The short version

Quick answer

Start by separating the dealership’s response to your inquiry or service request from later promotions. Save the original form, purchase or service date, the exact business named in each text and any opt-out. A past transaction is not unlimited permission for every marketing method, and a later text does not by itself establish a violation.

Build the dealership timeline

Make a private chronology with separate entries for the vehicle inquiry, any credit application, purchase, service appointment, marketing message and opt-out. Record the relevant form or message alongside each date. These are suggested organization steps, not evidence that every dealership follows one process.

Do not assume the showroom, manufacturer, finance company, warranty seller and a lead website are the same entity. Write down who the form identified, who the message claims to represent and what remains unknown. Preserve the version of any disclosure you actually saw; a current website may differ.

Distinguish the message’s purpose

The FCC defines telemarketing by its purpose of encouraging purchase, rental or investment in goods or services. Compare a message saying a requested vehicle is ready for collection with one promoting another purchase or a paid service package. These examples are fictional contrasts; a real message can combine information and promotion.

Look at the full message and context rather than its label. A message called a service reminder is not necessarily purely informational if it also promotes a purchase. The exact content helps identify the relevant legal question; it does not settle every element.

Source basis: 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200

What a prior inquiry or purchase changes—and does not

For the FCC’s telephone-solicitation rules, a qualifying established business relationship can rest on a transaction within eighteen months or an inquiry/application within three months, subject to the definition’s conditions. A seller-specific do-not-call request terminates that relationship for telemarketing purposes even while the customer continues doing business with the seller.

Do not substitute that relationship for the separate prior-express-written-consent requirements governing covered automated or prerecorded telemarketing. Section 64.1200(f)(9) requires a signed written agreement with specified authorization, number and disclosures where that consent standard applies. Whether a particular text uses technology within the applicable prohibition remains a separate issue.

Source basis: 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200 · 47 U.S.C. § 227

After a request to stop, save the whole exchange

For consent revocation covered by §64.1200(a)(10), the rule recognizes STOP and other reasonable methods and requires honoring the request within a reasonable time no longer than ten business days. A limited nonmarketing confirmation has its own conditions.

Use the linked STOP guide for scope and current waiver details rather than assuming one response necessarily reaches every unrelated company. Keep which thread received the request, the confirmation and each subsequent message. Mark whether a later message concerns the same promotion, a requested service or something else.

Source basis: 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200

Fictional example: inquiry, service, then promotion

A fictional customer requests a price on September 1, buys the vehicle September 10 and books service October 1. On October 3, a separate text advertises a trade-in offer. The customer replies STOP and later receives a service appointment message.

Annotate the September form with its named seller and authorization. Keep the purchase and service records separate. Label the trade-in message promotional based on its content, and save the exact STOP exchange. The service message requires its own purpose-and-scope analysis; the example does not declare it lawful or unlawful.

Source basis: 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200

Use the record without overstating it

The preservation checklist helps organize the original messages and forms privately. Do not post account numbers, applications or other people’s details. If a suspicious message asks for sensitive information, verify the apparent company independently instead of opening its links.

Federal consent and solicitation rules are different routes with different requirements. Attribution, technology, exceptions, state law and available court remedies require further analysis. This guide does not determine a reader’s rights in a particular dispute.

Source basis: FTC Consumer Advice · 47 U.S.C. § 227