Bull Moose Project Letter Urges FTC Action on Auto Dealer Hidden Fees

For most Americans, buying a car is the second-biggest financial decision of their lives — and too many dealers are exploiting that with hidden fees and bait-and-switch pricing. The FTC's recent enforcement actions, including a settlement exposing over $75 million in overcharges at Lindsay Automotive Group, are exactly the right response. But the problem runs deeper than any single dealership.

The same deceptive pricing practices the FTC cracked down on at the dealership level persist across the online listings platforms where over 90 percent of car buyers begin their search. In a letter to Chairman Ferguson, we applaud the Commission's enforcement actions and urge it to extend its price transparency requirements to the major online automotive listings aggregators — just as it successfully did with hotel junk fees.