view newsletter online  October 15, 2024

January of 2025 the next Montana legislature will kick off.  The Montana Independent Auto Dealers Association, as well as NIADA, will be on the watch for any upcoming legislative measures that will affect our industry.

One question I often here is, “What does the Association do for me?” I’m sure you have asked yourself that question, and I’m glad you asked. There are so many ways the Association is working behind the scenes to improve your opportunity to be successful that we could go through it for hours.

As with any endeavor, there is strength in numbers. With more numbers, there is more strength and clout. Our biannual legislative session begins in January and our influence and efforts keep legislation that is harmful to our industry from going through with no resistance. We send board members to Helena on your behalf to lobby for laws that are beneficial and oppose laws that can hurt us. We scan the docket daily looking for items that may affect you.

We are involved in the education of yours and your employees’ children by giving scholarships to deserving students. We have donated to Project Hope in the name of Independent Auto Dealer’s Association on your behalf and have put ourselves in front of bank presidents and other influential parties to explain the difference between a used car lot with no consideration for the community and our members that are dedicated to improving the independent dealer’s community.

We also have hours upon hours training available at any time and host our annual convention where you can learn from industry experts.

We send out monthly publications that include tips and legislative articles that keep you abreast of current and pending laws that will affect the car business on a national scale. There are 20 groups for retail and buy here, pay here dealers and so much more.

 

Coming up in November, NIADA will be heading to New Orleans for the BHPH Dealer Forum. This is a great event featuring dealer-centric education.

The event features roundtables led by many of the industry’s top BHPH dealers, including Richard Barnard, Tio Chuy’s Auto Sales, Oklahoma City; Steve Jordan, AutoVida, Lancaster, Texas; Russell Moore, Top Notch Used Cars, Conroe, Texas and Ben Libby, Highway Motors, Chico, California.

NIADA will present three extensive workshops on building a business plan, collections and underwriting and constructing a sales pipeline.

The education breakout sessions led by industry experts and dealer panels will address collections, service, best 20 Group tips, sales, underwriting and protecting your dealership from compliance issues.

Ingram Walters will be closing the Dealer Forum, addressing dealers on lessons he’s learned in the industry.

Register now at niada.com/bhphdealerforum.

 

Arguments on the additional recordkeeping and the length of time to complete the car-buying process were presented Oct. 9 in the court case on the Federal Trade Commission’s Combatting Auto Retail Scams (CARS) rule.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans heard 30-minute oral arguments from attorneys representing the plaintiffs National Automobile Dealers Association and the Texas Automobile Dealers Association and the defendant the FTC. Listen to the full hearing here.

The CARS rule was finalized in December 2023 by the FTC and it was set to go into effect July 30, 2024. The FTC issued a stay of the regulation, which remains in place, shortly after the NADA and TADA filed their lawsuit.

The rule would require dealers to provide consumers with an offering price, disclose all optional add-ons and give information about total payment when discussing the monthly payment. There are additional disclosures and recordkeeping of communications with customers required.

NIADA and the Texas IADA joined the efforts to stop the Federal Trade Commission from enforcing the vehicle shopping rule, filing an amicus brief in support of NADA/TADA.

In his oral argument, NADA and the Texas ADA attorney Jeffrey Harris said the FTC had failed to show how the added disclosures required by the rule would improve car purchases.

“The rules at issue in this case will inject FTC-mandated disclosures into hundreds of millions of interactions between car dealerships and their customers. Even the FTCs flawed analysis acknowledges that this will be a billion-dollar rule,” Harris said.

Harris also questioned the FTC’s notice of the new rule, offering price intent and the burden on dealers and consumers with the added disclosures.

“It's difficult to overstate the burden this would impose on the industry to be papering up every single transaction with many new disclosures,” Harris said.

The FTC attorney Benjamin Aiken responded by saying the rule is aimed at bait-and-switch tactics and hidden fees in auto sales, which harm consumers and honest dealers.

He said the rule addresses gaps in the current regulations and gives the commission the ability to provide consumer redress.

“That is a current gap in the existing regulatory scheme. That is why we think that there are so many consumer complaints year to year. The higher stakes that dealers are now worried about is that the FTC will now have more authority to seek consumer redress,” Aiken said.

“We don't deny that there are compliance costs here. The commission found that there would be $1.1 billion in compliance costs to motor vehicle dealers. And again, we stress-tested that. The commission still concluded that the benefits of the rule outweighed the costs.”

The court recessed after the arguments. No date is set for a decision from the court.