Every add-on the dealer pitches you. Rated by people who sold them.
Extended warranties. GAP. Tire-and-wheel. Paint protection. Nitrogen. VIN etching. Fifteen F&I products, one honest database. Dealer cost, typical markup, real claim denial data, and a plain-English verdict for each — every claim cited to CFPB, FTC, BBB, or state DOI primary sources.
Join the Founding Member Beta
Enter your email — I’ll notify you the moment the beta opens with your founding member access link. No spam, no dealer partnerships, one unsubscribe click at any time.
Why I built this — and why nobody else will.
I’m Manny Ruiz. Retired U.S. Army Sergeant First Class, Senior All-Source Intelligence Analyst, and I worked the dealer side of the desk — sales floor through sales manager — before I started publishing what dealers don’t want buyers to see.
Edmunds, NerdWallet, Bankrate, and CarEdge earn affiliate revenue from the exact warranty administrators and F&I providers they’d have to rate. They literally cannot publish honest claim denial data or dealer markup ranges without breaking their own P&L. That’s a structural gap. This database fills it.
Real Talk takes zero dealer money, zero warranty administrator affiliate commissions, and zero F&I provider sponsorships. Every rating is cited to a primary source you can verify yourself — CFPB enforcement actions, FTC settlements, state DOI complaints, BBB filings. That’s not marketing. That’s the editorial wall.
— Manny Ruiz, Founder · Real Talk Media Group LLC
What founding members get
Founding rate isn’t a marketing gimmick — it’s a working agreement. You help shape the database in beta, and your $9/month rate never changes.
$9/month for life
Public price after beta launches at $19/month. Your founding rate is locked as long as your subscription stays active. No re-pricing ever.
Every rating, cited to source
Full read on all 15 F&I products the day the beta opens. Dealer cost ranges, typical markup, claim denial data, cancellation rules, refund formulas — every claim linked to CFPB, FTC, BBB, or state DOI primary source.
Permanent recognition
Named in the database credits as a founding member. When Real Talk grows, you were there at the start — the ones who built the audience that made honest F&I data economically viable.
You steer the roadmap
Quarterly feature vote for founding members only. Want state-specific pricing? Deep dives on specific administrators? Bilingual product briefs? Vote it in — I ship what founders ask for.
Direct line for questions
Reply to any newsletter with a question about a specific F&I product, dealer pitch, or Buyers Order line and I’ll answer personally — no chatbot, no support ticket, no delay past 48 hours.
Editorial wall enforced
Editorial wall is real, published, and dated. Sponsorship money from dealers, warranty administrators, and F&I providers is zero. If that changes, you’ll know before anyone else — and you’ll get a full refund on the spot.
The Real Talk guarantees
- Editorial wall. Published, dated, and public at /editorial-policy/. Zero dealer money, zero affiliate revenue from warranty administrators or F&I providers rated in the database.
- Every claim primary-source cited. If we say a warranty administrator has a 34% claim denial rate, you get the BBB complaint number, filing date, and a direct link. No secondary sources, no industry rollups.
- Bilingual by default. Every product rating available in English and Spanish. Not machine-translated — written by bilingual editors.
- Cancel any time. One click in your Real Talk account. No cancel-by-phone gauntlet, no retention team, no dark patterns.
- Corrections in writing. If we get something wrong, the correction is dated and public at /paper-trail/ — not silently edited.
Why $9/month when the public price will be $19?
Founding members validate the product. Your feedback shapes what gets prioritized. In return, your $9 rate is locked forever — that’s the exchange. When you refer someone during beta, they get founding pricing too until the 100 cap fills.
What happens when 100 members join?
Waitlist closes. Public launch pricing engages at $19/month for everyone who joins after. Founding members keep $9 for life. If you’re on the waitlist but haven’t converted yet, you keep the $9 rate as long as you convert before the cap fills.
What if the database ratings turn out biased or wrong?
Every rating cites primary sources you can verify yourself. If you find a factual error, email me directly — the correction goes on Paper Trail with your name credited (if you want it) within 72 hours. Correction is dated, permanent, and public.
Is this legal advice? Financial advice?
No. Informational consulting only. Real Talk is your coach, not your agent. Final decisions are always yours. The database gives you the data professionals use so you can make an informed call — but nothing on it substitutes for a real attorney or licensed financial advisor for your specific situation.
How do I know you’re not going to sell out to a warranty administrator?
Editorial wall is published and dated. If it changes, the change goes in writing on /paper-trail/ before any commercial arrangement starts — and every founding member gets a full refund at that point with no questions asked. That’s the guarantee. It’s already in the terms.
Cancel policy?
One click in your account. Anytime. Effective at the end of the current month. If you cancel within 7 days of the beta opening, full refund on the first month. After that, prorated refund on the current month.
The 100 spots go once. They don’t come back.
Join the founding beta waitlist. Get notified the moment access opens.
Verified by a Named Human
Retired U.S. Army Sergeant First Class (SFC, Ret. 2016)
Senior All-Source Intelligence Analyst
Dealer-side career: sales floor through sales manager
LinkedIn · About page
Phone: 762-815-7105
Corrections: reply to any published page with the URL and the specific claim — corrections logged in writing within 5 business days.
Registered agent: Northwest Registered Agent Service
No sponsors. No dealer money. Ever.