How to Text and Email Customers Without Breaking the Law: A Plain-English CASL Guide for Dealers

The law most dealers never actually read

Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) governs nearly every commercial text and email you send. It runs on an opt-in model: with few exceptions, you need a person's consent before sending them a commercial electronic message.

This isn't a paperwork technicality. The maximum penalty is $1 million for an individual and $10 million for a business, per violation. And CASL reaches people, not just companies — owners, directors, and managers who directed or allowed a violation can be held personally liable. For an independent dealer, that means it's your name on the line, not an abstract corporate entity's.

Express consent vs. implied consent

There are two ways you're allowed to message someone.

Express consent is when a person has clearly agreed to hear from you — checked a box, signed a form, told you verbally. It doesn't expire on its own.

Implied consent covers existing relationships. If someone bought a vehicle from you, you generally have implied consent to contact them — but it's time-limited (commonly treated as two years from the purchase). After that window closes, implied consent lapses, and last year's buyer becomes someone you can't legally blast.

The trap most lots fall into: treating a two-year-old customer list as a forever list.

The three things every message needs

Whatever you send, CASL expects three things to be true:

1. Consent — express, or valid implied consent you can point to
2. Identification — who the message is from, and how to reach you
3. A working unsubscribe — simple to use, honored within 10 business days, and kept functional for at least 60 days after the message goes out

That unsubscribe requirement is where busy dealerships slip. If a customer replies STOP and a rep keeps texting three days later, that's a violation — even if it was an honest mistake.

Keep your receipts

CASL puts the burden of proof on you. If a complaint lands, you have to show the consent existed. Keep records of how and when each person opted in, and hold them for three years after the relationship ends. "We're pretty sure they said yes" is not a defense.

Where it actually goes wrong on a busy lot

The risk usually isn't the one careful salesperson. It's the 6pm blast to an old list nobody scrubbed. It's the rep who keeps texting a customer who already opted out, because the opt-out lived in one person's head. It's an aged customer file getting "re-engaged" two years and one day too late.

Compliance breaks down when it depends on everyone remembering the rules in the moment. It holds up when the system enforces them for you — recording consent, honoring opt-outs automatically, and blocking any message to someone flagged do-not-contact, whether or not a rep checks first.

That's how Carvio handles it: an opt-out is recorded on your account and further messages to that recipient are blocked, so a customer who says stop actually stops getting messages. It doesn't make you a lawyer — but it removes the most common way good dealers get caught out.

This is a plain-English overview, not legal advice. When real money and your personal liability are on the line, confirm the specifics for your situation. If you want to see how Carvio keeps consent and opt-outs straight automatically, book a demo.