WASHINGTON, Aug 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade

Commission sued Asbury Automotive Group ( ABG ) on Friday,

alleging that three of its dealerships in Texas charged Black

and Latino customers higher prices than others and routinely

added services to customers' contracts without their consent.

Up to 75% of customers of Asbury's David McDavid Ford

dealership in Fort Worth, and Honda dealerships in Irving and

Frisco, Texas, reported being charged without their permission

for services such as protective coatings, service contracts and

insurance, according to the FTC.

In some cases, customers had declined the services or

been falsely told they were mandatory, while in others their

permission was never sought, the FTC said.

The dealerships on average charged Black customers $298

more and Latino customers $214 more for the same add-on products

than they did white customers who were not Latino, the FTC said.

Asbury said it rejects the allegation and will contest the

lawsuit. It denied in a statement that minority customers were

charged more for protection products than other customers.

The company said it verified through a Freedom of

Information Act request that the FTC did not receive any

consumer complaints about McDavid dealerships between 2019 and

late spring of 2024.

"We will not allow the FTC to coerce fines from us or

subject us to onerous requirements that negatively impact the

car-buying experience for our customers, would not apply to

others, and would place us at a competitive disadvantage in the

industry," CEO David Hult said in a statement.

Asbury operates more than 155 dealerships in more than a

dozen states.

All five FTC commissioners voted to authorize the case

against Asbury, although Andrew Ferguson, one of two Republican

commissioners, took issue with using a separate case settled on

Thursday against a different dealership to classify

discrimination as an unfair business practice.

FTC Chair Lina Khan and the Democratic commissioners

said on Thursday that exempting discriminatory conduct from

unfair practices would give companies that discriminate a pass.