Train every employee. Protect your dealership.
California's SB 766 took effect October 1. The first written message a customer gets about a vehicle has to show the total price, whether it is a text, an email or a note on a napkin. We monitor your interactions, mystery shop weekly and provide accountability scorecards.
The law
The California Combating Auto Retail Scams (CARS) Act, SB 766, rewrites how California dealerships communicate with customers. The biggest change is the first written communication: what it says, what it shows and how it is kept.
Read SB 766 on the California Legislature siteThe requirements
The first written communication about a specific vehicle has to show the total price. Any written format counts: a text, an email, a chat message, a note on paper, even a napkin. Ads that name a specific vehicle follow the same rule. Keep a copy for two years.
A written payment quote also has to state the total the customer will pay after every scheduled payment, plus any down payment or trade value assumed.
The ban covers any misrepresentation of material information. That includes telling a customer a vehicle is available at the total price when it is not.
Dealers cannot charge for add-on products or services the customer will not actually benefit from.
Hold on to the required communications, contracts and cancellation paperwork so you can produce them.
Used vehicles priced at $50,000 or less, driven no more than 400 miles after the sale, carry three calendar days to cancel. The customer gets a separate notice titled “3-Day Right to Cancel Used Car Purchase or Lease.” It is the simplest rule on the list, and some customers will use it.
Who is exposed
One slip from one employee is still your store's slip. Each department touches a different part of the law.
Any price written down on the floor, and every statement about inventory on the phone or in person.
Written payment quotes, add-on products and the 3-day cancellation paperwork.
The first text, email or chat reply a customer gets, which now has to carry the total price.
Ads, written procedures and two years of records.
The program
One program for your whole store. We train your people, monitor and shop your store every week, score the results and certify everyone who passes.
Everyone learns the rules for their own job, in the language of the sales floor, with ongoing lessons for each person, managers included.
We monitor your interactions and mystery shop your store every week, the way a customer would.
A course for each salesperson, with a certificate when they pass.
See how each person handled the rules and who needs coaching.
Pricing is per person, per month. Every edition includes monitoring, the weekly mystery shop, accountability scorecards, the certification course and continual training. Book a call and we will size the program to your store.
Questions
The CARS Act is a California law that covers dealers selling and leasing vehicles to California consumers. Your attorney can confirm how it applies to your store.
Everyone who passes the course earns the title California CARS Act Certified by Virtual Automotiv. It shows your store trained them. It is not a state or government certification.
No. This site is about California's SB 766, a state law. It is separate from the FTC's Combating Auto Retail Scams rule.
No. This is general information and training. For legal questions, talk to your dealership's attorney.
Get compliant
Fifteen minutes over Google Meet. We will walk through the program, the three editions, the weekly mystery shop and the scorecards.
Prefer to text? 310-310-0071
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CARS Act pop quiz
California's CARS Act is law. Take the pop quiz and see how you do. Enter your details and we will send you to the quiz.