The FCRA is specifically structured so as not to require your express permission to pull your credit report if one or more of the permissible purposes outlined in FCRA 604 are present.
One such permissible purpose is a consumer-initiated request for credit.
Another is a business transaction initiated by the consumer for which there is a legitimate business purpose to evaluate your credit as part of the transaction.
If you initiated an application for credit, they arguably have permissbile purpose to request and obtain your credit report.
That applies, regardless of whether the web site included advisement of their permissible purpose.
The FCRA does not include any express limit of one inquiry per permissble purpose.
In fact, auto dealer inquiries have a long, long history of permitting multiple inquiries based on a single application for credit.
That history is generally considered beneficial to the consumer in that it permits rate and dealership shopping around for best terms.
The dealer will likely include that established practice in their defense should you bring civil action contesting the legitmacy of their inquiry.
While they will likely assert permissible purpose as support for the inquiry, you might arguably have a basis for asserting that the permissible purpose extending only to dealership A, and not to a subsequent dealership B.
While I personally doubt that such an assertion would persuade a judge, it is not necessarily frivolous. Just a tough nut to crack.
Were there any mitigating cirsumstances, such as when you visited dealership B, for example, did you enter into an agreement to pay by means other than credit, such as cash, that would clearly negate any assumption on their part that you were seeking any financing?
It will, ultimately, be up to a judge. The case law is very deficient in supporting consumers who challenge legitimacy of an inquiry once they have established a permissble purpose as defined by any subsection under FCRA 604.
Personally, I would not recommend civil action. I would pursue request for recoding as a soft inquiry by contacting upper management and REQUESTING good-will removal, rather than a confrontational demand or threat of civil action.
