CASL for Car Dealerships: A Plain-English Guide to Emails, Texts and Lead Follow-Up

CASL, Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation, is the federal law that governs commercial emails, texts and other electronic messages. For a car dealership, it touches almost every internet lead: the first reply, the follow-ups, the "still interested?" text a week later, and the newsletter a buyer might receive after they bought. This guide explains CASL for car dealerships in plain English, so your team can follow up with confidence.

The short answer: CASL applies to the commercial emails and texts your dealership sends. You need consent (a buyer's inquiry generally gives implied consent for six months, and a purchase or lease generally gives two years), every message must identify your dealership, and every message must include a working unsubscribe option that you honour within 10 business days.

This article is general information, not legal advice. CASL has detailed rules and exceptions, and your dealership should confirm its own practices with a qualified advisor.

What CASL covers at a car dealership

CASL came into force on July 1, 2014, and is enforced mainly by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). Its core rules apply to commercial electronic messages, often called CEMs. A CEM is an electronic message where one of the purposes is to encourage participation in a commercial activity, like buying, leasing or servicing a vehicle.

For a dealership, that generally includes:

• Email replies and follow-ups to internet leads
• Text messages to buyers and customers
• Messages sent through social media platforms, such as direct messages
• Promotional emails, newsletters and event invitations
• Service offers and promotions sent to past customers

Live phone calls are not covered by CASL. Telemarketing calls fall under other rules, including the CRTC's Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules and the National Do Not Call List. If your BDC makes outbound calls, those rules matter too.

Consent: the heart of CASL for car dealerships

Before sending a commercial electronic message, a dealership generally needs the recipient's consent. CASL recognizes two kinds.

Implied consent

Implied consent comes from certain relationships or actions, without the person ticking a box. For dealerships, the two most relevant forms are:

• An inquiry or application. When a buyer asks about a vehicle, through your website, a listing site or by email, that inquiry generally creates implied consent for six months from the date of the inquiry.
• A purchase or lease. When someone buys or leases from you, that generally creates implied consent for two years from the transaction.

Implied consent can also arise in a few other situations, such as when someone conspicuously publishes their business email address without saying they don't want messages, and the message relates to their work. Those cases are narrower and less common in vehicle sales.

Express consent

Express consent is when the person actively agrees to receive messages. It does not expire on its own, which is why many dealers ask for it during the sales process. A valid request for express consent generally needs to:

• Explain the purpose, for example that you'd like to send offers and updates
• Identify who is asking, meaning your dealership
• Say that the person can withdraw consent at any time

The CRTC's guidance is that consent should be an active choice, so a pre-checked box is not a good way to collect it. Keep a record of when and how each person agreed. If there's ever a question, the sender is the one who has to show consent existed.

Messages that don't need consent, but still need the basics

CASL lists some messages that don't need consent but must still identify the sender and include an unsubscribe option. Relevant examples for dealers include a message that only provides a quote or estimate the person asked for, a message that confirms or completes a transaction the person already agreed to, and warranty, recall or safety information about a vehicle the person bought. The details of each exemption matter, so check them with your advisor before relying on one.

What every commercial message must include

Whatever the consent basis, every CEM your dealership sends generally needs these elements:

Most CRMs can add a compliant footer to emails automatically. The gaps tend to show up in places the CRM doesn't touch, like texts sent from a salesperson's own phone or messages sent through social platforms.

How CASL applies to internet lead follow-up

Here is how the rules typically play out in a normal lead cycle. This is a simplified illustration.

1. A buyer sends an inquiry about a vehicle on AutoTrader.ca. That inquiry generally creates implied consent for six months.
2. Your salesperson replies with an answer and a suggested time to visit. The email footer identifies the dealership and includes an unsubscribe option.
3. Follow-ups go out over the next days and weeks. Each one carries the same identification and unsubscribe details.
4. The salesperson asks for express consent during a conversation or visit, for example to send future offers, and records it in the CRM.
5. If the buyer unsubscribes, the CRM flags it, and all commercial messages stop within 10 business days, including texts from personal phones.
6. If six months pass without a purchase or express consent, the implied consent from that inquiry generally runs out, and commercial messages should stop.
7. If the buyer purchases, a new two-year implied consent period generally begins from the transaction.

For more on spacing and content of follow-ups, see building a follow-up cadence.

Texts, Messenger and personal phones

Texting has become a normal way to talk with buyers, and CASL applies to commercial texts the same way it applies to email. Our guide to text message leads covers the sales side; here's the CASL side.

• Identify yourself. A text should make it clear who is sending it and on behalf of which dealership.
• Offer an easy opt-out. Many dealers use a simple "Reply STOP to opt out" line on commercial texts.
• Keep records. Texts sent from personal phones can be hard to track. Many stores prefer business texting tools that log messages and opt-outs in one place.
• Treat social media messages carefully. Messages through platforms like Facebook Messenger can also be commercial electronic messages. Our Facebook Marketplace car leads guide touches on this.

Common CASL questions from car dealership teams

These come up often in sales meetings and compliance conversations. The answers below are general; your advisor can confirm how they apply to your store.

Can we add every lead to our monthly newsletter?

Only people with valid consent should receive commercial newsletters. A buyer who inquired within the last six months generally has implied consent, and a buyer who purchased or leased within the last two years generally does too. Anyone outside those windows needs express consent. Many CRMs can filter lists by these dates, which makes this much easier.

Do service customers count?

The existing business relationship under CASL can arise from the purchase or lease of goods or services, so a paid service visit can generally start a two-year implied consent period from that transaction. As always, check the details with your advisor before building a campaign around it.

What if a buyer says "please stop texting me" instead of replying STOP?

It's sensible to treat any clear request to stop as an unsubscribe, however it's worded. Record it in the CRM and make sure it reaches every person who might contact that buyer, including anyone texting from their own phone.

Do we need consent to reply to a buyer's question?

A buyer who asks about a vehicle has generally given implied consent through their inquiry, and a message that only provides a quote or estimate they asked for is one of the listed exemptions from the consent requirement. Either way, the reply still needs the identification and unsubscribe elements described above.

Can we email to ask for consent?

An email asking for consent to send commercial messages is itself treated as a commercial electronic message. So the best time to ask for express consent is during an existing conversation, in person, on the phone, or on a form, rather than by cold email.

A practical CASL checklist for dealerships

Use this as a starting point for a conversation with whoever manages compliance at your store.

• Our email footer identifies the dealership, includes a mailing address and contact details, and has a working unsubscribe link.
• Commercial texts identify the dealership and offer an easy way to opt out.
• Our CRM records the date of each inquiry, purchase or lease, and any express consent.
• Express consent requests explain the purpose, identify the dealership and say consent can be withdrawn. No pre-checked boxes.
• Unsubscribes are honoured within 10 business days, across email, texts and every salesperson's phone.
• Leads older than six months without express consent or a purchase are removed from commercial follow-up.
• Outbound calls follow the National Do Not Call List rules where they apply.
• Someone at the store owns CASL questions and knows where to get advice.

Good CASL habits and good lead handling point the same way

It's easy to see CASL as a set of hurdles. In practice, the habits it encourages are the same ones that make lead follow-up work: reply to what the buyer actually asked, be clear about who you are, make it easy for people to say "no thanks," and keep good records.

Many dealership teams already do this well. Salespeople who sign every email with their full name and the dealership, who ask buyers how they'd like to be contacted, and who log every conversation in the CRM are already doing most of what CASL asks.

When Lock runs an internet lead mystery shop, our shoppers send real inquiries about real vehicles in your inventory, and we keep copies of every reply and follow-up. Those copies show managers exactly what buyers receive, including whether replies identify the dealership and how follow-up is spaced. It's not a legal review, and it doesn't replace advice from your compliance advisor, but it gives you the real messages to look at. To learn more about the process, see how dealership mystery shopping works.