06/05/2026
You finance cars. The FTC says that makes you a bank.
If you sell vehicles and arrange financing, the Federal Trade Commission classifies you as a financial institution, and the FTC Safeguards Rule at 16 CFR Part 314 has been fully enforceable since June 2023. Penalties reach $50,120 per violation, and since May 2024 a breach touching 500 or more customers has to be reported to the FTC within 30 days.
Most independent dealers bought a policy template and assumed they were covered. The rule actually requires technical controls: access logging, multi-factor authentication, network segmentation, encryption, and monitoring. Those are infrastructure, not paperwork, and most dealerships in our area do not have them in place.
Red River Integration builds what 16 CFR Part 314 actually names. UniFi Access logs every entry to the F&I office, records room, and server closet with credential, timestamp, and camera-linked video. UniFi network segmentation keeps customer Wi-Fi, digital signage, and a compromised showroom tablet off the DMS that holds every customer's credit application. UniFi Protect covers the showroom, F&I, service drive, and lot on local NVR storage you own, retained 90 to 180 days, with license plate recognition for after-hours theft response, so police arrive with footage already captured. And UniFi 5G keeps DMS access and F&I credit pulls running when the internet drops, or serves as the primary connection for rural lots.
Every system is yours. Footage and access logs on hardware you own, inside the dealership. No cloud vendor with access to your customers' financial data, which under the rule is your compliance exposure, not theirs.
Your manufacturer agreement, your floor plan, your state license, and your customer database are too valuable for consumer-grade gear and a generic IT vendor.
redriverintegration.com/auto-dealer-ftc-safeguards-compliance/
(580) 289-8181