Buying a car isn’t always the most stress-free of experiences, a fact made doubly true when a financial lender tied to the brand from which you are purchasing attempts to skirt a few rules. South of the border, a regulatory body called the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has fined Toyota Motor Credit a total of US$60 million (CDN$82 million) after its investigation uncovered a number of troubling activities.
At issue are so-called “product bundles,” items generally hawked by whoever is staffing a dealership’s business office and in charge of helping customers complete paperwork for their new purchase. We use the term “helping” with a great deal of irony, by the way. Most readers will have encountered such sales pitches during the signing of agreements at dealers, with the likes of products alleging to be of use if a car is damaged or stolen, or if the customer becomes disabled and can no longer keep up payment