Car buyers should pay attention to costly problems while new transparency rule is on pause

The regulatory hammer was set to come down July 30 on highly questionable car sales tactics — such as selling service contracts for oil changes for EVs that don't need oil or burying in the fine print that you must have an exceptional credit score above 800 to qualify for a heavily advertised 0% car loan. The Federal Trade Commission finalized its CARS Rule — the Combating Auto Retail Scams Rule — on Dec. 12, 2023, with talk about bringing more transparency to car buying and leasing. But just a...