California's New CARS Act Aims to Save People from Shady Car Deals
Earlier this month, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the California Combating Auto Retail Scams (CARS) Act into law. When the law takes effect in October of next year, it'll transform the way most people buy cars in the Golden State, expanding consumer protections to prevent all manner of trickery. The direct-to-customer model that some manufacturers have adopted is already changing new-car sales, but the CARS Act takes direct aim at any would-be shady car dealerships.
The trope of the used-car salesman as the slipperiest of characters is a well-worn one, cropping up in everything from Roald Dahl's Matilda to the raunchy 1980 Kurt Russell comedy Used Cars. In fiction, these seersucker-suited weasels will promise the moon to get you into a ride, only to have the doors fall off when you're 20 feet off the lot. Funny stuff, but not so much when you're ready to drive off in your new Oldsmobile and William H. Macy is trying to force you to cough up extra for TruCoat.
CARS creates a ban on what it terms “valueless” add-ons, the type of warranties and services that don't actually benefit the customer. The law uses general and specific language here, noting obvious swindles like oil-change packages for EVs or catalytic-converter etchings for cars that don't have them, and also “products and services that do not provide coverage for the vehicle, the consumer, or the transaction.”
Dealers can, however, still charge for an add-on product or service, even if the buyer doesn't end up using that service. However, if you do get home with your new-to-you machine and feel like you got pressured into buying a vehicle and a bunch of extras you didn't actually want, CARS has an even bigger stick to deploy.