Is your DMS ready for October 1?
The CARS Act doesn’t ask whether your dealership means well. It asks whether your systems can produce a total price in the first reply, hold a deal open for three days, and put their hands on a two-year-old text message. Sixteen questions tell you where your systems stand — scored, in about five minutes.
The forms have a publisher. The workflow is still yours to build.
Updated retail forms for SB 766 exist, and compliance software will scan your advertising. But as of August 2026, no major DMS vendor has publicly announced the workflow pieces the Act assumes — cancellation-window tracking, restocking-fee math, deal unwind, total-price fields feeding every listing. Whatever your vendor ships between now and October, the process around it — who owns which step, where records live, what happens when a buyer walks back in on day two — belongs to the store.
This assessment covers six areas of what your systems can do: advertising and listing feeds, first written communications, add-on and F&I output, the three-day cancellation workflow, forms and documents, and records and retention. How the store around them runs — ownership, training, notices, the unwind drill — is the CARS Act Operational Readiness check, this assessment’s companion. Answer for how your systems work today. You’ll get a scored breakdown and a copy by email.
This is an operational self-assessment, not a compliance audit and not legal advice. M@B Consulting advises on operations and process; for how SB 766 applies to your specific situation, work with your own counsel or your state association. For what the statute actually says, our CARS Act Readiness page has the requirements in plain terms.
SB 766 (Allen), Chapter 354, Statutes of 2025. Signed October 6, 2025; operative October 1, 2026. Adds Title 1.5B to the Civil Code, commencing with Section 1784.20. Vendor posture noted above reflects public materials as of August 2026. This page last reviewed August 7, 2026.