Car parts store to pay $750,000 for overcharging customers in SLO and other CA counties

A car parts store was fined $750,000 for routinely overcharging customers in San Luis Obispo and two other California counties, the SLO County District Attorney’s Office said Thursday in announcing the settlement of a lawsuit.

The settlement comes a year after the lawsuit was first filed for $10 million against Carquest Auto Parts, which has three locations in San Luis Obispo County. The District Attorney’s Offices of San Diego and Santa Barbara counties were also parties in the lawsuit.

The complaint alleged that over a seven-year period, the store unlawfully overcharged customers prices higher than what was listed on the shelf.

Car parts store overcharged SLO County customers for years, DA says in $10 million lawsuit

According to the complaint, Carquest overcharged customers by an average of 12% between 2017 and 2023, with the average actually rising to 14% last year.

In the summer of 2023, the release said, inspectors from 20 counties inspected 43 stores, finding that 39 of the 43 stores failed the price accuracy inspection. It found that almost a quarter of the items inspected were overcharged, the DA’s news release said.

Carquest previously settled a similar 2012 lawsuit in San Diego County for $242,715, the news release said. In that settlement, the store agreed to initiate additional audits of its products to ensure price accuracy.

According to the final judgment, Carquest must pay $657,000 in civil penalties, which will be split evenly among San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and San Diego counties at $219,000 each.

The auto parts store will also pay $93,000 to cover the costs of the investigation and support future enforcement of consumer protection laws. San Luis Obispo County will see $12,766 of that money.