Fee Check
Offering price and mandatory dealer fees
Ask whether a quoted price already includes every mandatory dealer fee. The FTC's CARS Rule was withdrawn in February 2026; some state advertising laws still require advertised prices to include dealer-prep-type charges.
Printed on worksheets as: Offering Price · Mandatory Dealer Fees · Advertised Price
- Who sets it
- The dealer
- Required by law
- Varies by state
- Typical amount
- No honest figure to give: it varies by store. The number on your sheet is the number.
- Whose money
- The dealer's own price for this. The dealer may decline to remove it, and you may decline the deal; either way it belongs in the out-the-door total you compare between stores.
The one question to ask
“Does the price you quoted already include every mandatory dealer fee, or will doc/processing be added later?”
What it is
When a dealer advertises or quotes a price for a specific vehicle, ask whether that number already includes every fee the dealer will require you to pay to buy that car - especially documentation/processing fees - or whether those fees are added later. The FTC's Combating Auto Retail Scams (CARS) Rule was designed to require an "offering price" that includes mandatory dealer charges (government charges may be excluded). After court challenges paused the rule's effective date, the FTC withdrew the CARS Rule in a Federal Register final action published February 12, 2026 (effective the same day), to conform to federal court decisions. Federal "offering price" requirements under that rule are therefore not in force as of this entry's as-of date. State advertising and unfair-practice laws may still separately require advertised prices to include dealer-prep or similar mandatory charges - for example Florida §501.976(16) requires the advertised price to include all fees the customer must pay except state/local taxes, tags, registration, and title fees unless local law says otherwise. Always get the out-the-door figure in writing.
Source
FTC Federal Register notice withdrawing the CARS Rule (Document 2026-02866, Feb. 12, 2026); FTC CARS Rule dealer guide (historical); Fla. Stat. §501.976(16) · as of September 1, 2026
Fee Check explains what a line is; it doesn’t grade your deal or name a price. Rules change: the date above is when this entry was last checked against its source.
The next step
This tool says something is in there. DrivrShield AI says what.
The math can prove a payment carries more than your figures explain. It cannot see the line items. Photograph the worksheet and DrivrShield AI reads every line — what each fee is, which ones your state actually requires, which are the dealer's to remove, and the exact words to ask.
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