{"id":475131,"date":"2026-09-25T08:24:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T08:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/475131\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T08:24:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T08:24:14","slug":"california-law-aims-to-ease-the-car-buying-experience-with-new-transparency-rules-first-in-the-nation-return-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/475131\/","title":{"rendered":"California law aims to ease the car-buying experience with new transparency rules, first-in-the-nation return policy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/leginfo.legislature.ca.gov\/faces\/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB766\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">A California law<\/a> taking effect on Oct. 1\u00a0is set to ease the car-buying experience by giving buyers new safeguards against hidden costs, misleading terms and high-pressure sales tactics.<\/p>\n<p>Under <a href=\"https:\/\/calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org\/bills\/ca_202520260sb766\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Senate Bill 766<\/a>, officially known as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dmv.ca.gov\/portal\/vehicle-registration\/new-registration\/registering-a-vehicle-purchased-from-a-dealer\/california-combating-auto-retail-scams-act\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">California Combating Auto Retail Scams (CARS) Act<\/a>, dealerships are required to advertise a vehicle\u2019s total price and must identify which add-on features or services are optional. Dealers are also mandated to clearly represent their terms for purchasing, financing or leasing a vehicle.<\/p>\n<p>The law, <a href=\"https:\/\/sd24.senate.ca.gov\/news\/press-release\/senator-allen-delivers-needed-transparency-and-consumer-protections-car-shoppers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">authored by Senator Ben Allen<\/a>, D-Santa Monica, also puts a halt to charging for add-ons that Allen described as unhelpful for consumers, such as free oil changes for an electric vehicle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis bill will codify best-in-class protections for California car buyers,\u201d said Allen in a press release issued last October when the bill was signed into law by California Gov. Gavin Newsom. \u201cIt\u2019ll make a real difference for consumers by making the car buying experience more fair and transparent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Under the new law, auto buyers can also take advantage of a first-in-the-nation return policy.<\/p>\n<p>The law\u2019s \u201cright to cancel\u201d provision creates a mandatory three-day cooling-off period during which consumers who buy or lease used vehicles under $50,000 can cancel the transaction.<\/p>\n<p>Allen, in the 2025 press release, called the return period a chance for drivers to \u201ccatch issues\u201d that may not have been apparent during a test drive or a visit to the showroom. Dealers will be required to offer a full refund in these cases, though they can charge a restocking fee.<\/p>\n<p>The new law applies to light-duty vehicles under 10,000 pounds and to both new and used cars.<\/p>\n<p>Consumer protection advocates applauded the legislation.<\/p>\n<p>Nonprofit organization <a href=\"https:\/\/carconsumers.org\/legislativevictories.htm\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety<\/a> said on its website upon the law\u2019s signing that the CARS Act would reduce \u201cbait-and-switch\u201d pricing tactics and empower buyers through the return policy, which organization head Rosemary Shahan called \u201ca game-changer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A California law taking effect on Oct. 1\u00a0is set to ease the car-buying experience by giving buyers new&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475132,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[186775,7,9,8,3889],"class_list":["post-475131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-auto-dealers","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-new-law"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}