AUSTIN, Texas--Consumer groups are challenging a Texas law that protects auto dealers from having to tell customers the specifics of the financing obtained from lenders and finance sources. The groups, Public Citizen and Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, asked the Legislature to repeal the law in an upcoming session.

The law passed under former Governor George Bush in 1999. It says that no person assigning a retail installment contract has any duty to disclose to any other person the terms on which a contract or a balance under a contract is acquired. This includes "any discount or difference between the rates, charges, or balance under the contract and the rates,

charges, or balance acquired."

This law makes Texas the only state to specifically allow nondisclosure of dealer reserves, according to a statement from Public Citizen. The group claims customers have unknowingly paid "kickbacks" ranging from hundreds of dollars to over $15,000, even when they had good credit.