The Federal Trade Commission has dismissed an administrative complaint against Asbury Automotive Group, citing the increasingly unlikely prospect of reaching a timely resolution and the need to deploy its enforcement resources more effectively. Auto Remarketing was first to report the decision.

The FTC filed the complaint in August 2024, alleging that employees of three Asbury-owned Dallas-Fort Worth dealerships — David McDavid Ford Fort Worth, David McDavid Honda Frisco and David McDavid Honda Irving systematically added voluntary protection products to customer contracts without disclosing the cost.

Asbury denied the allegations, calling them “false and unfounded,” and immediately filed suit in federal district court in the Northern District of Texas, asserting constitutional claims about the FTC’s administrative structure. The administrative proceeding was stayed and has remained so for more than two years.

“The Commission anticipates this could result in years of additional federal court litigation before any administrative adjudication could then commence in earnest and ultimately reach the merits of the administrative complaint,” the order states. “Based on the totality of the circumstances, we have come to the difficult conclusion that the public interest requires that this litigation no longer be continued.”

Last year, the FTC dropped a disparate impact claim against Asbury last year, consistent with an executive order requiring the agency to evaluate proceedings relying on disparate impact liability.

Read the order at FTC.gov