How to keep dealership ads OEM-compliant.
Keeping dealership ads compliant means writing down the rules that apply — the manufacturer's brand rules, advertising-law disclosure and your own house rules — and checking every ad against them before it runs, not after a reviewer flags it. AUTONOMi's AXIOM reviews ad copy against those rules before spend, states price and terms in the ad itself, and records every decision on a hash-chained audit trail. It helps enforce the rules; it is not legal advice.
Why is it hard to keep every dealership ad compliant?
Because the rules come from three directions and change every month. The manufacturer sets brand rules — wording, logo use, how prices and offers are presented — and its co-op program reviews ads before it reimburses them. Advertising law requires that a price or payment in an ad comes with its terms. And offers change on the manufacturer's own calendar, so an ad that was right on the 1st can be wrong by the 10th. With ads running across Google, Meta, Microsoft and TikTok at once, checking each one by hand after it goes live means problems are found by a co-op reviewer or a shopper first.
How do you keep dealership ads OEM-compliant, step by step?
Six steps: set the rules once, check before anything ships, keep offers current, and keep the record that proves it.
- Step 1AXIOM Week 1
Write down the rules that apply to your ads
List three layers: the advertising law that applies to your store, your manufacturer's brand guidelines, and your own house rules. AXIOM holds OEM brand guardrails — what ad copy can and cannot say for each brand — and a manufacturer's brand book uploaded to AXIOM is turned into enforceable brand rules. The dealership adds its own rules in plain English (for example "never quote a monthly payment"), and the ad composers and reviewers read them before writing a word. New laws are ingested from the source text and enforced only after counsel review.
- Step 2AXIOM Before launch
Check every ad before it ships, not after
AXIOM's three-stage compliance review — strategist, composer, verifier — checks every piece of ad copy and every landing-page assertion before spend is approved. Google's automated asset generation is switched off on every campaign AUTONOMi builds, and Meta's generative creative features are opted out, so the creative that serves is the creative AUTONOMi wrote and reviewed — not a version a platform rewrote after the check.
- Step 3AXIOM Every ad
State the full price and terms in the ad itself
A price or payment in an ad needs its terms beside it. On new-vehicle Meta ads, single-vehicle Spotlight ads and new-vehicle search ads that state a price or payment, AXIOM can require "Total MSRP: $X (Dealer Sets Actual Price)", where X is the trim's MSRP from the dealer's own site plus every charge the dealer adds on top; a lease payment carries its term and amount due at signing, and the manufacturer's disclaimer is added word for word. A figure for a car that is not in stock is removed rather than shipped bare. Video end cards, Demand Gen, TikTok and extensions are not yet covered by this rule.
- Step 4AEGIS Every offer change
Keep offers current with the manufacturer's own wording
AEGIS reads manufacturer offers from the manufacturer's public offers site the way a shopper does, opens each disclosure and records the offer word for word with screenshot evidence; a capture that doesn't complete stores nothing and the previous offers stay live. When an offer changes, AEGIS judges whether the headline figure moved or only the fine print, and the disclosure update is queued to every channel whose ads print it. A dealer's own offers are recorded in the dealer's words — the dealer remains the advertiser of record for them.
- Step 5AXIOM Ongoing
Keep a record of every decision
Every dealer-impacting decision is written to a hash-chained audit trail the dealer can read: who acted — a named staff member, AEGIS and the person it acted for, or the system — when, and the reason recorded at the time. Asked who changed an ad and why, AEGIS answers from that ledger and says so when no reason was recorded. That record is what you show a co-op reviewer or your own compliance lead.
- Step 6AEGIS Monthly
Document co-op the way the program reviews it
AUTONOMi builds a monthly co-op packet per rooftop from code: every new-vehicle campaign that served, read back from the ad platforms as it actually ran, with platform-reported spend, and a list of what ran but isn't claimable. An AEGIS reviewer checks the packet against the program's rules before filing. Filing through AEGIS's co-op desk covers Stellantis Tier III Advertising Co-op and the Audi Tier 3 Marketing Fund, and is switched on one rooftop at a time; the manufacturer decides approval and the reimbursement amount.
What should you measure to know your ads stay compliant?
Ads corrected before launch versus after
Problems found in review cost nothing; problems found by a co-op reviewer or a shopper cost a claim or trust. The goal is for corrections to move earlier.
Platform disapprovals
Disapprovals from Google or Meta show which rules your copy keeps tripping. A repeat pattern means a rule belongs in your written rule set.
Time from an offer change to updated ads
The gap between the manufacturer changing an offer and every live ad reflecting it is the window in which an ad can state an expired figure.
Co-op claims filed versus approved
Claims sent back show which requirements your documentation misses. Read the reviewer's findings, not just the count.
Changes with a named actor and a reason
Every change to a live ad should answer who, when and why. A change with no recorded reason is a gap in the record you would show an auditor.
Is AUTONOMi's compliance review legal advice?
No. AXIOM applies rules the store, the manufacturer and counsel-reviewed law define, and it blocks or rewrites ads that break them, but it does not give legal advice and it does not guarantee that every ad is compliant. The determination of a violation belongs to your counsel. The dealership remains responsible for its own offers and its own website copy.
Which advertising laws does AXIOM check today?
As of October 2026 the law AXIOM's rule library enforces is US federal advertising law — the FTC Act, Regulation Z and Regulation M for credit and lease terms, and the FTC staff's pricing guidance for auto ads. State layers switch on only after counsel promotes their rules. Manufacturer brand rules and the dealership's own house rules apply on top of that floor.
What about the dealership's own website?
AUTONOMi's ad review does not cover the dealer's website copy. The separate AXIOM Website Compliance Review — $149 one-time, or $99 per month for one review a month — reads the store's public website against the federal rule library and produces a report with each finding quoted from the page. It reports exposure; it never rewrites the site.
What mistakes put dealership ads out of compliance?
Showing a monthly payment without its term and amount due at signing in the same ad.
Leaving a payment or price in an ad after the manufacturer's offer has changed or ended.
Letting an ad platform auto-generate or rewrite creative after your review approved it.
Advertising a price for a vehicle that isn't in stock.
Rewording the manufacturer's disclaimer instead of using it word for word.
OEM-compliant dealership ads, answered
Does AUTONOMi guarantee that my ads are compliant?
No. AXIOM reviews every ad against the manufacturer's brand rules, counsel-reviewed advertising law and your house rules before it ships, and records each decision, but it doesn't guarantee compliance and it isn't legal advice. Your counsel makes the final call.
How does AXIOM know my manufacturer's brand rules?
AXIOM holds brand guardrails per manufacturer — the wording ad copy can and cannot use — and a manufacturer brand book uploaded to AXIOM is turned into enforceable brand rules that every ad composer and reviewer reads.
Can we add our own dealership rules?
Yes. The dealership writes house rules in plain English, such as "never use the word 'deal'", scoped to ads, emails, texts and chat. Each rule is recorded as the dealer's own decision, and Claude reads and applies it as written — it is not a keyword filter. Rules for LANE chat and texts are not yet wired.
What happens when the manufacturer changes an offer?
AEGIS captures the new offer from the manufacturer's public site word for word with its disclosure, judges whether the headline figure or only the fine print changed, and queues the updated disclosure to every channel whose ads print it.
Does AUTONOMi file co-op claims?
For Stellantis Tier III Advertising Co-op and the Audi Tier 3 Marketing Fund, AEGIS's co-op desk can build, check and file the monthly packet; it is switched on one rooftop at a time. For other programs AUTONOMi doesn't file. The manufacturer decides approval and the amount.
Who is responsible for the offers my store creates itself?
The dealership is the advertiser of record for its own offers. AEGIS records them in the dealer's words and asks for any missing figure rather than inventing one, but it doesn't approve them legally or check them against manufacturer programs.
Recommended reading
See how AXIOM would govern your ads
Generate a free proposal for your store and see the campaigns AUTONOMi would run — each one reviewed against your manufacturer's rules, advertising law and your own house rules before it ships.
