The Federal Trade Commission is sending a third round of refund checks to customers of Ed Napleton Automotive Group who were charged for add-on products they did not want. The agency’s refund page, updated in November 2026, lists 4,732 checks worth more than $65,000. Anyone who gets one is asked to cash it within 90 days.
The checks come from a case the FTC and the State of Illinois filed in March 2022. Napleton, a multistate auto group, agreed to pay $10 million to settle the charges. The FTC says there is still money in the fund, which is why a third round is going out.
What the third round is worth
Spread over 4,732 checks, more than $65,000 comes to about $14 a check on average. That is a small fraction of the first round, when the FTC sent 66,355 checks that averaged $147 each. The leftover money is smaller, and so are the checks.
The number of checks fell from 37,034 in the second round to 4,732 in the third, a drop of about 87 percent, and the dollars fell from over $857,000 to more than $65,000. The money in the fund is nearly spent.
The FTC says the checks go to eligible customers. Its refund page does not give a mailing date for this round and does not name a mailing company. It says only that the FTC is sending them and that anyone who receives one should cash it within 90 days.
A car buyer who finds an FTC refund check from the Napleton case in the mail has 90 days to cash it. The refund administrator, Epiq, answers questions about the checks at 1-888-691-6050, and the FTC points to its Napleton refund page and its refund FAQ for the rest. The page gives no calendar cash-by date, so the date printed on the check itself is the one to watch.
The refund page does not say what happens to a check that is not cashed in time, and it does not describe a way to ask for a replacement. Those questions go to the administrator at the same number.
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The first two rounds
The refunds began in November 2022. The FTC said then that it was sending payments totaling more than $9.8 million, in the 66,355 checks that averaged $147. Recipients were told to cash those checks within 90 days as well.
A second round followed in November 2023. A local news report on the FTC announcement put it at 37,034 checks totaling over $857,000. Each round has been smaller than the one before it.
The FTC noted in its 2022 announcement that a 2021 Supreme Court ruling found the Commission lacks authority under Section 13(b) of the FTC Act to seek money in federal court, and said it had asked Congress to restore that power. The Napleton refunds came out of the $10 million settlement, not a court judgment.
What Napleton was accused of
The FTC and Illinois sued in March 2022. They alleged that employees at eight Napleton dealerships added charges for unwanted add-ons, such as paint protection, payment insurance, gap insurance and extended warranties, to vehicle purchases. The FTC said the fees cost consumers hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
The complaint also alleged that Napleton discriminated against Black consumers by charging them more for add-ons and financing. Napleton agreed to pay $10 million to settle the charges. The settlement money is what funds the refund checks that have gone out since 2022.
An add-on is a product sold on top of the car itself, usually folded into the loan, so the buyer pays interest on it for years. That is why a charge a buyer never asked for can grow well past the price on the sales sheet.
The program has now run across four years. The first checks went out in November 2022, the second in November 2023, and the third is arriving in November 2026. The FTC and Illinois brought the case in March 2022, so the first refunds followed within eight months of the lawsuit. Epiq has been the refund administrator since the first round, and the FTC told recipients in 2022 to cash within 90 days, the same instruction that applies now.
Telling a real FTC check from a fake
Refund programs draw imitators. The FTC says the Commission never requires people to pay money or provide account information to get a refund. It also says the agency will never demand money, make threats, tell anyone to transfer money or promise a prize.
A caller or letter that asks for a fee to release a Napleton refund, or for bank details before a check can be sent, is not the FTC. The legitimate number for questions about this program is the administrator’s line, 1-888-691-6050, listed on the FTC’s own page.
What the FTC has not said is who beyond “eligible customers” is on the third-round list, or when the last of the 4,732 checks will be in the mail.
Holding a Napleton check, or waiting on one?
A refund check that sits in a drawer past the 90 days the FTC sets can turn into a lost payment. A third-round Napleton check is small, about $14 on average, which makes it easy to set aside and forget.
The Settlement & Refund Recovery System is a 50-page guide that includes a claim log and payment tracker, so each check, its date and its cash-by day sit in one place. It also gives the four-date rule for reading a settlement notice and a way to get an expired or uncashed settlement check reissued.
Get the tracker that logs the Napleton check and its 90-day cash-by date →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
