Technology Can Hide a Car Dealer’s Tricks—or Expose Them

For most of my 50 years as a Toyota dealer, the automobile business has relied on confusion to increase profits. Today, technology gives dealers more power than ever before—but that power can be used either to deceive customers or to protect them.

A recent Federal Trade Commission case provides a perfect example of the first choice.

The FTC has accused three dealerships owned by Asbury Automotive Group of using a practice called “payment packing.” The case has not been decided, and Asbury has not been found guilty. On August 27, however, FTC attorneys and Asbury jointly asked to pause the administrative proceedings for 60 days while they discuss a possible resolution.

Payment packing is an old car-dealer trick dressed up in modern financing software.

Imagine that you negotiate a price and the resulting car payment should be $640 per month. The salesperson has already learned that you can afford—or are willing to pay—$700. Instead of telling you that your real payment is $640, the dealership fills the $60 difference with an extended warranty, maintenance plan, paint protection, GAP coverage or some other product.

You agreed to a payment, but you did not knowingly agree to everything hidden inside it.

Over a 72-month loan, that seemingly small $60 difference totals $4,320, before considering interest. The dealer may then produce a stack of documents requiring electronic signatures in several places. By the time customers realize what happened—if they ever do—the dealer can point to those signatures and say, “You agreed to it.”

A signature does not transform deception into honesty.

The FTC alleges that Asbury dealerships also told some customers that optional products were required. This is another common tactic. A finance manager may imply that the bank requires an extended warranty, GAP insurance or some protection package before it will approve the loan.

Unless the lender truly imposes that condition—and that can be verified—the dealer is lying.

The safest approach for consumers is to negotiate and examine four separate numbers: the vehicle price, trade-in value, amount owed on the trade and amount financed. Then ask for the interest rate, loan term and monthly payment without optional products. Only after seeing those figures should you consider extras individually.

Technology can make payment packing faster and harder to detect. Fortunately, another dealership is demonstrating how the same technology can make car buying more honest.

Mark Miller Subaru in Utah recently launched an online purchasing system called “Promise Path.” It allows customers to select a vehicle, see the price, obtain a trade offer, arrange financing and schedule delivery online. A customer can request human assistance at any point, but a traditional salesperson is not required.

What caught my attention was the dealership’s willingness to make specific promises.

It says customers see one out-the-door number, with every charge displayed before signing. It offers financing at the lender’s actual approved rate without adding extra interest for dealer profit. Its trade offer remains valid even if the customer does not buy another vehicle. It offers a 48-hour return period.

Most interestingly, Mark Miller Subaru invites customers to have an artificial-intelligence assistant examine the transaction for junk fees.

I like that challenge.

Mark Miller still charges a $445 documentation fee, which it includes in its displayed price. Earl Stewart Toyota charges no dealer fee of any kind, and we offer a seven-day unconditional money-back guarantee. Nevertheless, Mark Miller’s approach proves that a franchised dealership can combine online convenience with upfront pricing, home delivery and access to local service.

This is where automobile retailing is headed. Customers will increasingly use AI to compare written offers, identify hidden charges, calculate loan costs and determine whether the final contract matches the advertised price.

An honest dealer should welcome that scrutiny.

Unfortunately, AI also creates a new opportunity for deception: secret “personalized pricing.”

The FTC is presently considering a policy addressing businesses that use personal information to estimate how much a particular customer is willing to pay. The information could include browsing history, previous purchases, ZIP code, location, type of device or other behavioral data.

Imagine two people looking at the same vehicle identification number at the same moment. One sees a price of $36,000. The other sees $37,500 because an algorithm believes that person is wealthier, less price-sensitive or more anxious to buy.

Neither customer knows that the other received a different price.

Personalized discounts that are openly explained are not necessarily deceptive. Credit-based lending is also different because legitimate financing decisions consider a borrower’s creditworthiness. The danger is secretly changing the advertised vehicle price according to what a computer thinks it can extract from an individual shopper.

The FTC is accepting public comments on this proposal through September 18. I intend to continue urging regulators, manufacturers and dealers to adopt one basic principle: The advertised price should be the price at which every customer can actually buy the car, excluding only government taxes and registration costs.

A dealer should not advertise one price, demand another price at the dealership and then hide the difference inside a monthly payment or fine print. Nor should software quietly charge different customers different prices for the same vehicle.

Technology itself is neither honest nor dishonest. It reflects the intentions of the people using it.

A dealer can use technology to learn how much additional profit can be concealed inside your payment. Or a dealer can use it to show every number, preserve your choices and invite anyone—including artificial intelligence—to verify the transaction.

The car dealer decides which kind of technology it will be. The customer should know which kind of dealer he or she is dealing with.Technology Can Hide a Car Dealer’s Tricks—or Expose Them

For most of my 50 years as a Toyota dealer, the automobile business has relied on confusion to increase profits. Today, technology gives dealers more power than ever before—but that power can be used either to deceive customers or to protect them.

A recent Federal Trade Commission case provides a perfect example of the first choice.

The FTC has accused three dealerships owned by Asbury Automotive Group of using a practice called “payment packing.” The case has not been decided, and Asbury has not been found guilty. On August 27, however, FTC attorneys and Asbury jointly asked to pause the administrative proceedings for 60 days while they discuss a possible resolution.

Payment packing is an old car-dealer trick dressed up in modern financing software.

Imagine that you negotiate a price and the resulting car payment should be $640 per month. The salesperson has already learned that you can afford—or are willing to pay—$700. Instead of telling you that your real payment is $640, the dealership fills the $60 difference with an extended warranty, maintenance plan, paint protection, GAP coverage or some other product.

You agreed to a payment, but you did not knowingly agree to everything hidden inside it.

Over a 72-month loan, that seemingly small $60 difference totals $4,320, before considering interest. The dealer may then produce a stack of documents requiring electronic signatures in several places. By the time customers realize what happened—if they ever do—the dealer can point to those signatures and say, “You agreed to it.”

A signature does not transform deception into honesty.

The FTC alleges that Asbury dealerships also told some customers that optional products were required. This is another common tactic. A finance manager may imply that the bank requires an extended warranty, GAP insurance or some protection package before it will approve the loan.

Unless the lender truly imposes that condition—and that can be verified—the dealer is lying.

The safest approach for consumers is to negotiate and examine four separate numbers: the vehicle price, trade-in value, amount owed on the trade and amount financed. Then ask for the interest rate, loan term and monthly payment without optional products. Only after seeing those figures should you consider extras individually.

Technology can make payment packing faster and harder to detect. Fortunately, another dealership is demonstrating how the same technology can make car buying more honest.

Mark Miller Subaru in Utah recently launched an online purchasing system called “Promise Path.” It allows customers to select a vehicle, see the price, obtain a trade offer, arrange financing and schedule delivery online. A customer can request human assistance at any point, but a traditional salesperson is not required.

What caught my attention was the dealership’s willingness to make specific promises.

It says customers see one out-the-door number, with every charge displayed before signing. It offers financing at the lender’s actual approved rate without adding extra interest for dealer profit. Its trade offer remains valid even if the customer does not buy another vehicle. It offers a 48-hour return period.

Most interestingly, Mark Miller Subaru invites customers to have an artificial-intelligence assistant examine the transaction for junk fees.

I like that challenge.

Mark Miller still charges a $445 documentation fee, which it includes in its displayed price. Earl Stewart Toyota charges no dealer fee of any kind, and we offer a seven-day unconditional money-back guarantee. Nevertheless, Mark Miller’s approach proves that a franchised dealership can combine online convenience with upfront pricing, home delivery and access to local service.

This is where automobile retailing is headed. Customers will increasingly use AI to compare written offers, identify hidden charges, calculate loan costs and determine whether the final contract matches the advertised price.

An honest dealer should welcome that scrutiny.

Unfortunately, AI also creates a new opportunity for deception: secret “personalized pricing.”

The FTC is presently considering a policy addressing businesses that use personal information to estimate how much a particular customer is willing to pay. The information could include browsing history, previous purchases, ZIP code, location, type of device or other behavioral data.

Imagine two people looking at the same vehicle identification number at the same moment. One sees a price of $36,000. The other sees $37,500 because an algorithm believes that person is wealthier, less price-sensitive or more anxious to buy.

Neither customer knows that the other received a different price.

Personalized discounts that are openly explained are not necessarily deceptive. Credit-based lending is also different because legitimate financing decisions consider a borrower’s creditworthiness. The danger is secretly changing the advertised vehicle price according to what a computer thinks it can extract from an individual shopper.

The FTC is accepting public comments on this proposal through September 18. I intend to continue urging regulators, manufacturers and dealers to adopt one basic principle: The advertised price should be the price at which every customer can actually buy the car, excluding only government taxes and registration costs.

A dealer should not advertise one price, demand another price at the dealership and then hide the difference inside a monthly payment or fine print. Nor should software quietly charge different customers different prices for the same vehicle.

Technology itself is neither honest nor dishonest. It reflects the intentions of the people using it.

A dealer can use technology to learn how much additional profit can be concealed inside your payment. Or a dealer can use it to show every number, preserve your choices and invite anyone—including artificial intelligence—to verify the transaction.

The car dealer decides which kind of technology it will be. The customer should know which kind of dealer he or she is dealing with.

Toyota Buyers: Report Dealers That Won’t Honor Their Advertised Prices

If you’re shopping for a Toyota, here is something you need to know before you contact a dealership:

The advertised price should be the price you can actually buy the Toyota for—plus only government-required charges such as sales tax, title and registration.

A Toyota dealer should not advertise a deceptively low price and then add a dealer fee, documentation fee, electronic-filing fee, reconditioning charge, inspection fee, protection package or other mandatory dealer charge after you arrive.

This isn’t merely my opinion as a Toyota dealer. In March 2026, the Federal Trade Commission warned 97 automobile dealership groups that their advertised prices must include all mandatory fees consumers are required to pay.

The FTC identified several potentially illegal advertising practices:

• Advertising a price that excludes mandatory dealer fees.
• Including rebates or discounts for which most buyers do not qualify.
• Requiring an additional down payment that was not included in the advertised price.
• Making the advertised price available only when the customer finances through the dealership.
• Requiring customers to purchase accessories or other products not included in the advertised price.
• Advertising vehicles that do not actually exist or are not available for purchase.

The FTC’s position is refreshingly simple: The price you see should be the price you pay, aside from required government charges.

Unfortunately, deceptive advertising continues because it works. A dealer advertises a Toyota for $2,000 less than honest competitors. The customer understandably assumes that dealer has the lowest price. Only after investing hours at the dealership does the customer discover a $1,195 dealer fee, a $699 electronic-filing fee and a mandatory $1,500 protection package.

The supposedly lowest-priced dealer may become the highest-priced dealer—but many exhausted customers buy the car anyway.

Toyota Buyers Can Help Stop This

Toyota and its regional distributors care deeply about Toyota’s reputation. A Toyota dealership displaying the Toyota name creates the impression that Toyota approves of how that dealership conducts business.

Toyota dealers are independently owned franchises, but Toyota and its distributors still have considerable influence. They establish dealer standards, monitor customer satisfaction and decide where additional dealerships may be needed.

That is why Toyota buyers should report dealerships that refuse to honor an advertised price.

Before visiting a dealership, take screenshots of:

• The complete advertisement.
• The vehicle identification number or stock number.
• The advertised price and all fine print.
• The dealership’s name and website address.
• The date on which you saw the advertisement.

Then request a written out-the-door price. If the dealer adds a mandatory dealer-controlled charge above the advertised price, ask for a written itemization. Do not rely on a salesperson’s verbal explanation.

Where to Report a Toyota Dealer

If the dealership is in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina or South Carolina, report the incident to Southeast Toyota Distributors, the independent distributor serving those five states.

Southeast Toyota Customer Assistance: 800-301-6859 (tel:800-301-6859)

You can also use the feedback option at ExploreSoutheastToyota.com (https://exploresetoyota.com/about-us/)⁠.

Southeast Toyota Distributors is not the same company as Southeast Toyota Finance. Make clear that your complaint concerns a Toyota dealer’s advertising and selling practices—not a financing account.

If the dealership is outside those five states, contact the Toyota Brand Engagement Center:

800-331-4331 (tel:800-331-4331)

Online: Toyota.com/support/contact-us (https://www.toyota.com/support/contact-us/)⁠

Even in the five Southeast Toyota states, I recommend sending a second report to Toyota’s national office. Toyota should know when its name is being used in advertising that consumers believe is deceptive.

You should also report the incident directly to the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.FTC.gov (https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/)⁠. You can report deceptive conduct even if you walked away and did not lose any money.

When filing your report, include the advertisement, your written price quote, the vehicle identification or stock number and a list of every mandatory charge the dealer attempted to add.

Honest Dealers Need Your Help Too

Deceptive advertising doesn’t hurt only car buyers. It punishes honest dealerships.

An honest dealer who includes every mandatory charge in the advertised price appears more expensive than a dishonest dealer who hides thousands of dollars in the fine print or waits until the customer enters the showroom.

That is not genuine competition. It is a contest to see which dealer can publish the most misleading number.

I have sold Toyotas for more than 50 years, and I believe Toyota makes some of the finest vehicles in the world. Toyota buyers deserve a purchasing experience equal to the quality of the vehicle.

If a Toyota dealer advertises one price and demands another, don’t accept it as “just the way car dealers operate.” Save the evidence, walk away and report it to Southeast Toyota or Toyota USA—and to the FTC.

One consumer complaint might be overlooked. Hundreds or thousands of documented complaints cannot be.

The advertised price should be the real price. It is time for Toyota buyers to insist on it.

Autonomous Driving Could Give Older Americans Years of Freedom

Nancy and I are both in our 80s, and we have a conversation surprisingly often when we’re riding somewhere in our Teslas.

We look at each other and say, “We probably wouldn’t be driving here without Full Self-Driving.”

That isn’t an advertisement for Tesla. It’s a realization about aging that I think millions of older Americans—and their children—should consider.

The automobile has represented independence to Americans for more than a century. But eventually, almost every driver faces an uncomfortable reality. Our eyesight isn’t quite as good as it once was. Driving at night becomes harder. Heavy traffic becomes more stressful. Reaction times may slow. Navigating an unfamiliar destination while simultaneously watching traffic becomes more difficult.

For many older Americans, the solution has traditionally been brutal in its simplicity: stop driving.

And when an older person gives up driving, he or she often gives up much more than a car.

You lose some independence. You depend on your children, friends, Uber or taxis. A spontaneous trip to Publix becomes something that must be arranged. A doctor’s appointment becomes someone else’s responsibility. Your world can gradually become smaller.

Autonomous-driving technology has the potential to change that.

Nancy and I experience this firsthand.

We can get into our Tesla in our garage and tell it where we want to go—the nearest Walgreens, Publix, a restaurant, a doctor’s office or virtually anywhere else. Tesla’s current system is properly called Full Self-Driving (Supervised) because the driver must remain attentive and responsible. It isn’t a driverless taxi.

But what it can already do is remarkable.

The other night I needed to go to the emergency room. It was dark, and getting to an emergency room quickly on unfamiliar roads would have been considerably more difficult and stressful for us. We got into our Tesla and told it to navigate to the nearest emergency room.

It did.

That experience crystallized something I’ve been thinking about for a long time.

I’ve been a Toyota dealer for more than half a century. I see thousands of customers, including many people my age and older. Occasionally I see an elderly customer drive into our service department and privately think, “That person probably shouldn’t be driving anymore.”

That isn’t an insult. Aging happens to every one of us lucky enough to live long enough.

Some older people are so frightened of losing their independence that they continue driving after their abilities have declined substantially. Some even avoid renewing their driver’s licenses because they’re afraid they won’t pass the test.

Driving without a valid license is obviously not the answer.

But perhaps technology can provide another answer.

Imagine an older driver who can still see adequately, remain attentive, understand traffic and safely assume control when necessary—but who is no longer comfortable making difficult left turns, changing lanes on an interstate, navigating unfamiliar streets or driving at night.

Advanced driver-assistance technology can potentially shoulder much of that workload.

And here’s where I think many people my age are making a mistake.

Older Americans are often among the most suspicious people about electric vehicles and autonomous driving. We grew up turning ignition keys, reading paper maps and controlling every movement of an automobile ourselves. Giving some of that control to a computer feels unnatural.

I understand that.

But we may be the generation with the most to gain from it.

A 30-year-old excellent driver may regard autonomous driving primarily as a convenience. For an 85-year-old, it could eventually mean additional years of mobility and independence.

There is also an important question of relative risk.

People frequently ask me whether autonomous driving is completely safe.

Of course it isn’t.

Neither are human beings.

The meaningful question isn’t whether a computer will ever make a mistake. It is whether, under appropriate circumstances, the combination of an attentive human being and increasingly capable driving technology can be safer than that human being driving entirely alone.

For some older drivers, I believe the answer is already yes.

I’m not suggesting that autonomous technology makes everyone fit to drive. Dementia, serious vision impairment, inability to react appropriately or other conditions can make driving unsafe regardless of the technology in the automobile. Today’s Tesla FSD still requires a licensed, attentive driver capable of taking control.

And nobody should drive without a valid driver’s license.

What I am suggesting is that older Americans shouldn’t automatically dismiss this technology because it’s unfamiliar.

If you’re beginning to feel uncomfortable driving at night, on highways or to unfamiliar places, don’t simply decide that autonomous driving is something invented for your grandchildren.

Try it.

Have an experienced person demonstrate it. Sit in the passenger seat first. Learn what it does well and, equally importantly, what it doesn’t do well. Then decide for yourself.

I don’t know when genuinely driverless personal automobiles will become commonplace. But I know what today’s technology has already done for Nancy and me.

It has expanded the territory in which we feel comfortable traveling.

It has reduced the stress of driving.

And most importantly, it has helped preserve something that becomes increasingly precious as we grow older:

our independence.

Someday autonomous driving may be sold primarily as convenience.

For America’s aging population, I think its greatest contribution may turn out to be something much more important.

It may give us additional years of freedom.

Earl Stewart

What Is It Like to Be a Computer... at a Car Dealership?

A recent New York Times essay asked the question, “What is it like to be a computer?” The author, philosophy professor Barbara Gail Montero, argued that as artificial intelligence grows more sophisticated, it’s forcing us to rethink what “intelligence” and even “consciousness” mean.

I’d take that a step further: it’s also forcing us—human beings—to rethink how we work, learn, and serve one another.

At Earl Stewart Toyota, this isn’t theory. It’s happening every day. AI is reshaping how we operate—from how we analyze service data, to how we price vehicles, communicate with customers, and even measure satisfaction. The technology is evolving so fast that sometimes it feels like our computers are learning quicker than we are.

That’s not easy for everyone to accept. I understand that. Some employees worry that AI might replace parts of their jobs. Some customers wonder if it will replace the human touch. Those are fair concerns—and they deserve honest answers.

Here’s the truth: AI isn’t replacing people. It’s amplifying them.

It’s doing what calculators did for accountants and what hybrid engines did for mechanics—it’s removing drudgery and error so we can focus on judgment, empathy, and trust.

For example, our AI-assisted communication tools help us respond faster to customers, with more accuracy and transparency. Our diagnostic and scheduling systems are learning from every repair order, predicting problems before they occur. And our internal reporting systems now surface insights that used to take entire meetings to uncover.

Yes, it’s an adjustment. But progress always is.

I’ve watched this business evolve from handwritten sales slips and rotary phones to computers that can talk back—and now to systems that can think ahead. Every major improvement, from power steering to hybrid batteries, has met resistance at first. The pattern is always the same: once people see how it makes their work easier and their results better, they wonder how they ever did without it.

What I ask of my team—and our customers—is patience, curiosity, and an open mind.

The same way we learned to trust airbags, adaptive cruise control, and hybrid engines, we’ll learn to trust AI tools when they consistently make our experience safer, fairer, and more efficient.

This transformation isn’t just for the future. It’s for the present.

AI is already helping us serve customers more honestly, more efficiently, and with more insight than ever before. That’s good for our employees, good for our customers, and good for the business we all share pride in.

The philosopher in the Times asked what it’s like to be a computer. I’d flip the question: What’s it like to be human in a world where computers are starting to act a little more human, too?

At my dealership, we’re learning that it’s not about man versus machine—it’s about man and machine working together, both learning, both getting smarter, both serving something bigger: trust.

The Deal We Don’t Talk About

Nobody likes to admit they got taken advantage of.

Not in poker, not in marriage, not in business — and especially not when buying a car.

Every week, I hear from customers who tell me, “I really negotiated hard. They tried to trick me, but I outsmarted them.” What I rarely hear is, “I think I got fooled.”

And yet, (the data from the FTC, from Consumer Reports, from mystery-shopping reports) tell a different story. The majority of car buyers don’t get the deal they think they got. They overpay, buy unnecessary add-ons, or are misled by confusing paperwork. It’s not always intentional deception; sometimes it’s just the culture of the car business — and the silence of embarrassed customers — that allows it to continue.

The Uncomfortable Truth

Seth Godin recently wrote about the power of addressing the “uncomfortable and unspoken.” He used the example of colonoscopies — awkward to talk about, but life-saving. Cultural silence keeps people from doing what’s good for them.

It’s the same with buying a car. Admitting you were misled feels humiliating, so most people avoid it. They tell themselves (and their friends), “I got a great deal!” Everyone nods, egos stay intact, and the industry keeps running on the same old tricks.

The Cultural Cover-Up

Car dealers thrive on this social silence. They count on customers being too embarrassed to admit they were taken. That’s why the worst practices — hidden fees, inflated markups, worthless add-ons — persist. Not because people don’t care, but because they don’t talk.

We could fix a huge portion of the abuse in the car business overnight if more buyers simply told the truth about their experience.

Changing the Culture

Public health campaigns work by breaking silence. When people start talking about things that once made them uncomfortable — whether colonoscopies, mental health, or drunk driving — the culture shifts.

Why can’t we do that with car buying?

Imagine if customers began saying:

“I found hidden fees in my contract.”

“Next time, I’ll demand an out-the-door price.”

“I compared my deal online and realized I overpaid.”

That honesty wouldn’t just help one buyer — it would transform the marketplace.

The Courage to Admit

Admitting you were fooled once doesn’t make you weak. It makes you wise.

The real shame isn’t in being taken advantage of.

The shame is in staying silent — so others can be taken advantage of, too.

If we can talk openly about colonoscopies, we can talk honestly about car buying.