“Compliance is handled.”nobody in particular, which is exactly the problem
The Form
Look at your website’s lead form. Is there a pre-checked box for text consent? Vague “it’s okay to contact me” language? Under the TCPA and the E-SIGN Act, text consent must be an explicit, affirmative act by the consumer, and a pre-checked box is the mathematical opposite of affirmative.
The Handoff
That’s half the problem. The other half: even a perfect form tends to drop the proof. Nearly every system in this industry routes website leads over ADF/XML, a format built a quarter-century ago with no field for the consent artifact: the IP, the timestamp, the affirmative act itself.
Ask your website provider where the per-consumer opt-in record lives, and they’ll point at your CRM. Ask your CRM, and it points back at the website. Statutory TCPA exposure runs $500 to $1,500 per text. A non-compliant campaign to five thousand leads isn’t a fine. It’s a bankruptcy event.
And the party holding the bag is neither vendor. It’s the dealership.
Legacy systems don’t fail accidentally. They externalize their failures onto the dealer. This is just the most expensive version of the pattern.
What Got Built Instead
We refused the format’s amnesia. When consent happens here, the artifact is captured and cryptographically signed at the moment it happens (who, when, from where), a receipt built to be verified, not vouched for. When a text goes out, the proof of the yes exists. You send them the math, not your word.
Don’t take our word either. Ask your own lawyer where your per-consumer opt-in artifact lives today. Bring this page.
Two vendors, pointing at each other. One dealer, holding the bag.