District Attorney offices in three counties have settled a civil lawsuit with a car parts company that alleged the company over-charged its customers, the SLO County D.A. said in a news release.
The lawsuit was brought by the SLO County D.A.s “Consumer Protection Unit,” in conjunction with district attorneys in Santa Barbara and San Diego Counties. The case was heard in September in SLO Superior Court and a stipulated judgment was reached.
The parent companies of Carquest Auto Parts will have to pay $750,000, “to settle allegations of false advertising and unfair competition committed across numerous counties in California,” the SLO County D.A. said.
“The civil lawsuit alleged that parent companies running corporate-owned Carquest Auto Parts stores in California charged customers higher prices at checkout than the listed shelf price.”
The lawsuit was just against corporate-owned stores and not those owned by a franchisee, the release said.
Carquest “operates approximately 330 stores in North America with approximately 50 corporate-owned stores in California,” the release said.
Problems with laser scanners in stores that have them are not uncommon. “The problem is often called a ‘scanner violation,’ which occurs when the price charged at checkout is higher than the posted shelf price.”
A county’s division of weights and measures, normally working through the agriculture department, is responsible for enforcement of this law, as well as checking the accuracy of machines like gas pumps and produce scales in markets. Consumers can look for the red certification stickers on these machines to see if they have been calculated correctly and passed inspection.
In the case of gas pumps, a broken red sticker could be a sign that the pump has been tampered with, including the possible installation of card skimming devices.
The complaint “detailed evidence collected by several counties’ Weights and Measures Departments,” the news release said, “over a 7-year period.” Among the allegations were:
• Between 2017 and 2023, Carquest overcharged an average of 12% of the items tested;
• In 2022, the number of items overcharged increased to 14%; and,
• In the summer of 2023, the Weights and Measures inspectors from 20 counties inspected 43 stores, finding that 39 of the 43 stores failed the price accuracy inspection. It found that almost a quarter of the items inspected were overcharged.
This isn’t the first time Carquest has been accused of this scanner fixing. “Carquest had previously settled a similar lawsuit in 2012,” the release said, “that was filed in San Diego County Superior Court. At that time Carquest paid $242,715.40 and agreed to initiate additional audits of its products to ensure price accuracy.”
SLO County D.A. Dan Dow said, “Many shoppers have had the frustrating experience of being charged at the register a higher price than advertised on the store shelf. Our Consumer Protection Laws require accuracy and assure confidence and integrity in the marketplace.
“I am pleased with the efforts in this case by our office’s Consumer Protection Unit and that of our partners in the San Diego County and Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Offices.”
The judgment breaks down into Carquest paying $657,000 in civil penalties and $93,000 “to cover the costs of investigation and to support future enforcement of consumer protection laws.”
Carquest’s parent company is Advance Auto Parts, Inc., which also has Autopart International and DieHard batteries as featured brands.
The judgment also requires the companies to stop this fraud. “The parent companies of Carquest also agreed to follow price-accuracy laws.”
The case was prosecuted by Dep. D.A. Ken Jorgensen of the Special Prosecutions Division that includes Public Integrity, Consumer Protection, Environment Protection, and White-Collar Fraud units.”
