The trade group representing brokers of extended auto-service contracts today released a 20-page Standards of Conduct guide that prohibits many of the deceptive marketing practices that, according to consumer groups and regulators, have become synonymous with the industry.

The group, called the…

Reporters being summoned to press conferences in Kansas City and St. Louis tomorrow are told that Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster will announce new enforcement actions his office is taking against companies selling extended auto-service contracts.

Nanci Gonder, a spokeswoman for…

With bogus blogs and shill comments seemingly on the rise, it’s not surprising that there’s finally a name for these deceptive corners of the Internet where product marketers and public relations flacks pose as real people: it’s the fakeosphere.

Estimated to…

Extended auto-service contracts probably aren’t worth the money, according to a story in the December issue of Car and Driver.

The magazine conducted a secret-shopper sting on St. Charles County’s three biggest brokers of so-called extended warranties: Wentzille-based US Fidelis; St. Peters-based…

Updated Thursday at 3:25 p.m. to include a detailed explanation from US Fidelis General Manager Eddie Struckman. For the sake of clarity, I’m putting that explanation at the beginning of this post.

A mysterious blog attributed to US Fidelis owner Darain…

Wentzville-based US Fidelis is “the official vehicle service coverage provider of the Rams,” according to a press release from the team announcing a philanthropic partnership between the Rams’ offensive line and the big broker of extended auto-service contracts.

The Rams deal is…

A reader called today to chide me about Tuesday’s blog post about US Fidelis suing a competitor over copyright infringement. The caller, who wouldn’t give me his name, took issue with this graf:

(US Fidelis knows a thing or two about…

US Fidelis, the big Wentzville-based broker of extended auto service contracts, last week filed a federal copyright-infringement suit alleging that a competitor has swiped its sales pitch and and a portion of its trade name.

The suit, filed Thursday in St. Louis,…

The St. Louis area’s big “extended warranty” firms are splitting hairs if they think they can avoid Missouri regulations on extended auto-service contracts by selling product warranties tied to the purchase of auto additives, said a spokesman for the state’s…

Companies that sell extended auto-service contracts frequently are accused of deceiving consumers, violating telemarketing laws, peddling worthless products and failing to give refunds owed to customers upon cancellation.

Those allegations tend to dominate news coverage of the industry, and they rarely…