TOGETHER WITH:
Howdy, Fam!
Hey, dealers, not even sure what the FTC's going to look at sideways next. Dealer-quoted monthly payments, which are always going to shift depending on down payment, credit, add-ons, and Lord knows what else, could be the next thing under the microscope.
Meanwhile, one dealership is taking big-time ownership of doing right by customers, and it's paying off, literally.
Also in today's email:
Cherokee Mitsubishi pays salespeople to kill bad deals before they become chargebacks
JD Power's tech study, with Ben Hadley and Kyle Mountsier, two guys you actually want talking to you about car tech
The Ohio Auto Dealers Association shows what it takes to make this industry one worth fighting to join
Keep Pushing Back,
—Chris with Paul, Kyle & Kristi
Reading time: 4 mins 17 secs
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Are Dealer-Quoted Monthly Payments the Next FTC Compliance Risk?
The FTC already sent warning letters to 97 dealerships in March, with a group potentially on the hook for close to $80 million in fines. Now there's a new gap on the radar, and this one's built into how nearly every store quotes a payment.
A study cited by Automotive News found real numbers behind the disconnect:
$32 higher — average gap on new-vehicle payments between dealer quotes and lender-approved terms
$36 higher — same gap on used vehicles
50%+ — share of major auto lenders that have stopped sharing standard rate sheets
<2% — how often a dealer's initial quote actually matches the final approved terms
That's not a rounding error, that's basically never.
The root cause: lenders have shifted to proprietary AI pricing models that dealers simply don't see during the initial quote. That leaves dealers quoting educated guesses, not real numbers.
The liability lies not with the lenders, but with the dealers, as they are the lender of record until the loan contract is purchased.
MacInnis's fix: bring finance to the front of the process instead of the back.
Pull credit pre-approval early, before negotiation starts
Auto-submit applications so real terms are known sooner
Build desking tools around fundable numbers instead of guesswork
It's a bigger operational lift than flipping a compliance checkbox. But it's the kind of lift that closes the gap before the FTC ever has a reason to come looking.
Bad Reviews Leave Clues
“Be friendlier” isn’t much of a coaching strategy.
Cuyler Owens, CEO of Widewail, is bringing data from 350+ franchise dealerships to show which staff behaviors actually appear in dollars per RO.
You’ll learn how to turn customer feedback into specific coaching conversations and see how your store’s experience stacks up against the competitors down the road.
Save your seat for September 9 at 2:00pm EDT for a 30-minute breakdown of how staff behavior affects the service lane.
Cherokee Mitsubishi Pays to Squash Deals Before They Become Chargebacks
Most dealership pay plans punish fraud after it happens.
Cherokee Mitsubishi built one that pays for catching it before the store ever takes the risk.
$125 — base commission, still paid even when the deal gets rejected
3 to 5 — questionable deals rejected per month at Cherokee Mitsubishi
$10.4B — industry-wide auto finance fraud risk in 2025 (up 79% since 2015)
I'm not going to penalize you for being honest or catching something that could have hurt the store.
Pay-plan consultants told Automotive News they'd never seen another plan built this way. Penalties and clawbacks after a chargeback are the industry norm. This one rewards the deal that got stopped, not just punishes the one that got through.
Want the full conversation?
🎙️ Listen to today's Automotive State of the Union episode for the complete discussion.
JD Power Says the Best Car Tech Is the Tech You Never Notice
Ben Hadley and Kyle Mountsier dug into JD Power's 2026 Tech Experience Index, and the finding is a gut check for anyone stacking features onto a vehicle or a customer relationship:
Smart ignition scored highest satisfaction, just 2.4 problems per 100 vehicles
35% of owners with a passenger screen have never touched it
Kyle's read: the more you promise, the more ways there are to disappoint someone.
OADA Figured Out How to Get 4K People to a Concert for Charity
Zach Doran, president of the Ohio Auto Dealers Association, joined Auto Collabs to break down Concert for a Cause: $100K+ raised, 4,000+ attendees, and a quarterly publication that turns dealership charity work into a recurring advocacy tool.
A good look at just how much effort goes into making this industry one worth fighting to join, at the dealership level, the state association level, and everywhere in between.
🚘 Car Stuff
China issued new guidelines for automakers' overseas operations just as BYD posted its fourth straight month of sales growth, total sales up 17.8% and exports up a staggering 134.5% YOY.
Toyota dealers can't keep the new hybrid-only RAV4 in stock. Some lots are running at a third of normal capacity as buyers wait weeks to months for delivery, a rare supply problem for what's normally one of the best-selling vehicles in the country.
Nissan's entry-level "Wave" EV was spotted testing for the first time, expected to launch under $25K in early 2027 as the automaker tries to keep pace with low-cost Chinese competitors in Europe.
💰 Not Car Stuff
Wind-in-your-hair driving doesn't sell like an SUV does. New convertible models in the UK have hit their lowest count in decades—just 11 available across 30 manufacturers (down from 37 at the segment's 2005 peak).
Thursday afternoon and most of Friday are the worst times to hit the road for Labor Day weekend, per AAA and INRIX. Sunday's your best bet if you can wait that long.
Florida just banned license plate readers from state highways, revoking approvals for cameras like Flock Safety's amid growing privacy backlash nationwide. Texas cut funding too, and over 100 local governments have already dropped similar contracts since last year.
1666: The Great Fire of London broke out, eventually burning through much of the medieval city over four days.
1752: Britain and its colonies dropped 11 days from the calendar, jumping straight from September 2 to September 14, to align with the Gregorian calendar already used across most of Europe.
1945: Japan formally signed its unconditional surrender aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, bringing World War II to a close.
