You’ve probably heard horror stories about car sellers who charge too much for extras that aren’t needed, trick customers into buying more than they need, and put pressure on older people to make changes that they don’t need. The new FTC CARS Rule will not allow any of these methods. The Combating Auto Retail Scam (CARS) law says that sellers can’t lie about prices. Because dealers often go after service members, this rule protects them in particular. The Federal Trade Commission first looked at the suggested rule in 2022, but it will become law in the late summer of 2024. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) wants to stop sellers from scamming people who want to buy cars. People who buy cars have long complained about garbage fees and “bait-and-switch” methods. These problems are fixed by the new CARS Rule, which stands for Combating Auto Retail Scams. There is a lot of anger among people who have been surprised by a $500 “protection” add-on. There are four main parts to the CARS Rule: Dealers can’t lie about the price of a car. They have to “clearly disclose” the real price that a customer can pay for the car. They can’t charge customers for extras that don’t add value. They have to get a buyer’s “express, informed consent before charging them for anything.” The FTC made the first plan for what would become the CARS Rule in June 2022. In the United States, seventeen Democratic members of Congress asked the FTC to finish those rules in a statement released in July 2023. We know about the new CARS Rule, but it will start on July 30, 2024, which is late next summer. The FTC thinks that the law will save American car buyers more than $3.4 billion a year and about 72 million hours when it is fully put into effect. The FTC has made a website for people who sell cars and want to make sure they follow the new rules correctly. For “honest dealers,” the commission said that nothing should change. However, it does list specific types of behavior that the CARS Rule will not allow. These are things that many of our readers have seen while they were out and about. It will be against the law for dealers to lie about “any costs, limitations, benefits, or other aspect of an add-on product or service” or “the availability of vehicles at an advertised price.” Additionally, the CARS Rule does not allow “charging consumers for add-ons that do not provide a benefit.” Defense of Military Personnel and the Elderly Some dishonest car sellers may try to pull this kind of scam on a wide range of people. For instance, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office says that dishonest car sellers often go after older people. Scammers target military members by giving them “deceptive information about whether dealers are affiliated with the military and other specific issues that affect service members,” according to the FTC. The CARS Rule is meant to stop these kinds of scams. The FTC says that by the age of 24, 20% of service members had at least $20,000 in car debt. That’s twice as much as most people. The acting undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness at the DoD, Ashish S. Vazirani, said, “The Department of Defense appreciates the FTC’s CARS Rule.” For our service members and their families, a car is an essential purchase, and this CARS Rule will Assist in the fight against predatory practices that target our service members, both male and female.
