Free dealer tool
Scan your listing for FTC pricing red flags
Paste a vehicle listing URL. We read the advertised price and the fine print and flag the six pricing practices the FTC cited in 2026 — and we show you the exact text we found, so you can see what a regulator would.
Signals, not a verdict. Educational only — not legal advice.
We read your page server-side and only flag what’s in the text. Many dealer sites load prices with JavaScript — if a URL comes back empty, paste the text and it works the same.
We read the page
Server-side — the advertised price (from structured data when present) and the visible fine print.
We match the six practices
Excluded fees, financing conditions, conditional rebates, required add-ons, market adjustments, hidden down payments.
You see the evidence
Every flag quotes the exact text we matched — no black box, nothing to take on faith.
Transparent pricing builds trust
So does where you source inventory. See how AutoRelay helps dealers acquire used cars from their own service lane — before a third-party site shares the lead with five competitors.
Frequently asked questions
What does the FTC Ad Scanner check?
It reads a vehicle listing’s advertised price and pricing disclaimer and flags the six pricing practices the FTC cited in its March 2026 warning letters: excluded mandatory fees, prices conditioned on dealer financing, conditional rebates presented as available to all, required down payments left out, forced add-ons, and undisclosed market adjustments. Every finding quotes the exact text it matched.
Which six pricing practices did the FTC cite?
(1) Advertising a price that does not reflect all required fees; (2) advertising a price reflecting rebates or discounts not available to all consumers; (3) failing to account for a required down payment; (4) conditioning the advertised price on dealer financing; (5) requiring consumers to buy add-ons not in the advertised price; and (6) advertising unavailable or non-existent vehicles. Enforcement is under Section 5 of the FTC Act.
My dealer website is JavaScript-rendered — will the scan work?
Many dealer VDPs (Dealer.com, DealerOn, Sincro, Dealer Inspire) load prices with JavaScript, so a server-side scan may only see a shell. The scanner detects this and lets you paste the listing’s price and pricing disclaimer text instead, which works on any site.
Is the Ad Scanner legal advice or a compliance certification?
No. It surfaces signals from the listing text, not a legal verdict, and it does not certify compliance. It can miss issues and can flag language that is fine in context. Confirm anything it finds with qualified counsel before changing how you advertise.