{"id":7130,"date":"2026-04-22T15:49:47","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T20:49:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/?p=7130"},"modified":"2026-04-22T16:11:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T21:11:07","slug":"ftc-clarifies-doc-fees-advertising-rules-in-niada-webinar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/ftc-clarifies-doc-fees-advertising-rules-in-niada-webinar\/","title":{"rendered":"FTC Clarifies Doc Fees, Advertising Rules in NIADA Webinar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>During yesterday&#8217;s NIADA webinar, the association\u2019s Director of Government Relations and Compliance, Patrick O&#8217;Brien, put the questions dealers have been asking most directly to the FTC&#8217;s Christopher Mufarrige, Consumer Protection Bureau Director. His answers bring some welcome clarity on advertising transparency, doc fees, and compliance expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Doc fees must be included in the advertised price \u2014 no exceptions.<\/strong>\u00a0Mr. Mufarrige was unequivocal: any fee the dealer requires a consumer to pay belongs in the advertised total, regardless of what it&#8217;s called \u2014 doc fee, service fee, paperwork fee. Only government-mandated charges like sales tax, title, and registration may be excluded.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Federal law preempts state law where they conflict.<\/strong>\u00a0Mr. Mufarrige said outright conflicts are rare, but where they exist, federal law wins. The federal expectation: the advertised total reflects every fee except government-mandated charges.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Third-party platform liability turns on who controls the listing.<\/strong>\u00a0Whoever inputs or controls the misleading information is liable. In Mr. Mufarrige&#8217;s experience, dealers typically retain full control over their listings on third-party sites \u2014 so the responsibility usually lands with the dealer.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>No formal grace period for sold vehicles.<\/strong>\u00a0Sold cars should come off the website the same day or next day. The FTC does not recognize a lull period between sale and takedown.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Reporting misconduct.<\/strong>\u00a0Dealers seeing bad actors in their market can route complaints through NIADA, contact FTC staff directly, or file at <a href=\"http:\/\/https;\/\/reportfraud.ftc.gov\">reportfraud.ftc.gov<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-16018d1d wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-text-align-center wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/HHSv9892_n8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Watch the Interview<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-default\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile is-vertically-aligned-top\" style=\"grid-template-columns:30% auto\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"762\" src=\"http:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/Convention_Logo_Stacked_2026.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6862 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/Convention_Logo_Stacked_2026.jpg 900w, https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/Convention_Logo_Stacked_2026-300x254.jpg 300w, https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/Convention_Logo_Stacked_2026-768x650.jpg 768w, https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/Convention_Logo_Stacked_2026-380x322.jpg 380w, https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/Convention_Logo_Stacked_2026-550x466.jpg 550w, https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/Convention_Logo_Stacked_2026-800x677.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p>Interested in staying compliant? Then join us at the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/niada.com\/convention\">NIADA Annual Convention &amp; Expo<\/a>, June 21-24 at the Gaylord Rockies in Denver, CO. The stacked lineup of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/niada.com\/convention\/education\/\">dealer education<\/a>\u00a0includes nearly 7 hours of compliance-specific training, including:\u00a0<strong>Where State Regulators Are Targeting Dealers and Finance Sources in 2026,\u00a0<\/strong>and<strong>\u00a0Washington Pulse Check: Hot Topics on Capitol Hill and the Federal Agencies Affecting Independent Dealers,\u00a0<\/strong>among many others.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-16018d1d wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-text-align-center wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/niada.com\/convention\/education\/\">Show Me the Education<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During yesterday&#8217;s NIADA webinar, the association\u2019s Director of Government Relations and Compliance, Patrick O&#8217;Brien, put the questions dealers&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7133,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_appearance_grid":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7130","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-industry","8":"category-advocacy","9":"cs-entry","10":"cs-video-wrap"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7130"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7136,"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7130\/revisions\/7136"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}