A car parts store has been fined $750,000 after being found guilty of routinely overcharging customers across three California counties, including San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and San Diego. The fine is part of a settlement reached with the SLO County District Attorney’s Office and announced this Thursday, concluding a lawsuit initially filed for $10 million against Carquest Auto Parts.
The lawsuit revealed that over a seven-year span from 2017 to 2023, Carquest had overcharged customers by an average of 12%, with rates climbing to 14% in the last year. A thorough inspection conducted in the summer of 2023 across 43 Carquest stores in 20 counties found that 39 stores failed the price accuracy inspection, with nearly a quarter of items being overcharged.
This is not the first time Carquest has faced legal action for similar issues; in 2012, they settled a lawsuit in San Diego County for $242,715 and agreed to enhance their auditing processes to ensure price accuracy.
Under the terms of the latest settlement, Carquest is required to pay $657,000 in civil penalties—divided equally among the three counties—and an additional $93,000 to cover the costs of the investigation and support future consumer protection enforcement efforts.
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