Joanna Szabo  |  July 14, 2022

Category: Legal News

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Auto dealer text messaging may be illegal under the TCPA

If auto dealer text messaging has become an annoyance, an unwelcome intrusion or worse, the TCPA offers consumers a legal remedy for consumers. It is a federal law that provides consumers a way to hold car dealerships accountable when they send unauthorized text messages or attempt to contact them via other forms of communication without permission.

What is the TCPA?

The Telephone Consumers Protection Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President George H.W. Bush in 1991. This federal legislation was created in response to growing complaints about telemarketers.

At the time, new technologies were becoming available that enabled telemarketers to call thousands of consumers at once, using what are known as automatic telephone dialing systems (ATDS). These devices are able to store hundreds of thousands of telephone numbers, and even generate random numbers and call them sequentially in a very short period of time.

Over the past three decades, the TCPA has been continually updated and revised to reflect changes in communications technology, including fax machines, emails, voicemails and text (SMS) messaging. Under the law, marketers may not contact consumers without their express permission and must provide them with a way to “opt-out” of any receiving any further marketing messages. Violators can face steep fines.

Why am I getting auto dealer text messaging?

If you are receiving marketing messages via SMS, chances are you either purchased a vehicle from them in the past or had your vehicle serviced there.

In fact, if you do take your vehicle in for repair and the mechanic finds a problem beyond the issue for which you brought it in, they are legally obligated to contact you for authorization to proceed (if they do perform unauthorized repairs, a customer may legally refuse to pay in many states). This is known as a “transactional message” and is allowed under the law.

However, simply because someone was a customer in the past does not give an auto dealer authorization to send messages that promote or market something. This legally requires the customer to affirmatively “opt-in” to receive such messages. Furthermore, every communication must offer the recipient the opportunity to opt-out of receiving further messages at any time.

I’m getting voicemails, but my phone never rang. Is this legal?

So-called “ringless voicemails” — pre-recorded messages that bypass the customer’s phone and are delivered straight to the mailbox — are a fairly recent strategy used by telemarketers. However, as some companies have learned the hard way, ringless voicemails are also covered under the TCPA. In fact, a Chrysler dealership was recently named a defendant in a class action lawsuit for this very practice.

How can I avoid getting auto dealer text messages?

One thing you should do to stop all forms of unwanted marketing messages is to register your phone number(s) with the National Do Not Call Registry. This is a free service provided by the Federal Trade Commission after it was added to the TCPA in 2003 and can help reduce the number of spam messages you receive within 31 days of registration.

The National Do Not Call Registry applies to all telemarketers, including auto dealers, but there are some exceptions for things like nonprofit organizations and a few other groups according to the FCC.

These reporting methods may not stop these kinds of spam text messages. While the Do Not Call Registry had more than 229 million active registrations as of 2017, and everyone who files a complaint with the Registry helps the FTC and other agencies spot trends in robocalls and spam texts and take proper legal action moving forward, the Registry cannot stop all unwanted calls, especially those from spammers and scammers.

In response to these kinds of spam calls and texts made in violation of the TCPA, more and more people are now turning to litigation over unwanted spam texts and calls.

Can I file a TCPA lawsuit?

If you have been affected by auto dealer text messaging spam, you may be able to file a class action lawsuit and pursue compensation. There may be many others in a similar situation as you are. Under the rules of the TCPA, you may be eligible for an award of between $500 and $1,500 per violation, depending on if the violation as made negligently or willfully.

A Honda dealership in North Carolina now faces a class action lawsuit over alleged robocall abuses. The lead plaintiff in the case allegedly received numerous pre-recorded messages from the dealership in January and February 2021. According to the woman, she never gave Honda permission to call her.

Filing a lawsuit can be a daunting prospect, so Top Class Actions has laid the groundwork for you by connecting you with an experienced attorney. Consulting an attorney can help you determine if you have a claim, navigate the complexities of litigation, and maximize your potential compensation.

Join a free car dealership TCPA violations class action lawsuit investigation

You may be eligible to join this lawsuit investigation into car dealership TCPA violations under the following circumstances:

  • You did NOT provide express permission in writing to the car dealership to receive the calls or messages.
    You did NOT purchase a vehicle from the dealership that is contacting you.

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22 thoughts onTired of auto dealer text messaging?

  1. Jena Jones says:

    I get the ringless voicemails and text messages but I don’t own a car so I don’t know how they got my information.

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