Suing a Car Dealer Under the DC Consumer Protection Procedures Act

By Joshua Feygin, Esq. · Dealer Fraud · Washington, D.C. · Updated September 2026

Suing a car dealer under the DC Consumer Protection Procedures Act starts from the statute's own list. The statute, D.C. Code § 28-3901 et seq. (the CPPA), doesn't ask whether the dealer meant to deceive you or whether you relied on what it said. It asks whether the dealer did one of the things on that list, and if so, sets damages at three times your loss or $1,500 per violation, whichever is greater, and shifts attorney's fees to the dealer. This post covers the elements, the remedy, the procedure, and the deadlines. For how the firm handles District matters, start with our DC auto fraud attorney page.

Who Can Sue, and Who Can Be Sued

D.C. Code § 28-3901 defines the parties broadly. A consumer is a person who purchases, leases, or receives consumer goods other than for resale. A merchant is anyone who sells, leases, or transfers consumer goods in the ordinary course of business. A car bought for personal use is a consumer good; a franchised dealership, a buy-here-pay-here lot, and the finance company that took assignment of the contract are all merchants. The statute is to be construed liberally, and its stated purpose is an enforceable right to truthful information from merchants.

Under § 28-3905(k)(1), a consumer may sue for relief from a trade practice that violates a law of the District. That phrase is wider than the CPPA's own list: a dealer that violated the used-car disclosure statute, D.C. Code § 50-505, or the salvage title rules in Chapter 13A of Title 50 has violated a law of the District, and the CPPA can supply the remedy.

Which Dealer Practices Violate § 28-3904?

Section 28-3904 is a long list. The subsections that carry most dealer cases:

• (a) Misrepresenting the characteristics, uses, or benefits of the vehicle: "one owner," "never in an accident," "fully serviced."
• (d) Representing the vehicle is of a particular standard, quality, or grade when it is of another: "certified," "excellent condition," "clean title."
• (e) Misrepresenting a material fact that has a tendency to mislead.
• (f) Failing to state a material fact where the omission tends to mislead. This is the omission subsection: the salvage brand, the prior rental use, the frame repair, the open recall the dealer knew about and didn't mention.
• (f-1) Using innuendo or ambiguity as to a material fact: "the CARFAX is clean" when the dealer knows the auction condition report isn't.
• (h) Advertising goods without intent to sell them as advertised: the internet price that becomes a different number on the buyer's order.
• (r) Making or enforcing unconscionable terms in a sale or lease.

A single transaction usually implicates several. A rebuilt salvage vehicle sold as clean, $2,000 over the advertised price, with a $1,200 "protection package" nobody discussed, may be an (f) omission, an (h) advertising violation, and an (a) misrepresentation at minimum. Each can count as a separate violation for damages purposes.

Why Intent and Reliance Don't Matter

The opening clause of § 28-3904 makes the listed practices unlawful whether or not any consumer is in fact misled, deceived, or damaged. Common-law fraud requires a false statement, knowledge of its falsity, intent to induce reliance, actual reliance, and damages. The CPPA drops the middle three. If the dealer told you the car had never been in an accident and it had, the statement can be actionable without proof that the salesperson knew or that you would have walked away.

What Does the CPPA Let You Recover?

Section 28-3905(k)(2) lists the remedies a court may award a consumer who proves a violation:

• Treble damages, or $1,500 per violation, whichever is greater, payable to the consumer. Actual loss is typically the difference between what you paid and what the car was worth as delivered, plus charges you shouldn't have paid.
• Reasonable attorney's fees.
• Punitive damages.
• An injunction against the practice.
• Restitution of money or property, and any other relief the court finds proper.

The floor is what makes a modest case economical. A $1,200 add-on that was never explained can, by itself, support the $1,500 statutory minimum plus fees. Three violations on a $12,000 car with $4,000 in actual damages could support a treble-damages claim of $12,000 plus fees. These numbers are set by statute, not by any result, and what a client recovers depends on the facts and the dealer's ability to pay.

When the case involves a rolled-back odometer, the Federal Odometer Act adds three times actual damages or $10,000, whichever is greater, with a mandatory fee award (49 U.S.C. § 32710); see odometer rollback in Washington, D.C.

How Does a CPPA Case Against a Dealer Proceed?

1. Documents firstThe buyer's order, retail installment contract, title application, odometer disclosure, Buyers Guide, every ad you saved, and every text or email with the dealer are what the claim is built from. They are reviewed through the free case evaluation.
2. Written demandThe CPPA does not require a pre-suit demand before you file. We send one anyway, identifying each § 28-3904 subsection, the treble-damages exposure, and the fee provision. Dealers that understand the statute often resolve here.
3. Agency complaint in parallelSection 28-3905(a) allows a complaint with the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, and the Office of the Attorney General's Office of Consumer Protection mediates complaints and can bring enforcement actions under § 28-3909, with civil penalties of up to $5,000 per violation. An agency complaint does not replace your private claim or extend your deadline.
4. Suit in Superior CourtIf the demand fails, the complaint is filed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Claims of $10,000 or less can proceed in the Small Claims and Conciliation Branch under D.C. Code § 11-1321, though a fee-shifting claim is usually brought in the Civil Division. An Odometer Act count opens federal court; an arbitration clause moves the claims to arbitration.
5. Discovery and resolutionThe deal jacket, auction purchase records, and title history are the evidence. Most cases resolve once that record is assembled; the rest go to trial.

How Long Do You Have to Sue?

The CPPA borrows its deadline from D.C. Code § 12-301; the Odometer Act and the Automobile Consumer Protection Act (including § 50-505 and § 50-507) each set their own, separate deadline. The clock can start earlier than people expect, and evidence disappears faster than any deadline runs — the auction report that proves what the dealer knew may not be retrievable for long. Which deadline applies to a particular purchase is a question for an attorney who has reviewed the documents.

This page is attorney advertising and general information, not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Results depend on the facts and law of each matter; prospective clients may not obtain similar results. Statutory damages described are as set by law and are before deductions for attorney's fees and costs. Sue Your Dealer – A Law Firm, Hollywood, Florida · By appointment only · (954) 321-0507.