Building power for working people

This New Rule Will Stop Car Dealers from Ripping You Off

The Biden administration is taking on the car dealership racket.

Car dealers are incredibly rich, one of the five most common jobs among the top .1% of earners in America.

They’re now going to war against the Biden administration for proposing a rule that bans outright fraud tactics at dealerships.

Under Biden, the Federal Trade Commission has proposed a new rule that would finally require car dealers to provide price and financing transparency, including a legally enforceable “offering price” — the actual full price that a buyer would pay.

The FTC rule would also ban various junk fees that dealers routinely tack on, as well as bait-and-switch ads that market cars at a cheap rate that the dealers never honor.

Auto dealers are fiercely opposed to the rule. In addition to being rich, they’re “one of the most organized political factions—a conservative imperium giving millions of dollars to politicians at local, state, and national levels,” as Slate reported.

The final version of the FTC rule is expected soon and the public will have another chance to weigh in. In the meantime, you can write to the auto dealers’ lobby and tell them to stop ripping off consumers and end their opposition to the FTC’s proposal.