Dealers across the country are feeling the pressure. Letters from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are landing on desks, compliance questions are flooding agency phone lines, and the stakes could not be higher. On June 16, CBT News is stepping into the conversation in a big way, hosting its Fair Pricing and Compliance Leadership Summit at the Salamander Hotel in Washington, D.C.
Joining us on today’s episode of Inside Automotive is John Fitzpatrick, President and CEO of Force Marketing and a platinum sponsor of the event. The idea, John says, came straight from the field.
"100% of our client success team calls over the last two months have had a topic of discussion in and around these letters sent to dealers and what they should do."
The problem is bigger than most realize
Force Marketing sits at the crossroads of dealer advertising, third-party listings, and digital strategy, which means John and his team have a front-row seat to the full extent of this issue.
According to John, pricing transparency is no longer just a website problem; it touches every point of the customer journey. This ranges from third-party listing sites and dealer websites to email campaigns, direct mail, and even individual salespeople posting on their personal social media accounts.
Dealers are still grappling with that last point. While many stores spent years encouraging their sales teams to build personal brands online and share inventory and pricing with their networks, those same posts now carry compliance risk. For example, a salesperson listing a monthly payment on Facebook Marketplace without proper context can now expose a dealership to serious liability.
For larger dealer groups, John asserts, the numbers are sobering. He says potential exposure could range from $70 million to $80 million, depending on the organization’s size. And with the FTC actively encouraging dealers to report bad actors among their competitors, the pressure to get it right is coming from every direction.
One of the murkier compliance gray areas right now involves vehicles in transit. John notes that during the inventory shortages of the COVID era, the industry built infrastructure around the standard practice of advertising vehicles before they arrived on the lot. Now, new regulatory guidance is raising questions about whether that practice complies with current rules and what price can legally be advertised for a vehicle that has not yet arrived.
Meanwhile, Jim Fitzpatrick says these are exactly the kinds of questions the summit is designed to work through. Getting the right people in the same room, he argues, is how the industry has always solved its biggest problems.
What dealers should be doing right now
For dealers waiting on clarity before making changes, John says the risk of inaction is growing, noting that the responsibility has to come from the top down. Dealer principals need to set the standard and communicate it clearly to every level of the organization, from the CMO to the general manager to the service advisor signing off on a coupon in an email campaign.
Force Marketing has found itself playing an unusual role in that process. In some cases, the agency is flagging pricing that has not been approved through a dealer’s compliance process, a position John acknowledges is uncomfortable but necessary.
On the broader business climate, John says leads are down about 15% industry-wide, and dealers are scrutinizing every line of their marketing budgets as a result. His advice is to pull dollars out of channels where ROI cannot be measured and redirect them toward data-driven strategies that can be tracked and optimized.
He also points to fixed ops and service retention as significant, underserved opportunities, noting that while 80% of dealer profits come from service, only 5%-10% of most marketing budgets go there.
What to expect on June 16
The summit is shaping up to be one of the more influential industry gatherings of the year. More than 200 rooftops are already registered, and the event is nearly sold out. If you have not yet registered to attend, now is the time!
Fitzpatrick says the goal is not to walk away with all the answers, but to get the industry’s best thinkers in one room and start building toward them.
Dealers can find the registration link here.
