Sacramento Dealer Training

Tax Season is Here! Entrepreneurs are planning their future by investing their tax refund rather than spending. Your tax refund can be more than extra cash, it can be the seed that launches your own business. At Sacramento Dealer Training we help individuals turn opportunity into ownership! Visit our web page at sacramentodealertraining.com or call for more information at 916-245-2526 we would love to hear from you and answer your questions!

Happy New Year! As we welcome 2026, I would like to thank our clients and community for your continued trust and support. The New Year brings new opportunities and some new changes to be aware of.
Staying informed helps to keep you compliant, prepared and protected. Please take a moment to review the information on this posting.
Wishing you all a safe, successful, and prosperous New Year! I look forward to serving you in the year ahead!

DMV Highlights New Laws in 2026

Sacramento — The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) today announced several new laws signed by Governor Gavin Newsom this year will take effect on January 1, 2026.
Making Our Roads and Communities Safer

Ignition Interlock Devices — AB 366 (Petrie-Norris)
Extends the Statewide Ignition Interlock Device (IID) Pilot Program for specified driving-under-the-influence (DUI) offenders to January 1, 2033.

Vehicular Manslaughter While Intoxicated — AB 1087 (Patterson)
Increases the term of probation from two years to between three and five years for a person convicted of vehicular manslaughter or gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

School Zone Speed Limit — AB 382 (Berman)
Lowers the school zone speed limit from 25 miles per hour to 20 miles per hour beginning January 1, 2031, to help reduce speeding and save lives.

“Slow Down, Move Over” — AB 390 (Wilson)
Expands the requirement that a driver approaching a stationary vehicle slow down and move over to include any stationary vehicles, including marked highway maintenance vehicles and those displaying flashing hazard lights or another warning device.

Automated Traffic Enforcement System Programs — SB 720 (Ashby)
Allows local governments to use an alternative automated camera program to enforce red light violations. Specifies that violations recorded by an automated traffic enforcement system are subject only to civil penalties.

License Plate Obstruction or Alteration — AB 1085 (Stefani)
Makes it an infraction with a fine of $1,000 to manufacture in California a product or device that obscures, or is intended to obscure or interfere with the visual or electronic reading of a license plate, addressing the use of illegal license plate covers that enable toll evasion and other criminal activity.

Abandoned Recreational Vehicles — AB 630 (Mark González)
Authorizes Alameda and Los Angeles Counties, until January 1, 2030, to remove and dispose of an abandoned recreational vehicle (RV) if it is estimated to have a value of $4,000 or less and a public agency has verified that it is inoperable prior to removal.

Autonomous Vehicle Marker Lamps — SB 480 (Archuleta)
Allows an autonomous vehicle (AV) to be equipped with automated driving system (ADS) marker lamps. The lamps notify other drivers, pedestrians and law enforcement when an AV’s ADS is activated.

Off Highway Electric Motorcycles — SB 586 (Jones)
Classifies an “off-highway electric motorcycle” or “eMoto” as an off-highway motor vehicle (OHV), thereby requiring them to follow OHV rules, including displaying a DMV-issued ID plate or placard.
Strengthening Consumer Protections

California Combating Auto Retail Scams (CARS) Act — SB 766 (Allen)
Enacts the CARS Act, effective October 1, 2026, to prohibit a dealer from misrepresenting various aspects of a vehicle sale, such as the vehicle’s total cost and financing terms. It will also require a dealer to provide customers a three-day right to cancel the purchase or lease of a vehicle under $50,000.

“DMV” on Website Addresses — AB 1272 (Dixon)
Bans businesses that hold occupational licenses issued by the DMV from using “Department of Motor Vehicles” or “DMV” in their internet domain names. The goal is to ensure customers are not misled when seeking to do business with the real DMV.
Advancing DMV Modernization

Duplicate Driver’s License for Change of Address — SB 506 (Committee on Transportation)
Allows a person to request a duplicate driver’s license (DL) from the DMV after they change their address. Current law limits duplicate licenses to cases where the license is lost, destroyed, mutilated, or if a new true full name is required.
Promoting Equity

Parking Tickets — AB 1299 (Bryan)
Authorizes local governments to waive or reduce parking penalties if a person is unable to pay and requires the provision of a payment plan if requested, helping prevent escalating fines, vehicle towing, and lien sales that can disproportionately impact low-income individuals.

Subscribe to DMV Email Alert at: https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/vehicle-industry-services/vehicle-industry-news-memos/ to get immediate notification of vehicle industry news

https://mailchi.mp/e5bdfb229449/briita-test-template_cdtfa-updates-7224809?e=f078e5a811

CDTFA Updates—December 2025 For more information on Special Tax and Fee due dates, please visit our Important Dates for Other Taxes and Fees calendar located on https://taxes.ca.gov.

California, AB 766 effective October 1 of 2026

The CARS act made it a violation for dealers to make misrepresentations about vehicle pricing, financing terms, and the benefits of add-ons. It requires dealers to clearly and  conspicuously disclose the offering price, the total amount of consumer will pay, the required down payment, and clarify that the purchase of any add-ons is voluntary. It places a band on valueless add-on products. It also requires dealers to retain all records necessary to demonstrate compliance with the act for two years.
Previously a customer had the option of purchasing a two day contract cancellation option. The CARS act now requires vehicle dealers to include a three day right to Cancel at no charge to the customer. If the customer does exercise their right during that three day period the dealer can charge a restocking fee.
California Senator Benjamin Allen, the Bill’s author said this gives a consumer time to review the purchase agreement carefully and fully inspect the car, this bill gives a three day cooling off for consumers to return the car and get their money back.

About AutoManager:
AutoManager is an online vehicle marketing website helping franchise and independent dealers with business productivity and increasing sales for the automotive industry.
AutoManager provides Dealer Management Systems, Website and CRM dealer software to help maximize profitability and optimize lead growth.
Fill out the form on this page to find out why over 4,000 independent car dealers in the U.S. choose AutoManager to manage their business operations.
GET STARTED FOR FREE TODAY AT: www.automanager.com/247

Sacramento Dealer Training Gets a 2nd award!!
Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sacramento Dealer Training Receives 2024 Best of Roseville Award
Roseville Award Program Honors the Achievement
ROSEVILLE February 27, 2024 -- Sacramento Dealer Training has been selected for the 2024 Best of Roseville Award in the Adult Education School category by the Roseville Award Program.
Each year, the Roseville Award Program identifies companies that we believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and our community. These exceptional companies help make the Roseville area a great place to live, work and play.
Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2024 Roseville Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the Roseville Award Program and data provided by third parties.
About Roseville Award Program
The Roseville Award Program is an annual awards program honoring the achievements and accomplishments of local businesses throughout the Roseville area. Recognition is given to those companies that have shown the ability to use their best practices and implemented programs to generate competitive advantages and long-term value.
The Roseville Award Program was established to recognize the best of local businesses in our community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to recognize the small business community's contributions to the U.S. economy.

https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2023/12/new-cars-rule-what-you-need-know

The new CARS Rule: What you need to know Whether you’re excited about buying the car of your dreams or just trying to make your budget stretch to get reliable transportation, the car buying process can be stressful. It can also be costlier than expected, because of misleading ads and hidden fees at the dealer. The FTC’s new Combating A...

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/file/occupational-licensing-get-started-guide-pdf

Click on the link to obtain information on creating your DMV portal to begin the application process

www.dmv.ca.gov

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION:

Automobile dealers are now facing an additional requirement under the Federal Trade Commission’s Safeguard Rule.

An amendment approved in October will require auto dealers and other non-banking institutions to report security breaches involving the information of more than 500 consumers to notify the FTC within 30 days of the discovery. The amendment will go into effect May 13, 2024.

This amendment follows the update to the Safeguards Rule, implemented in June 2023. The Safeguards Rule approved in October 2021 requires financial institutions to designate an individual to oversee their security program, develop a written risk assessment, limit and monitor who can assess customer information, encrypt information, train security personnel, develop a response plan, assess security practices of service providers and implement multi-factor authentication for any individual accessing customer information.

The FTC said the intent of the Safeguards Rule is for institutions to strengthen their security to protect customers’ financial information.

“Companies that are trusted with sensitive financial information need to be transparent if that information has been compromised,” said Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection in a press release. “The addition of this disclosure requirement to the Safeguards Rule should provide companies with additional incentive to safeguard consumers’ data.”

The information to be reported includes the name and contact information of the finance institution, a description of the type of information involved, the date or range of the offense, the number of customers affected and a general description of the event.

The notification of the breach to the FTC is in addition to any state requirements to self-report issues, which can vary from state to state.

Shannon Robertson, Executive Director of AFIP, points out that many of the state reporting requirements are more concerned about the harm to the customer, whereas the FTC’s notification also looks at whether the organization took steps to prevent the breach.

Some objections to the amendment were filed, including suggesting only reports being made after a series of events. The commission responded, “not every notification event is necessarily the result of a failure to comply with the Safeguards Rule, it disagrees that a single breach cannot be ‘suggestive of compliance failures.’ Indeed, the fact that an institution has not experienced a breach does not necessarily mean that the institution complies with the Rule’s requirements. The Commission believes that taking action to correct a potential Safeguards Rule violation before additional security events can harm consumers is appropriate and desirable.”

The commission acknowledges that not every breach report will result in an enforcement action or investigation.

Robertson said that the dealer’s self-reporting and showing that they have worked to implement the Safeguards Rule could provide a level of defense or protection from a fine.

The FTC estimates the amendment will impact 115 financial institutions per year. Reports of breaches will be made public in a database.