Dec. 20—Dan O'Brien Kia agreed to a $1.25 million settlement with the Attorney General's Office to resolve allegations of unfair and deceptive acts or practices in selling cars at its Concord dealership.

An investigation by the Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau found DMO Auto Acquisitions LLC (Dan O'Brien Kia) employees deceived customers into buying vehicles they could not afford, inflated consumer incomes on loan applications and forged the signature of a customer on loan paperwork, according to a news release.

The settlement was approved in Merrimack Superior Court Monday morning. The company will need to adhere to strict terms over the next five years to assure customers are protected from similar practices in the future, according to the Attorney General's Office.

An increase in complaints between 2019 and 2021 prompted the investigation.

Besides the $1.25 million, DMO Auto must reimburse the Attorney General's Office $49,209.50 in legal costs, hire an independent compliance monitor for the next five years, audio and video record "all substantive financing discussions that occur between DMO employees and customers" and pay restitution to two victims of the deceptive sales practices.

The car dealer must implement an approved training and education program for all staff to ensure "knowledge of and compliance with state consumer protection laws."

Brian Quirk, an attorney for DMO Auto Acquisitions, said in a statement that DMO addressed all the issues raised by the Attorney General's Office.

"It is pleased that this matter has been resolved so it can focus on serving its customers. The settlement recognizes that there was no admission of wrongdoing," he said. "DMO has put in place best practices and welcomes the NH Attorney General's monitoring process in the area of recording transactions, something it has done for years."

According to the complaint, DMO developed a sales pitch that was only allowed to be used by senior management. The sales pitch was referred to as either the credit repair program, credit rehabilitation program or the six-month financing program.

When a customer informed a salesperson they could not afford the lowest available financing option, a senior manager would tell the customers paying on time for six months would improve their credit and DMO employees would help the customer refinance the loan to a more affordable rate.

Saying customers were "qualified" was deceptive in that there were no written policies, procedures, literature or information available.

"The program was nothing more than a sales pitch designed to deceive customers into accepting a loan that was out of their price range," the complaint reads.

The program was not endorsed or affiliated with any financial institution. Capital One deactivated Dan O'Brien Kia from being able to offer financing to its customers, according to the complaint.

Many of the customers had extremely poor credit histories with considerable debt.

"Customers who relied on the respondent's assurances that they would refinance the customers' loans after six months of timely payments were left in a contractual obligation to pay a loan that they could not afford," the complaint reads.

After financing fell through for one customer who bought a Kia Sorento, a salesman forged multiple documents including protections the customer did not want.

Some employees inflated the income of potential borrowers using systems to secure loans from banks and credit unions, according to the complaint. In one case, a customer's monthly income was increased from $2,832 to $6,200.

The case was investigated by Senior Assistant Attorney General Brandon Garod and investigator Calice Ducey of the Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau.