is public information which is extensive ranging from county office on aging to travel scams.