Dealership insights
Why Many Dealerships Are Setup to Fail: Price Transparency Buyers Expect
Price transparency for powersports dealers: advertised prices that include fees, freight and setup, out-the-door quotes, honest payments and trade numbers.
Quick answer
Price transparency at a dealership means the price a shopper sees is a price they can actually pay. Advertise prices that include dealer-required fees, with freight and setup the big powersports issue, give written out-the-door quotes, quote payments with their terms, and show how the trade number was reached. Hidden extras cost trust and invite legal risk.
Our October 2022 version of this post pointed readers to Dealer Magazine's March/April 2022 article, Why Many Dealerships Are Setup to Fail: The Evolution of Customer Engagement, describing it as the article "with PSX's own Larry Bruce". The post's message was that none of what customers want is new: "Customers have always wanted transparency, customer service, and so forth." And on price, it was direct: "Transparent pricing and information are a must, along with other transparency in the buying process."
Four years on, federal regulators have spelled out what an honest advertised vehicle price looks like. This guide is for the dealer principal, sales manager or internet manager who wants every price, quote, payment and trade number to hold up from first click to signed contract.
This is general information, not legal advice.
What price transparency means at a dealership
Price transparency means the price a shopper sees is one they can actually pay, and every number added to it is shown and explained before they are asked to agree. For a powersports dealer that comes down to four things:
- Advertised prices that include dealer-required fees, with freight and setup the big powersports issue.
- Written out-the-door quotes that list every line before the customer commits.
- Honest payment quotes that show the price, down payment, term and rate behind the monthly number.
- Transparent trade numbers that show how the value was reached and how any payoff is handled.
None of this stops you negotiating or selling add-ons. It stops surprises.
What the FTC expects in an advertised price
On September 15, 2026, the Federal Trade Commission published price transparency FAQs for auto dealers. Its press release states that "the advertised price of a vehicle must be the actual price that any consumer can walk in and pay to purchase the vehicle," "excluding only charges that the government requires the consumer to pay."
Points every dealer should know from the FAQs:
- Mandatory fees belong in the price. The FAQ says the advertised price must include dealer-required fees, including "dealer-required fees that governments authorize but do not mandate."
- Document fees too. "The advertised price must include any mandatory fee, including the full document fee." The FAQ adds that "State-specific document fee rules do not change the fundamental FTC Act requirement."
- Optional means optional. "Dealers cannot suggest an add-on is required when it is in fact optional."
- Negotiation is still allowed. "Dealers and consumers can negotiate, and consumers can certainly pay less than the price advertised."
- Discounts must be available to the buyer reading the ad. The advertised price cannot rest on a discount only some buyers qualify for, such as one tied to dealer financing, unless the price anyone can pay is shown most prominently and the terms are clear.
- Units in transit can be advertised, but the ad must plainly state that the unit is not on the lot.
- Small print is not the only problem. "Prominence is not limited to font size."
The FAQs talk about cars and vehicles. They do not mention motorcycles, ATVs, side-by-sides or other powersports units by name, so ask your counsel how they apply to your store. The rule underneath them, Section 5 of the FTC Act, declares "unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce" unlawful, and it is not limited to cars.
What happened to the CARS Rule
The FTC's Combating Auto Retail Scams (CARS) Rule included pricing and add-on requirements for motor vehicle dealers. On January 27, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, ruling on a challenge from the National Automobile Dealers Association and the Texas Automobile Dealers Association, held that the FTC had skipped a required procedural step, an advance notice of proposed rulemaking. In the court's words: "we GRANT the petition for review and VACATE the CARS Rule."
The court ruled on procedure, not substance, and the FTC Act's general ban on deceptive practices still applies.
State rules: one example
States add their own rules, and some are specific about freight and preparation. As one example, a Massachusetts Attorney General regulation, 940 CMR 5.02(3), makes it an unfair or deceptive practice for a motor vehicle dealer to advertise a price "unless such price includes all charges of any type which are necessary or usual prior to delivery of such vehicles to a retail purchaser, including without limitation any charges for freight, handling, vehicle preparation and documentary preparation, but excluding taxes and optional charges for the dealer's preparation of title and assistance in registering a vehicle."
That is one state's rule, given as an example only. Check which rules apply in your state, and whether they cover motorcycles and off-road vehicles. This is general information, not legal advice.
Freight and setup: the big powersports issue
Freight and setup are normal costs in powersports. Units arrive crated or partly assembled and need real work before delivery. The problem is not the charge. It is when the shopper first meets it.
The common pattern: a unit is listed at MSRP online, the shopper drives an hour, and the worksheet adds freight, setup and a documentation fee. Each charge may be legitimate, but the price they came for was never real. That is the experience the FTC's FAQs and rules like Massachusetts' target.
The fix is simple to say and takes discipline to do:
- Put the price including freight, setup and any other dealer-required fee on every listing, or make sure the listed price is genuinely payable as shown.
- If you show MSRP for reference, make the price a shopper can pay the most prominent number.
- Keep the same number on your website, third-party listings, social posts and the showroom tag.
What to show, where and why
| What to show | Where | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A price any shopper can pay, including dealer-required fees such as freight, setup and doc fee | Unit pages, third-party listings, ads, showroom tags | The FTC's FAQs say the advertised price must be one any consumer can pay, apart from government-required charges |
| MSRP, rebates and discounts, clearly labeled, with their conditions | Next to the price, never larger than it | Shoppers should not have to qualify for something to get the headline number |
| Optional items, priced separately and marked optional | Unit pages and the deal worksheet | Add-ons cannot be presented as required when they are not |
| Unit status: in stock, in transit or at another location | Unit pages and listings | The FAQs allow advertising units in transit if the ad plainly says so |
| A written out-the-door quote with every line | Email or text after an inquiry, and the first worksheet | Customers can compare stores and nothing new appears at signing |
| Payment estimates with the price, down payment, term and rate used | Payment tools, quotes and worksheets | A payment without its terms is not a quote, and payment ads carry their own disclosure rules |
| The trade appraisal, the payoff and how they combine | The worksheet, explained in person | Trade numbers are where buyers most often feel misled |
Give written out-the-door quotes
An out-the-door quote is the total the customer will pay to ride the unit home, with every line shown. When a shopper asks for your best price, send this rather than a bare number:
- Confirm the exact unit: model, year, color, stock number and any accessories the customer wants.
- List every line: selling price, freight, setup, accessories, documentation fee, taxes, and title and registration.
- Mark what is optional and price it separately.
- State what is estimated, such as tax or registration, and what it is based on (for example, the customer's ZIP code).
- Put a date on it and say how long the quote holds.
- Send it in writing by email or text, and save it in the CRM so anyone who picks up the deal sees the same numbers.
- Match it at the desk. If anything changes, explain the change before the customer sees new paperwork.
How you present the full worksheet once the customer is in the store is covered in our guide on how to present a deal to a powersports customer.
Quote payments honestly
Many powersports buyers shop by payment, which makes the monthly number easy to misuse. An honest payment quote always shows what sits behind it: the price used, the down payment, the term, the rate and whether taxes and fees are included. It never hides add-ons inside the payment.
Payment advertising also has its own federal disclosure rules under Regulation Z. If you show payment estimates on your website, our guide to payment calculators on dealership websites covers what to show and how to label it. This is general information, not legal advice.
Show transparent trade numbers
Trade-ins are where many buyers feel the numbers move behind their back. Transparency here means showing:
- The appraised value and what it was based on: condition, hours or miles, market comparisons and reconditioning needed.
- The payoff, confirmed with the lender, on its own line.
- The difference. If the payoff is higher than the value, say so plainly and show how it is being handled, rather than burying it in a higher selling price.
- Any trade allowance that differs from the appraisal, labeled for what it is.
A customer who sees only one blended number cannot follow the deal, and will assume the worst.
What most price transparency advice misses
Most articles on dealer price transparency are written for car dealers, and most stop at the advertised price. Two things matter just as much for a powersports store.
The price has to survive the whole deal. Transparency is not one honest number on a listing. It is the same number on the website, on a third-party listing, in the reply to a lead, on the out-the-door quote and on the worksheet. Most broken trust comes from those numbers drifting apart, not from one bad ad. The original 2022 post made the same point about speed: "Your sales team needs to be able to have a full conversation with customers instantly." A fast answer only helps if the price in it is the price the customer will pay.
Powersports pricing has more moving parts. Freight and setup vary by model, accessories are often bundled, and trailers, gear and protection products are often sold with the unit. Decide in advance how each is shown, and train everyone to show it the same way.
PSX Ascend's inventory management is built to keep photos, details, pricing and supported destinations tied to the same record and to reduce mismatched pricing across the places shoppers find your inventory. Our powersports certified websites connect actual photos, accurate details, current pricing and clear next actions around the machine a shopper wants. Neither replaces your own pricing decisions or legal review.
A monthly price transparency check
- Pick five units and compare the price on your website, third-party listings and the showroom tag. They match.
- Every advertised price includes freight, setup and other dealer-required fees, or is payable as shown.
- MSRP, rebates and conditional discounts are labeled and never more prominent than the payable price.
- Units in transit or at another location say so.
- Pull five recent quotes from the CRM. Each lists every line and matches the final worksheet.
- Every payment quote states the price, down payment, term and rate used.
- Every trade shows the appraisal and the payoff on separate lines.
You can also see the same inventory management tools on our sister site, PSXDigital's inventory management tools page.
Related reading
Three posts grew out of our 2022 "setup to fail" series, each with its own job:
- Sales manager responsibilities at a powersports dealership: getting managers off the desk and onto the floor.
- Dealership customer engagement strategy: how engagement has changed and how to keep up.
- Pros and cons of digital retailing for dealers: where online buying tools help and where they break.
Sources
- Federal Trade Commission, FTC Publishes Price Transparency FAQs for Auto Dealers, press release, September 15, 2026.
- Federal Trade Commission, Automobile Industry Pricing Transparency FAQs, September 2026.
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, National Automobile Dealers Association v. FTC, No. 24-60013 (PDF), filed January 27, 2025.
- Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, 15 U.S. Code § 45, Unfair methods of competition unlawful; prevention by Commission.
- Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, 940 CMR § 5.02, Advertising of Motor Vehicles (Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General).
- Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, 12 CFR § 1026.24, Advertising (Regulation Z).
- Dealer Magazine, Why Many Dealerships Are Setup to Fail: The Evolution of Customer Engagement, March/April 2022.