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Travlingman's avatar
Travlingman
Explorer II
Jul 19, 2016

FCA under investigation

Looks like the U.S. Security and Exchange commission along with the Justice Department is looking into how FCA reports their sales numbers. Looks like a dealer is saying they are being told to fudge their numbers.
FCA confirms investigation
FCA investigation

40 Replies

  • Napleton likes to keep his lawyers busy. He's also suing Volkswagen over the diesel scandal and sued Jaguar Land Rover over right of first refusal. At least the legal community will profit!
  • boshog wrote:
    Actually, a rogue dealer or two with a grudge is making the claim. FCA is fully cooperating with the investigation.

    In the automotive world, a manufacturer reports what the assembly plant made. Once a vehicle rolls off the line, it is considered sold to a dealer, none of them track retail sales.

    They better cross their fingers and hope nobody was playing a numbers game since they are a public company looking to merge.


    Uh, are you sure?

    Honda Ridgeline reported sales (of one or two trucks) a year after production shut down. How is that the case if they report sales the month the vehicle rolls off the assembly line?
  • BB_TX wrote:
    Amazing how people here know all the behind the scenes info and can so quickly determine the merits of the case. :S


    How true! How true!
  • minnow wrote:
    Yeah that's a good one - a dealer that gets offended for shady business practices. Too bad the Feds didn't want to open an investigation in how car dealers bamboozle and swindle customers. I guess those fraudulent practices are OK since its just the average American being cheated.


    The dealers involved in the complaint have detailed why they feel they should have recourse in this instance. Those of us who actually understand the business know exactly what they are complaining about and many would agree that the manufacturer's actions are egregious. This is particularly true when one dealer purports to have an eighteen-million-dollar facility investment.

    Unless you personally have information pertaining to the dealers involved that you can present, attempting to paint all dealers with the same brush would be a mistake. For all you know, they may well be paragons of virtue!
  • boshog wrote:
    Actually, a rogue dealer or two with a grudge is making the claim. FCA is fully cooperating with the investigation.

    In the automotive world, a manufacturer reports what the assembly plant made. Once a vehicle rolls off the line, it is considered sold to a dealer, none of them track retail sales.

    They better cross their fingers and hope nobody was playing a numbers game since they are a public company looking to merge.


    Every manufacturer selling in the U.S. tracks and reports retail sales. These numbers are released monthly to the press, detailing classification and location of sales. Dealers are responsible to sales within their market area of responsibility and ultimately millions of dollars can be at stake. Dealers are responsible to report every sale to the manufacturer with detail so as to allow the manufacturer to track warranty, recalls, dealer performance, and a myriad of other purposes. You need to re-check your information.
  • Amazing how people here know all the behind the scenes info and can so quickly determine the merits of the case. :S
  • Yeah that's a good one - a dealer that gets offended for shady business practices. Too bad the Feds didn't want to open an investigation in how car dealers bamboozle and swindle customers. I guess those fraudulent practices are OK since its just the average American being cheated.
  • Link to the complaint filing that version has a lot of highlighting not 100% confident in source however it looks legit.

    It makes all sorts of criminal complaints (racketeering, conspiracy) which they have no standing to sue for anyway. I would think this will be tossed out of court pretty quickly...

    From a light reading this looks like an attempt to throw mud at FCA, nothing more.

    This is coming from a fairly large auto group, wonder if they are conspiring with another manufacturer to do this?? If they were thinking about jumping ship anyway.....might be a nice bone to throw your new manufacturer....
  • FYI, all manuf play this game! It's just that there are a couple dealers upset about something and are now trying to get back at FCA Chrysler.

    In the end there will be nothing illegal found.
  • Actually, a rogue dealer or two with a grudge is making the claim. FCA is fully cooperating with the investigation.

    In the automotive world, a manufacturer reports what the assembly plant made. Once a vehicle rolls off the line, it is considered sold to a dealer, none of them track retail sales.

    They better cross their fingers and hope nobody was playing a numbers game since they are a public company looking to merge.