A Kia customer claims that a Yonkers dealership piled up extra charges that jacked up the price of the car when she opted to buy it at the end of a lease period.
Deborah Bacote-Wood accused Yonkers Kia of violating the federal Truth in Lending Act, in a complaint filed Dec. 30 in U.S. District Court, White Plains, for allegedly not providing clear and conspicuous disclosure of the key terms of the deal.
Yonkers Kia “created multiple versions of the lease with different terms contained in them,” the complaint states, in an “effort to deceive” her.
The dealership’s general counsel, James Castle, did not reply to an email asking for the dealer’s side of the story.
In 2019, Bacote-Wood, who lives in the Bronx near Pelham Bay Park, leased a new Kia Optima from Yonkers Kia on Central Park Avenue. It was her second lease from the dealership.
The car was valued at $44,669, according to the lease.
She paid nearly $16,500 up front in cash and credits, according to the lease, and agreed to pay $12,104 at $336.23 a month for three years, bringing her total costs to $28,654.
The deal included an option to buy, the complaint states, for $21,213 at the end of the lease.
Last February Bacote-Wood decided to exercise the option. She says she agreed to make a $20,000 down payment and buy a 10-year “bumper-to-bumper” extended warranty for $5,600.
The dealership allegedly listed the down payment at $25,600 and added $18,320 in charges — a key replacement plan for $6,160, 3-year maintenance contract for $4,580, paintless dent repair for $4,580, and tire service for $3,000 — without her consent.
(The contracts for the extras, attached as exhibits to the complaint, show a name signed as Deborah Bacote-Wood.)
The cost of buying the three-year-old Kia Optima, including the down payment, extras and finance charges, totaled $63,756, according to the retail installment contract.
She had to pay $508.74 a month for six years and four months.
Bacote-Wood claims that Yonkers Kia violated the Truth in Lending Act by failing to accurately disclose the total sale price and engaged in “deceptive and unfair practices” under state law. She also accused the dealership of breach of contract for allegedly not selling the car at the price agreed to in the lease.
She is demanding return of all principal paid toward buying the car, twice the amount of the finance charges, and other damages.
She is represented by Queens attorney David M. Kasell.
