California CARS Act: All-In Vehicle Pricing Rules for Dealers

Starting October 1, 2026, every California dealer ad for a specific vehicle has to show that vehicle's total price — and so does the dealer's first written reply to a shopper asking about it. That's the advertising core of SB 766, the California Combating Auto Retail Scams (CARS) Act, now in the Civil Code (definitions at §1784.31, advertising at §1784.41, records at §1784.44).

California isn't acting alone. The FTC's federal CARS Rule was vacated in 2025, but the agency kept enforcing deceptive pricing under Section 5 of the FTC Act, and its September 2026 price-transparency guidance says the advertised price must be one any consumer can actually pay: every mandatory dealer fee included, only government charges left out.

The practical answer to both is the same: advertise one all-in price, everywhere, and make it the same number on every channel.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Have your counsel confirm how the CARS Act and your other states' rules apply to your store.

Key takeaways

• From October 1, 2026, any California ad that references a specific vehicle — or states a dollar amount or financing term for one — must show the vehicle's total price.
• Your first written response to a consumer about a specific vehicle must state its total price at least once. Auto-replies and AI chat count.
• "Total price" includes dealer markups, market adjustments and anything already installed on the vehicle, and it can't be reduced by rebates.
• If you advertise a monthly payment, you also have to disclose the total the buyer pays over the term and the down payment or trade-in that payment assumes.
• Keep your ads and price communications for two years.
• The FTC expects the doc fee in the advertised price even where state law allows leaving it out. Including every mandatory fee keeps one price compliant on both fronts.

What counts as the "total price"?

California defines the total price as the vehicle's total sale price, minus only the taxes, fees and charges listed in Vehicle Code §11713.1(e). In plain terms:

Can be left out

• Sales tax
• Registration, title, license and transfer fees, and the California tire fee
• Smog certification and emission testing charges (within the state limits)
• The document processing charge and electronic filing charge, up to the amounts state law allows
• Finance charges

Must be included

• Dealer price adjustments: markups, "market adjustments," addendum stickers
• Anything already installed on the vehicle when you advertise it: nitrogen, wheel locks, paint protection, tint, alarms
• Every other mandatory dealer charge: prep, reconditioning, admin or certification fees

Can't be subtracted

• Rebates. You can advertise a rebate separately, but the total price isn't reduced by it.

One nuance matters here. California lets the capped doc fee sit outside the total price; the FTC does not. Its September 2026 guidance treats a price that leaves out a mandatory doc fee as deceptive even in states that permit it. If you sell to shoppers in more than one state, or simply don't want to run two pricing rules, fold the doc fee in too.

Where the total price has to appear

The rule follows the vehicle, not the medium. If an ad references a specific unit, or puts a dollar amount or financing term on one, the total price has to be there, clearly and conspicuously:

• Your website: search results, vehicle detail pages, homepage sliders, "featured" cards, compare pages and the price filters and sorting that sit on top of them.
• Marketplaces and classifieds: Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist and third-party listing sites.
• Catalog and vehicle ads: Facebook and Instagram catalogs, Google vehicle ads and Merchant Center, TikTok catalogs.
• Social posts and videos: captions, price overlays, narrated price reveals.
• Print you hand to shoppers: window stickers, hang tags and addendums that state a price.

The most common failure isn't the website — it's drift. The website shows one number, the catalog feed shows the old one, and last month's post shows a third. Every one of those is an ad.

Your first reply has to state the price, too

When a shopper asks about a specific vehicle, your first written response has to state its total price at least once. That covers:

• Emails and texts from your sales team
• Chat replies and Messenger or WhatsApp conversations
• Auto-responders, CRM templates and AI assistants

Review every template and bot that answers vehicle inquiries. A friendly "Thanks for reaching out — when can you come in?" is no longer enough if it doesn't name the price.

Monthly payment ads

Advertising a payment comes with more disclosures. Alongside the monthly figure, state the total the buyer will pay over the term at that payment, plus any down payment or trade-in value the payment assumes. If you compare a lower payment to a higher one, say that lower monthly payments often increase the total amount paid. Federal Reg Z and Reg M trigger-term rules still apply on top.

Who's out of scope

The advertising rules don't apply to vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds or more, motorcycles, or fleet, wholesale and commercial-purchaser transactions. Everything else on a typical franchise or independent lot is in.

Keep the receipts

California requires dealers to keep records showing compliance for two years, including the ads and communications that showed a total price. If a shopper or regulator asks what a listing said on a given day, you need to be able to show it.

A practical checklist

1. Write down every mandatory fee you charge. Doc fee, electronic filing, prep, reconditioning, admin. If a buyer can't decline it, it's mandatory. Optional products (service contracts, GAP, accessories the buyer chooses) are not.
2. Fold those fees into the advertised price, and decide how you'll disclose what's included ("Price includes $85 documentation fee…").
3. Audit every channel in the list above, including feeds and old posts that are still live.
4. Fix your first-reply templates and any chatbot or auto-responder.
5. Check payment ads for the total-of-payments and assumption disclosures.
6. Set up a two-year archive of ads and price communications.

How DriveReachAds handles it

We built this into the platform so the price can't drift between channels:

• One fee schedule. In Settings → Pricing & Fees you list your mandatory fees once, with separate schedules per location if your stores charge different amounts. Teams without a website can set one too.
• One all-in price, everywhere we publish. Your Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Google catalogs; social posts and AI captions; Marketplace and Craigslist listings; generated videos; window stickers and hang tags; and, for dealers on our website builder, every price on the hosted site — search results, vehicle pages, sliders, filters and sort — all use the same advertised price, with the fees included and disclosed.
• First replies that state the price. The sales assistant's first reply includes the total price, the inbox reminds your team to include it in their first message, and AI-drafted replies add it automatically.
• Payment disclosures. Estimated payments on hosted websites come with the total of payments and the assumptions behind them.
• A two-year advertising record. We keep a daily record of every vehicle price, fee disclosure and post we publish for you, downloadable as a CSV.

If you haven't told us your fees yet, prices show exactly as you entered them, and nothing claims they're a total. Setting your fees takes about a minute — see how it works or start a free trial.