FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — Nearly 1,400 customers who purchased a vehicle from Auto Plaza USA will receive restitution after they had wrongly been led to believe they had paid all taxes at the time of the sale.
Attorney General Andy Beshear made the announcement today. The owners of Auto Plaza USA, formerly of Nicholasville, and its owners will pay more than $450,000 to resolve a 2017 lawsuit Beshear filed over alleged violations of the Kentucky Consumer Protection Act.
According to the lawsuit, between 2012 and 2016, Auto Plaza USA represented to consumers that the price of the vehicle included all fees and taxes, but then submitted insufficient tax amounts on nearly 1,400 sales transactions.
As a result, customers received delinquent tax notices from the state and were left owing tax bills they believed had already been paid through Auto Plaza USA.
Beshear said individual refund checks totaling more than $214,000 will be mailed to approximately 700 consumers who paid the delinquent taxes and another $175,000 will be paid to the Kentucky Department of Revenue to resolve any taxes, fees or penalties still owed by an additional 700 customers.
More than 100 consumers filed complaints with Beshear's office.
