Building trust through transparency: How the DMCC Act affects your dealership

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCC Act), effective since April 2025, introduced new legal obligations to prevent, detect and remove fake and misleading customer reviews.

What the DMCC Act means for dealerships 

The DMCC Act bans fake reviews, hidden incentivised reviews and the misleading presentation of reviews. Dealerships, review providers (including Feefo and any other review providers that you work with) and publishers such as Autotrader are all responsible for ensuring they adhere to the legislation and failure to comply could, in the worst case, result in fines of up to 10% of global annual turnover or £300,000.

By complying now, you’re protecting your business from potential regulatory action and building customer trust.

Examples of the banned practices include, but are not limited to: 

  • Obtaining fake reviews from people who haven't purchased vehicles from your dealership 

  • Using hidden incentives to obtain reviews, where reviewers receive payments, discounts, or other benefits in return for a review, without clear disclosure 

  • Only requesting reviews from customers who you know have had a positive experience (“cherry picking”)

  • Misleading presentation of reviews, such as suppressing negative feedback or manipulating review displays so that only positive reviews are prominent

  • Contacting customers to change a negative review

What the DMCC Act means for Autotrader

As the publisher of reviews, Autotrader now has an obligation to take reasonable and proportionate steps to prevent and remove fake and misleading reviews being published to our platform.

We have agreements in place with several review providers to share reviews and these have been reviewed following the DMCC Act. We are also putting in place new processes to monitor, investigate and take sanctions against retailers who are in breach of the DMCC regulations, which would also be a breach of our Dealer Reviews Business Rules.

Any customers found breaching these rules risk being removed from the Autotrader platform, either temporarily or permanently.

More information about our Dealer Reviews Business Rules can be found in our terms and conditions, available to view here

What should I do next as a dealership?

Working with an established review provider that will work with you to ensure you are complying with the DMCC regulations can help you to remain compliant. These platforms typically handle: 

  • Customer verification processes 

  • Review authenticity checks 

  • Proper disclosure labelling 

  • Ongoing monitoring and moderation 

  • Technical compliance with DMCC requirements 

All dealerships should review and, if necessary, amend their current review practices to ensure that they are compliant with the new legislation.  These may include, but are not limited to:

  • Ensuring reviewers are genuine customers who have purchased vehicles 

  • Maintaining records of all review-related activities

  • Taking "reasonable and proportionate steps" to prevent, detect, and remove fake and misleading reviews 

  • Clear labelling of review sources and any incentives provided 

  • Ensuring your team understands what constitutes compliance vs. violations 

  • Reviewing your processes to ensure ongoing compliance 

FAQs

The DMCC Act isn't a burden, it's an opportunity for retailers to stand out in an increasingly competitive market and ensure they are adhering to best practice.  

Genuine reviews from real customers who've purchased a vehicle are far more valuable than any artificial testimonials. The DMCC Act ensures that this authentic feedback gets the recognition it deserves, helping honest retailers stand out from the competition. 

 

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