WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) today sent a letter to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan demanding answers on the FTC’s proposed rule regarding the dealer financing model for motor vehicles. The proposed changes could negatively impact automobile dealers across the country as well as those looking to purchase a vehicle.
“This proposed rule would fundamentally change the way that vehicles are retailed in America. If implemented, this proposal would confuse customers, lengthen the transaction time to purchase a vehicle, limit consumer choice, increase paperwork, and mandate burdensome new recordkeeping requirements on small businesses. More troubling, the FTC appears not to have done any consumer testing to ascertain whether its new regulatory regime would work in practice,” the senators wrote.
The FTC’s proposed rule, published in the Federal Register on July 13, 2022, would create burdensome new reporting requirements on auto companies that provide direct financing to their customers. Additionally, the FTC did not give advance notice of this proposed rulemaking and only allowed for a 60-day comment period for a rule that will fundamentally alter a trillion-dollar industry.
Read the full letter here.
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