Affiliate Disclosure

Last updated: 2026-07-05

The Short Version

I’m Manny Ruiz. I run Car Real Talk, and I believe you deserve to know exactly how this site makes money before you trust a single word I write. Some links on this site pay me a commission if you buy something through them. My employer — a car dealership — pays me commission when I sell cars there. Neither of those things changes what I tell you, and this page explains why in plain English.

Who We Are

Car Real Talk is published by Real Talk Media Group LLC, a Georgia limited liability company. I’m a retired U.S. Army Sergeant First Class (Senior All-Source Intelligence Analyst, retired 2016), and I spent my dealer-side career going from the sales floor to sales manager. That background is why I write this site — and it’s also why I’m careful to disclose everything below.

Affiliate Links: How They Work

Some links on carrealtalk.com are affiliate links. If you click one and make a purchase or sign up for a service, Real Talk Media Group LLC may earn a commission. This costs you nothing extra — the price you pay is the same either way.

We participate in the following affiliate networks and programs:

• Awin
• CJ Affiliate (Commission Junction)
• LinkConnector
• Rakuten Advertising
• Sovrn Commerce
• Amazon Associates

The product and service categories where you’ll find affiliate links on this site are:

• Extended vehicle service contracts (extended warranties)
• Auto insurance
• Vehicle history reports (such as Carfax and AutoCheck)
• Pre-purchase inspection services

These links appear only in comparison articles. They never appear inside the F&I Products Database, the Deal Analyzer, the $49 Out-the-Door Audit, or the Compliance Library, and no affiliate partner sees or influences a rating there. Our Funding Policy lists every revenue category we accept and refuse.

Amazon Associates Disclosure

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Manny’s Individual Employment

This one matters, so read it carefully.

In addition to running Car Real Talk, I am personally employed as a Senior Sales Professional and Trainer at Jimmy Britt Chevrolet GMC in Greensboro, Georgia. When a customer buys a vehicle from me at that dealership — including readers of this site — I earn a commission on that transaction, the same as any salesperson would.

Here’s the distinction I want to be crystal clear about:

• Real Talk Media Group LLC receives zero dollars from any dealership. The company that publishes this site does not take dealer money of any kind. Period.
• I, Manny Ruiz, as an individual employee, earn sales commission at Jimmy Britt Chevrolet GMC. That is a personal employment relationship, separate from this publication — but it is a real financial relationship, and if you become my customer there because you read this site, I benefit.

If you’d like to buy a vehicle from me directly, that path runs through the Work With Manny page, and I disclose the commission relationship there as well. You are never obligated to buy from me or from that dealership to use anything on this site. Everything I publish here — negotiation tactics, audit tools, the F&I database — works at any dealership in the country, including ones that compete with my employer.

What We Do NOT Accept

Real Talk Media Group LLC does not accept:

• Dealer sponsorships of any kind
• Payments from vehicle manufacturers (OEMs)
• Referral fees from dealer groups
• Advertising purchased by dealerships

If a dealer or manufacturer offers us money to promote, review, or soften coverage of anything, the answer is no. This is not negotiable, because the entire value of this publication is that it sits on your side of the desk.

How Affiliate Money Affects What We Publish

It doesn’t — and here’s the mechanism that keeps it honest, not just a promise.

Every provider we recommend, affiliate or not, gets a named strength and a named weakness in our coverage. No exceptions. If we can’t find a real weakness worth naming, we haven’t done enough research to recommend the product yet. Affiliate relationships never determine rankings, ratings, or whether a product appears on the site at all. We’ve declined affiliate partnerships for products we wouldn’t recommend to a family member, and we’ll keep doing that.

FTC Compliance

This disclosure is provided in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (16 CFR Part 255). Material connections between Car Real Talk and the providers of products or services mentioned on this site — including affiliate relationships and my personal employment at Jimmy Britt Chevrolet GMC — are disclosed on this page and, where practical, near the relevant links and content throughout the site.

Our Own Products

For full transparency: we also sell our own products directly, including the $49 Out-the-Door Audit, the $99 Buyer’s Advocate Call, and the F&I Products Database subscription. When you buy those, you’re paying Real Talk Media Group LLC directly — no affiliate networks, no dealers, no middlemen. Payments are processed by Stripe.

Cookies and Consent

Affiliate links and our analytics tools use cookies to track referrals and site performance. You control this. You can review or change your cookie preferences at any time using the cookie preferences link in the footer of every page on this site.

Questions?

If anything on this page is unclear, or you think we’ve fallen short of it anywhere on the site, tell me directly: [email protected]. I read every message.

— Manny Ruiz
Founder, Real Talk Media Group LLC
Publisher, Car Real Talk