Website Takes Aim at the Fine Print in Automotive Advertising

Fine print exist almost entirely to float something egregious under the radar. People get law degrees and spend countless hours decrypting the tiny text to see who got the better of who in a courtroom. If you see fine print in an advertisement, it usually means the drug you desperately need has life-ruining side effects, or the deal that seems too good to be true has horrible stipulations. It’s more or less a legal way to lie to you.

Dealerships use this all the time with the classic triple zero gimmick: NO Money Down, NO Factory Financing, and NO payments until October!

However, if you take a peek below the giant block lettering promising you the greatest deal of a lifetime, you’ll see infinitesimal print that reads, “With Approved Credit to Qualified Buyers.” If you have to wonder if you are a qualified buyer, I can already assure you that you are not. Blessedly, a new website called Disclaimers Online wants to give consumers a sturdier leg to stand on.

The intended purpose of the website is to provide marketing transparency while also providing dealerships an opportunity to build or restore their reputations. According to Perry Hines, the CEO of Disclaimers Online, the Federal Trade Commission considers the service a boon and thinks it could avoid needless litigation. The site works by providing dealer ads with the fine print enlarged, along with links to the store and relevant information.

“Once the ad is run [on the website], that tiny print you couldn’t see is there. I see it as a warehouse for all of this information where consumers can now research that print as part of their ongoing research before they walk into a store,” Hines told Automotive News in an interview. “I think this could be a natural progression as it relates to how consumers are researching items before they go out and make a purchase.”

Even though savvy shoppers already read the fine print, the idea to have a central location for transparent advertising is a good one. However, the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

Taking into account that this is a new service that began as a partnership with Kentucky-based outlets, Disclaimers Online didn’t have any of the East Coast or Midwestern dealerships that I am familiar with. They were in the search results but there was no appreciable information on any of them. Selecting random dealerships across the nation also yielded nothing. When I finally did locate a dealer with an advertisement, the disclaimer information was clearly laid out and easy to understand. But that isn’t particularly useful when the shop is hundreds of miles away from where I live.

If Disclaimers Online is to become a serious tool for consumers, dealerships will have to be willing to participate en masse or it will need to begin indexing ads without them. While some stores have participated on the local level, mainly in Kentucky where the website is based, others may not bother since they have no incentive to do so. Hines normally charges $99 a month but says he wants to begin letting dealers use the site for free. While that does provide them with the opportunity to tout their business as transparent, it also goes against the entire point of including fine print in your ad.