Major World is in major trouble.
The metro area’s largest car dealer was ordered to cough up more than $3 million in fines for duping customers into buying unsafe cars they couldn’t afford.
Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings Administrative Law Judge Alessandra Zorgniotti handed down the decision Thursday, after the city Department of Consumer Affairs brought a case against the dealership.
From 2012 to 2017, the Long Island City dealership lied in ads about the quality of its used cars — then overcharged for them, the judge found. Several had serious safety problems, including two cars that had been recalled for faulty airbags.
The company also manipulated loan applications without customers’ knowledge to make them appear more financially sound, and baited Spanish-speaking buyers with Spanish-language sales reps, only to later foist English-language contracts that the buyers couldn’t understand, obscuring the true price of vehicles, the ruling found.
“It was not until after they purchased their vehicles that they learned the total sales price including the interest which was much more than they agreed to pay,” court documents state.
Major World lawyer Steven Harfenist called the ruling “unjustified” and said the company plans to appeal.