How dealers can stay compliant and competitive in 2026

Namu Keys joins Inside Automotive to discuss how dealers can balance FTC compliance with competitive pricing strategies in an increasingly digital retail environment.

Keys explains how fragmented pricing systems and conditional incentives create compliance risks, particularly as regulators focus on transparency and consistency. He outlines how digital retail tools, real-time inventory updates, and AI-driven workflows can help dealers present accurate “all-in” pricing while improving the customer experience. The conversation also explores how clear disclosures around add-ons and F&I products can reduce friction, build trust, and support stronger conversion rates in both online and in-store transactions.

•  Challenges of maintaining consistent “all-in” pricing across platforms 
•  Managing conditional incentives to meet FTC compliance standards 
•  Improving transparency in add-ons and F&I product disclosures 
•  Using real-time inventory data to ensure pricing accuracy 
•  Integrating CRM, F&I, and AI tools to streamline compliance workflows 
•  Reducing customer friction around fees and negotiation through clear communication 

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Transcript

Welcome And The Compliance Pressure

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Welcome to Inside Automotive with Jim Fitzpatrick.

Pricing Fragmentation Across Dealer Channels

Jim Fitzpatrick 0:11

Hey everyone, Jim Fitzpatrick. Welcome into another edition of Inside Automotive right here at cbtnews.com. Conversations around compliance and pricing continue to build. And now the question on many dealers' minds is where do we start? Joining us today is Namu Keys, who's the senior product marketer for CDK Modern Retail, to break down his recommendations for dealers to stay compliant, underlying compliant, while still hitting their sales goals. So thank you so much, Namu, for joining us on the show today. Thank you for having me. Yeah, there's a lot of uh a lot of concern out there among the dealer community right now. Of uh, you know, who's how do we how do we remain compliant, or should say get compliant, remain compliant, while maybe the guy down the street or the dealer down the street isn't so compliant, but yet they're getting all the deals. You've heard this before, right? So that's those are the challenges. What specific challenges are dealerships facing in meeting these FTC expectations? And how can CDK help dealers fill those gaps?

SPEAKER_00 1:15

Absolutely. So, like when you think through the challenges of dealers, I mean, you got to look at their, of course, all this is centered around pricing. So you look at you know, some some of their pricing systems that dealers are forced to kind of use, where they're looking at, all right, how are they pricing things on their own website via a third-party website, and just all these different avenues that they have to navigate, which can very much lead to fragmentation in their pricing systems. Then from there, you add on, hey, incentives are part of that uh scenario or that conversation. And then that just adds another different layer um to some of those key challenges that dealers can face. And then that's not even factoring in, all right, hey, I have my price online, all right, I just made this change just now in store, and then you have a disconnect there as well. So they have a lot of stuff they have to have to navigate. But I think, you know, with CDK, we offer a really good opportunity, especially with our digital retailing solution, to afford them an opportunity with the storefront and just an old overall ecosystem where things can be consistent and they can show that all in pricing where it factors in incentives correctly, no matter if it's from the OEM or if it's a conditional um incentive, which is a big thing, uh, where we're able to properly separate that where, hey, if a customer does uh uh apply or is or that uh conditional incentives is applicable to them, hey, they're able to quickly and effectively see that, but it's not baked into the all-in pricing that they're seeing uh from the job.

Jim Fitzpatrick 2:47

Why has the separation of conditional incentives from advertised prices been such a common compliance issue?

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Well, when you look at how dealers generally want to price their vehicles, they want the best price possible because they want to set themselves apart from again, like you alluded to in the beginning, that person down the road that may be pulling in all the deals because their price looks a bit a little bit more appealing. So when you think through again, going back to that pricing systems where, hey, a dealer just wants to put out hey, their best internet price uh that they have laid out there. And sometimes it becomes tricky where hey, now they're factoring in all those incentives, and sometimes those conditional incentives get lumped into there when you know it's not also always by you know design that they actually want to do something like that, but it's just the way that they're kind of uh uh handcuffed by that particular pricing structure or pricing system that they are using. Right. Um, where again, going back to kind of CDK and how we can help, you know, you can clearly divide those two and have a better opportunity uh to make sure that you're showing the proper price and laying out all the options for the customer as they're doing the research online.

Jim Fitzpatrick 3:55

Can you talk to us a little bit about how transparent add-on and F and I disclosures impact the customer experience in terms of trust and conversion rates in digital retail?

SPEAKER_00 4:06

Yeah, absolutely. So when you think through add-ons and F and I, that just adds again, just a different layer uh to the piece of the pie here where we're thinking through this whole pricing structure and like having full transparency. Well, when you look at F and I, I mean, uh, from our latest uh friction point study, uh, you know, the top two uh customer frustrations typically ends in negotiation and fees and like again adding into that point where, hey, am I seeing absolutely what I'm going to be paying for this vehicle? Well, with our tool and our digital retailing solution, hey, you're you're able to see what you're going to pay from a payment standpoint. So not even just the full price. Yes, you would know the full price, but hey, how is this going to impact my payment? And then also from there, you know, any descriptions that you're gonna want to know, all right, what am I getting myself into? Hey, the customer has ample time to sit there and just kind of rest with that and not feel the pressures of what some customers may typically feel when they get in the FI office where they feel like they have to make that quick decision. Yeah, um, you're not really forced with that. You're able to sit with it, muster on it, like, hey, does this really add value to or add protection to the vehicle that I, you know, I'm making this big commitment to?

Real-Time Inventory And Workflow Integration

Jim Fitzpatrick 5:15

Yeah, sure. With features like real-time inventory status and pricing, consistency across the buying journey, how do you see digital retail platforms evolving to meet future regulatory expectations beyond the current FTC guidelines?

SPEAKER_00 5:32

Hey, so that status is everything. Is a vehicle sold? Is it available? Is it in transit? Uh again, getting back to like where we can help dealers uh kind of battle that a little bit is hey, we're constantly looking to ref uh make those uh refresh cycles faster and more efficient for dealers to where, hey, that inventory, uh what is being displayed to the customer, hey, is this this is in real time right now.

Jim Fitzpatrick 5:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:56

So, you know, any digital retailing solution, any like website, the faster we can get that refresh on knowing, hey, something is sold, available, or a pending sale, hey, the better we can get put ourselves in position as far as putting dealers in position uh to ultimately, you know, move to keep their inventory moving um at a consistent base. Uh so you know, factoring that in. And then also too, just in the end, workflow integration, uh pricing, when you think of, you know, the the inventory status, you know, that's a brand a big impact to like that workflow as far as from start to finish from CR into F and I, because at the end of the day, hey, what's the point of even starting this sale on this particular car if it's not available? Right. Or if a vehicle is in transit, hey, let's take this deposit on it right now so we nobody else touches this vehicle.

AI Raises The Bar On Accuracy

Jim Fitzpatrick 6:45

Yeah, yeah. Does AI contribute to greater transparency in vehicle pricing? If so, in what ways?

SPEAKER_00 6:52

Absolutely. It definitely forces you to, uh, especially from a dealer's perspective, because at the end of the day, people are using AI more and more um as we're kind of seeing this. And honestly, the adoption uh from AI in the dealership is definitely grown. And our latest friction point studies show that 48% of dealers are using AI-based solutions to kind of help them navigate. And ultimately, more of you, more of that you will see with you know communication with the customer to have consistency. But I think you know, AI plays a big role because at the end of the day, hey, if your pricing's not in order, if the descriptions are not in order, the this the risk you run there is the AI not even recognizing you as a potential uh you know suitor for that customer as they're searching through looking for their next vehicle.

FTC Warning Letters And Final Takeaways

Jim Fitzpatrick 7:37

Yeah, yeah. This is this is something that is very, very uh important for dealers to pay attention to because now that these 97 letters have been sent out to dealer groups, you can be sure if dealers are out there and they're not compliant and they're not making every effort to be compliant, then they're probably gonna get hit with a fine. You know, the the uh and and and this is something that is is really we do a lot of shows on it here at CBT News. We do a lot of interviews like the one we're doing today with you to get dealers to pay attention to this and to be compliant. So uh Namu Keys, senior product marketer for CDK Modern Retail. Thank you so much for joining us here at CBT News, sharing this kind of information with our dealer audience. It's uh, as I said, it's a very important issue, and we very much appreciate you coming in to talk about it.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

Hey, I appreciate you guys having me on, and thank you so much for having me.

Jim Fitzpatrick 8:26

Great, thanks.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

Thanks for watching Inside Automotive with Jim Fitzpatrick.