Car Dealer Sued, Files Bankruptcy, Closes Doors
Joe Gibson’s Automotive closed its doors on August first. The maligned dealership fell on hard times after it was sued over false and misleading advertising. The dealership advertised a low payment on a vehicle for three months, then jacked up the price for the remaining 69 months.
The Better Business Bureau received more than 50 complaints based on this practice and Joe Gibson Automotive was named in 14 different lawsuits.
The campaign even ruined customers credit. Which led one customer to remark:”I’m glad their doors are shut and they can’t rip anybody else off.”
Now this is not a new campaign. This is something car dealers across the country run (here and here for examples.)
It all comes back to short term, long term. Yes the campaign will gain you short term traffic. Yes it might even gain you a short term bump in sales. But in the long run, campigns like this ruin your reputation in town. And once that is gone, you have nothing.
Sales come and go, but bad word of mouth has a much longer life span. Just ask the Big 3 about bad word of mouth.
Use this as a cautionary tale if you decide to run a seriously misleading campaign.
August 8th, 2008 at 9:20 am
It is unfortunate but there are dealerships that still revert to playing dirty when it comes to advertising. That is why there are rules and laws against such tactics. Here at Omni Automotive Advertising we WILL NOT be associated with such unlawful advertising.