The Lindsay Automotive settlement should be required reading at every F&I training this month and it probably will not be discussed at all. The FTC and Maryland AG just settled a case where 88 percent of Lindsay customers paid more than the advertised price. Not 10 percent. Not edge cases. 88 percent. The settlement requires up to $75 million in consumer refunds plus a $3.1 million civil penalty. What makes this more than a Maryland problem is the context around it. The FTC has already sent warning letters to 97 dealer groups covering more than 1,000 locations nationwide. Asbury is fighting a separate administrative complaint right now. The playbook being prosecuted is payment packing, mandatory add-ons presented as required, and bait-and-switch advertising on price. If you recognize any of those practices at your store, the question is not whether the FTC is coming. The question is whether you are the next name on the complaint.
May 5, 2026 - 00:30
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The post is right that this…
The post is right that this should be required reading and will not be discussed. Here is the part I want to argue: the 88 percent number is not a Lindsay problem. That number tells you it was structural, not individual. You do not get to 88 percent through a few rogue F&I managers. You get there through process design, management tolerance, and pay plans that reward the behavior being prosecuted. Every store that reads this and concludes it was a bad actor story rather than a systems story is going to keep its exposure intact. The FTC warning letters went to 97 dealer groups for a reason. They are not looking for outliers. They are looking for the same structural pattern and it exists in a lot of places that have not seen a complaint yet.
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