WASHINGTON (June 14, 2024)—The National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) applauded Thursday’s passage of the Fiscal Year 2025 Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) appropriations bill by the U.S. House Appropriations Committee.

Included in the bill is a provision which would stop the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from implementing or enforcing its onerous Vehicle Shopping Rule (also known as the “CARS rule”) until Sept. 30, 2025.

“America’s franchised new car dealerships strongly support the Committee’s advancement of this legislation, which will stop the FTC’s disastrous Vehicle Shopping Rule from taking effect,” said NADA President and CEO Mike Stanton. “This extremely flawed, unnecessary and we believe illegal rule will greatly harm consumers by adding more cost, time and paperwork to buying a car.”

According to a recent study by Center for Automotive Research (CAR), the Vehicle Shopping Rule will increase costs by $24.1 billion over 10 years, which consumers and small business dealers will have to absorb. Overall, the mandates of the rule would add 60 to 80 minutes to the car buying process and cost consumers $1.3 billion per year in lost time.

In January, NADA and the Texas Automobile Dealers Association (TADA) filed a legal challenge to the FTC’s Vehicle Shopping Rule in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit and moved to stay the rule’s July 30, 2024, effective date. In response to the stay motion, the FTC issued an order delaying the effective date of the rule pending judicial review of the NADA/TADA petition. However, despite the FTC’s postponement, the Vehicle Shopping Rule remains the law, which is why the advancement of this amendment is necessary.