In March the FTC sent warning letters to 97 auto groups covering more than a thousand locations telling them their advertised prices must be the total price including all mandatory fees. Not a fine. Not a consent order. A letter. Which sounds mild until you understand that the Lindsay settlement came roughly six weeks after that letter went out to the industry and the Asbury administrative complaint is still live. The FTC is running a very deliberate escalation playbook. Letter first. Settlement next. The groups that received those letters and did not immediately audit their advertising and F&I add-on consent process are playing a very bad odds game. What the Lindsay case established is that named executives including the president and COO are personally on the hook in these settlements, not just the corporate entity. That changes the calculus for anyone who has been deciding this is a compliance problem rather than a personal liability problem.