According to recent reports from the New York Times, a group of eleven consumer and safety organizations are petitioning the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate used car dealership, CarMax, for deceptive advertising practices. The group claims that the dealership is advertising their pre-owned vehicles as passing a rigorous 125 point quality inspection, but the inspection fails to carry out the basic step of checking to see if there are any unfixed safety recalls affecting the vehicle.

While the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration requires new car dealers to fix recalled new vehicles before they can be sold, the safety agency does not have the authority to require that recall repairs be carried out on used vehicles. The NHTSA is seeking authority from Congress but are experiencing resistance from used car dealers, including CarMax who played a major role in killing the legislation.

CarMax responded to the petition saying that manufacturers do not permit independent auto dealers to repair recalls or to access their internal databases in order to search a manufacturer’s website for recalls on vehicles. CarMax agrees that manufacturer safety recalls should be taken seriously by manufacturers, dealers, and consumers, and say that they advise all its customers to register their vehicles with the manufacturer so they can be notified of future recalls.

Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety (CARS) warns used car buyers to always check the Vehicle Identification Number of any used car they are considering BEFORE they agree to anything. Consumers can find up-to-date safety recall information on most auto manufacturers’ websites, or by calling the manufacturer’s toll-free number or a local dealer, and providing the VIN.