Robocall Guide · Answers
Are Auto Warranty Calls Illegal: Yes in Most Cases, With Three Exceptions
Yes, in most cases. A recorded or autodialed “your warranty is about to expire” call to your cell phone without your written permission breaks federal law, and each one can be worth $500 to $1,500. This page is the legality question only: the rule, the three exceptions that make a warranty call lawful, and what illegal means when the caller is a scam. What the calls are, how to stop them, and how to sue are on the hub, auto warranty robocalls.
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Short answer
Yes. An auto warranty call is illegal when it is marketing, placed with a recording or an autodialer, to your cell phone, without your prior express written consent. Nearly every warranty robocall meets all four. The lawful exceptions are narrow: you signed a form agreeing to marketing calls, a live person hand-dialed you (and you are not on the Do Not Call Registry), or the call is from a company you hold a contract with about that contract.
Legal or illegal
- Illegal: a recorded or autodialed warranty pitch to your cell without written consent.
- Exception 1: you gave written permission on a form or quote site.
- Exception 2: a live agent dialed by hand and you are not on the registry.
- Exception 3: your own dealer or warranty company, about a contract you hold.
The rule that makes most warranty calls illegal
The TCPA prohibits using an artificial or prerecorded voice, or an autodialer, to call a cell phone without the called party’s prior express consent. Since 2013 the FCC has required that consent to be in writing for any call that is telemarketing. A vehicle service contract pitch is telemarketing. The recorded voice warning that your coverage is expiring is an artificial or prerecorded voice. The call to your cell is a call to a cell. Every element is met, and the only remaining question is consent, which almost nobody has given to a warranty seller.
Prerecorded marketing calls to a residential landline are also restricted without consent, so the recorded warranty pitch to your home phone is on the wrong side of the law too.
Exception one: you gave written permission
The most common lawful warranty call comes from a company you handed your number to on a form that included marketing consent. Car-buying websites, quote comparison sites, and some dealer paperwork include a consent clause that covers “partners” and “affiliates.” If you agreed to that language, calls from those partners may be lawful until you revoke consent.
Two limits apply. The consent has to be clear and specific to automated marketing, not buried, and you can withdraw it at any time by any reasonable means. Calls that continue after you say stop are illegal regardless of what you signed.
Exception two: a live person dialed by hand
The automated-call rule is about technology. If a human being dialed your number manually and spoke to you live, with no recording and no dialer, that call is not a robocall under the statute. It is a telemarketing call, and it is governed by the Do Not Call rules instead: if your number is on the National Do Not Call Registry and the company is not exempt, the call is still a violation. If your number is not registered, a hand-dialed live sales call about a warranty is generally lawful, unpleasant as it is.
In practice, hand-dialed warranty calls are rare. The economics of the industry depend on volume, and volume means machines.
Exception three: your own dealer or warranty company
A company you already have a contract with may contact you about that contract. A reminder from the administrator of a service plan you bought, a renewal notice from the dealer who sold you the car, or a notice that your manufacturer’s warranty is ending sent by the manufacturer are informational and are within the relationship you created. Even here, an automated call to your cell needs at least ordinary consent, which is usually satisfied by the number you gave on the contract. The moment the call turns into a pitch for a new product, it is telemarketing again and needs written consent.
Scam warranty calls: illegal, but a different kind of problem
A large share of warranty robocalls are not from any warranty company. They are from operations that spoof caller ID, use invented company names, and route calls through overseas carriers. Those calls are illegal in every respect. In 2022 the FCC ordered all U.S. phone companies to stop carrying traffic from one such operation after it placed billions of warranty calls. The legal problem is not whether the call was illegal; it is that there is no identifiable defendant to hold responsible. Those calls get reported. How to tell the two kinds apart, and what to do with each, is the job of the hub at auto warranty robocalls.
What illegal is worth
When a real company is behind the calls, each illegal call is worth $500, or up to $1,500 if a court finds the violation willful, and the calls stack. A company that kept calling after a stop request is the clearest willful case. Campbell v. Everything Breaks (No. 2:23-cv-00861, D. Nev.), a $995,000 settlement, involved a vehicle service contract seller calling registered numbers and calling after opt-out. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome, and every case is different. Save your call log and any company name you were given, and a free review with Max Morgan, Esq. will tell you which side of the line your calls fall on. No fee unless you recover.
Related: Auto warranty robocalls: the hub · How to stop car warranty robocalls · Prior express written consent · Prerecorded call violations
What kind of calls are you getting?
Each of these is a real, recoverable claim under the TCPA.
Wrong-number robocalls
Prerecorded or auto-dialed calls meant for someone else. You can have a claim even though you’re not a customer.
About wrong-number robocall claimsWrong-number debt collection
Auto-dialed collection calls for a debt that was never yours. Illegal twice over, and it pays.
About wrong-number debt collection claims“Stop calling me”
You told them to stop and the calls kept coming. Each one can be a separate violation.
About claims for calls after you said stopSpam text messages
Marketing texts you never agreed to count under the TCPA too. Screenshots are often all the proof you need.
About spam text message lawsuitsDo-Not-Call violations
Registered your number and the calls didn’t stop? Continued telemarketing may entitle you to damages.
About Do Not Call violation claimsPrerecorded cell calls
Robotic or artificial-voice calls to your cell without consent are a clear TCPA violation.
About prerecorded cell call claimsAuto warranty call legality: FAQs
Is it illegal for a warranty company to call my landline with a recording?
Yes, if the recording is a sales pitch and you did not consent. The TCPA restricts prerecorded telemarketing calls to residential landlines as well as to cells. Informational recordings from a company you have a contract with are treated differently.
I filled out a car quote form once. Does that make the warranty calls legal?
Possibly, if the form included clear consent to automated marketing calls from the company and its partners. Vague or buried language may not qualify, and you can revoke consent at any time. Calls that continue after you say stop are illegal no matter what the form said.
Are auto warranty texts illegal too?
Yes, under the same rule. A text to a cell phone is a call under the TCPA, so an automated warranty text without written consent is a violation worth the same $500 to $1,500 per message. Texts that continue after you reply STOP can be treated as willful.
Did the FCC ban auto warranty robocalls?
Not by a separate rule; they were already illegal without consent. In 2022 the FCC ordered every U.S. carrier to block traffic from a specific operation responsible for billions of warranty calls, and it has pursued enforcement against others. The private right to sue under the TCPA is unchanged.
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