Auto Dealer FTC Compliance

 

Leadership isn’t always about making difficult decisions.  Sometimes it’s about deciding which important thing deserves your attention first.

 

Have you ever been asked, “What do you want to do about this?” and you honestly didn’t know?  It’s not because you didn’t care, but because you cared about both sides of the decision? (Or all sides of the decision?)

 

Unfinished Priorities

 

That uncomfortable feeling has a name. It’s ambiguity. And ambiguity has a funny way of convincing us that doing nothing is a decision. More importantly, we rationalize that “it’s fine to wait.”  Sometime, it is fine. Sometimes, not.

 

That decision-making “process” occurs because our brain craves certainty.  (We can agree there is no “process” here because inaction isn’t a leadership decision… though it is a decision.) So, delays happen. Then, we rationalize. Sometimes, we squirm with all these feelings and we are uncomfortable.  We say to ourself, “I’ll deal with it next week.”  And then we don’t.

 

Examples:

 

“I need to understand what my insurance actually covers.”

“I need to spend more time with my employees.”

“I know the website needs work.”

“I know our onboarding documents need updating.”

“I know we need monthly compliance training.”

 

With so many competing priorities, it’s easy to convince yourself that one more month won’t matter.  The important, but not urgent work, quietly waits for “when things slow down.”  They never do.

 

You call it an unfinished priority or a future project.  The FTC calls it an expectation.  They are not interested in your timeframes.

While you’re deciding what to prioritize, consider the FTC quietly released it 2026-2030 Strategic Plan on April 3, 2026 while we were all analyzing their new advertising guidelines.

 

According to the press release, “The new plan lays out the agency’s mission, vision, and goals and establishes metrics to track the agency’s work.”   It’s twenty-three pages and here are the highlights.

 

Great Organizations Identify Problems Before Someone Else Does

 

Strategic Goal 1 is “Protect Americans from unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the marketplace.”

 

Chairman Andrew Ferguson, in his Message from the Chairman, states, “we have returned the phrase ‘without unduly burdening legitimate business activity’ to the mission statement, reflecting our commitment to end overregulation of American businesses that compete fairly and deal honestly with consumers.”

 

I found Chairman Ferguson’s wording interesting. He emphasized protecting consumers “without unduly burdening legitimate business activity.”  Notice the balance he is emphasizing.  The expectation isn’t the absence of compliance; it’s reasonable compliance.

 

If you have any doubt about the FTC’s resolve, refer back to the title to Strategic Goal 1 above and that quote.  That should change your mind.

 

Moving through the document, let’s consider the Objectives under Strategic Goal 1.

 

“Objective 1.1: Identify, investigate, take actions against, and deter unfair or deceptive acts or practices that harm Americans, without unduly burdening legitimate business activity”

 

Taken in a leadership context, isn’t this exactly what good leadership looks like?

 

On page 7, the FTC continues, “The Consumer Response Center collects report information from consumers that is stored in the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network and shared with law enforcement partners. These tools help jumpstart many of the FTC’s law enforcement investigations and benefit enforcers nationwide.”

 

The FTC is collecting data and sharing it with their law enforcement partners.  That would include the state Attorneys General and any pertinent agency, i.e. State Police, IRS, Department of Homeland Security etc., and the agencies of about 120+ other countries.

 

Education Isn’t Optional

 

Objective 1.2: Provide Americans and businesses with research, information and tools that offer guidance and mitigate harm

 

The FTC is attempting to help businesses understand expectations before mistakes occur.  Isn’t that why monthly training should become a priority at your stores?  Training, at its core, reduces mistakes.

 

New Item Of Focus

 

One sentence buried in the plan caught my attention.  The FTC specifically references gathering information from Better Business Bureaus.

 

Buried on page 8, “In addition, the FTC continues to gather consumer reports from other sources, including state, federal, and international law enforcement agencies, and Better Business Bureaus.”

 

Think about that.  Dealers often dismiss BBB complaints because they don’t carry the same emotional weight as an Attorney General complaint.  But regulators are telling us they look there.  Maybe you should too.

 

Performance Metrics

 

As dealers, we go to 20 groups to discuss metrics.  They’re important, right?

 

The FTC has metrics too. On page 9, it shows what they track. Here are three (3) examples:

 

  • Amount of money returned to the public or forwarded to the U.S. Treasury as a result of consumer protection law enforcement actions.
  • Number of orders enjoining unfair, deceptive, or otherwise unlawful practices as a result of consumer protection law enforcement actions.
  • Percentage of the FTC’s consumer protection law enforcement actions that targeted the subject of consumer reports in the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network.

 

The FTC will be vocal about their metrics.  I want to be vocal with you, so they are not vocal about you as the subject.

 

 

Good Leaders Decide Before They Feel Ready

 

Forward-thinking leaders build systems and don’t wait to “feel ready.”  This might include developing policies, having monthly meetings and trainings, creating checklists, and completing audits.

 

You’ll probably always feel there are twenty important things you should be working on.  Consider addressing one issue a month before someone else decides to make you (i.e. lawyer or regulator).

 

Start with training. Training before you have “an event” is decisive leadership.

 

The best dealerships aren’t the ones that never have problems. They’re the ones that address tomorrow’s problems before they become today’s emergencies.

 

  • That’s leadership.
  • That’s risk management.
  • That’s compliance.

 

The squishy feeling in your stomach isn’t always uncertainty. Sometimes it’s your experience quietly telling you what deserves your attention next. Listen to it.

Then Protect the House.