Report: Consumers Overcharged For Transport Of Foreign-Made Vehicles

BMWs being loaded onto a ship (Credit: BMW)

According to a report that recently ran on ClassAction.org, anyone who’s purchased a foreign-made vehicle that was shipped by cargo ship from 2008 has been ripped off. A coalition of car dealerships have filed an antitrust lawsuit in the state of New Jersey against the transport companies, saying they were defrauded and ended up paying too much for vehicle transportation fees. The actions are being called a conspiracy to fix prices, which the companies engaged in when the economic collapse struck in 2008 and car sales bottomed out. Some of the methods used by the shipping companies, as named in the lawsuit, include strategically taking ships out of commission, which allowed the increase of shipping prices.

Already three of the cargo companies that are defendants in the lawsuit have pled guilty to charges related to antitrust violations, as filed by the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. As restitution those companies have already handed over in excess of $100 million. Incidentally, some of the same companies were also fined almost $100 million for fixing air cargo prices between Japan and the US.

If this makes your blood boil because you were gouged on a new car purchase or lease, you might be able to do something about it. The report discloses that at least a couple of dozen tag-along lawsuits have been filed on behalf of private citizens who purchased of even leased cars that were imported by sea. It’s not too hard to imagine that many dealerships passed the increased shipping costs along to consumers, meaning they were the ones who were most harmed by the actions of the shipping companies.

The report also states that each year about $600 to $800 million is spent on importing new vehicles to the United States via cargo ships. The lawsuit says that boils down to about $400 per vehicle, which is more than what it cost back in 2006.