Exposing Car Dealerships’ Final Hidden Sales Con: A Call for the Disclosure of Interest Rate Markups When “Helping” Buyers with Indirect Financing (Print Vol. 114 Issue 1)

Exposing Car Dealerships’ Final Hidden Sales Con: A Call for the Disclosure of Interest Rate Markups When “Helping” Buyers with Indirect Financing

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By: John C. Simms

University Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law student, John Simms, argues that car dealerships routinely and lawfully exploit consumers by secretly marking up interest rates in indirect auto financing, a practice that remains undisclosed despite imposing significant financial harm—especially on subprime and marginalized borrowers. It concludes that existing legal justifications for nondisclosure are outdated and flawed, and calls for regulatory reform requiring dealers to disclose interest rate markups to restore transparency, bargaining power, and consumer protection.