“What we always see is the states rise to fill that vacuum. Where the feds sort of dip down, the states rise up,” Troutman Pepper Locke partner Brooke Conkle said on a recent podcast.
Auto dealers breathed a sigh of relief in January when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated the Federal Trade Commission’s Combating Auto Retail Scams rule.
CARS was intended to further curb sleazy practices such as failing to disclose the full vehicle price or sneaking-in expensive add-ons of dubious value. It would have allowed the FTC to seek financial penalties of up to $50,120 per violation instead of having to seek resolutions through the courts.
