Alaska Car Dealer Agrees to Pay Up to $1 Million After State Says “That Price You Saw? Yeah, About That…”
Buying a car is already the kind of experience that makes grown adults want to lie down on the dealership floor and stare at the fluorescent lights. Now imagine showing up ready to buy the exact vehicle you saw advertised, only to find out it doesn’t exist. That, according to Alaska state officials, is roughly what was happening at Swickard Auto Group locations across the state.
On Monday, Alaska’s Department of Law and Swickard signed a consent decree settling a 2023 lawsuit that accused the multi-state dealer of some pretty old-school tricks: bait-and-switch advertising, refusing to honor listed prices once customers walked through the door, and tacking on pricey dealer add-ons like warranties and ceramic coating that nobody asked for. The settlement calls for Swickard to pay $800,000 upfront, with another $200,000 waiting in the wings if the company “recklessly or persistently” violates consumer protection laws over the next three years.
In other words, they’re on a very expensive probationary period.
What Alaska Says Swickard Was Actually Doing
The state didn’t exactly stumble onto this. Officials launched an undercover investigation after receiving consumer complaints, including one from a state investigator who apparently had a less-than-stellar car shopping experience. What they found, according to the civil complaint, was a pattern, not a series of honest mistakes.
Swickard was accused of advertising vehicles it didn’t actually have in order to lure shoppers onto the lot, then steering them toward something else once they arrived. The company also allegedly advertised interest rates that weren’t actually available and failed to collect proper documentation on used vehicle history. When investigators pressed the company on the complaints, Swickard reportedly blamed accidental ad postings and one overly eager salesperson. The state was not impressed. In the 2023 complaint, officials wrote that Swickard’s false advertising appeared to happen “virtually every day,” which is a pretty rough thing to have in a court document.
Alaska Attorney General Stephen Cox put it plainly: “Alaskans already face higher costs than most. This settlement holds Swickard accountable and reinforces that the price you see should be the price you pay.” A reasonable ask, one would think.
Swickard CEO Jeff Swickard pushed back on the framing. In a statement, he said the state’s characterization of events “does not accurately reflect what occurred” and that the company chose to settle rather than drag things through an expensive legal battle. He also took a shot at the state for keeping the settlement money rather than distributing it directly to affected customers, arguing that if this were truly about consumers, consumers would have seen some of the cash.
He also pointed to Alaska’s “obsolete pen-and-paper dealer requirements” as part of the problem, suggesting that outdated regulations don’t account for how modern car buying actually works online. Which is a fair point worth debating separately, though it’s a little harder to make when you’re simultaneously signing an $800,000 settlement.
The company did not admit to any wrongdoing under the terms of the agreement, which, as any car deal watcher knows, is pretty standard. Swickard said it plans to invest in tools to improve pricing transparency and the overall customer experience going forward. No word yet on whether those tools include actually having the car you’re advertising.
Swickard operates more than 50 dealerships across Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington, including nine locations in and around Anchorage and Palmer.
