New and used car buyers, rejoice! You are finally getting a (much-delayed) win. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) strongarmed the automotive dealership network into finally behaving like semi-honest middlemen. There’s even an example that shows how things need to be done going forward.

     

The days of “I can give you a better price only if you get this add-on” are close to being gone for good. Soon, you won’t have to finance with the dealership at a horrible APR either. Things are on the up and up.

 

The previous FTC leadership tried to implement the Combating Auto Retail Scams (CARS) rule that was supposed to finally bring much-needed transparency to how dealerships price their cars. However, the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) fought the change all the way. It won in court right before the rule was supposed to come into effect because of a procedural FTC miss.