Message from the President

DEALERS ARE VITAL TO EV TRANSITION

As summer winds down, it seems like things in DC are ramping up. The Biden administration continues to push uninformed and illogical rules that could make the car-buying experience more costly, rigid, and time-consuming for the dealer while creating additional headache, time delays, and confusion for the consumer. It is clear the administration needs better insights before adding new rules. Or, as is the case for LIFO relief, use their power to do the right thing.

One such regulation would prevent dealers from selling customers products that provide no value (a term vaguely defined), ban them from running misleading pricing advertisements, and require them to offer additional pricing disclosures and a list of add-on products with prices online. It also puts confusing and likely onerous limits on how dealerships communicate with shoppers and adds bureaucratic burdens for consumers who choose to negotiate or purchase voluntary protection products.

Despite information that customer satisfaction has reached an all-time high, the FTC cited the need for the rule being consumer complaints. They also estimated the dealer cost of compliance would be between $1.4 to $1.6 billion over 10 years, a number that anyone in the car business will tell you is low, and they failed to cite what it will cost the consumer in time and money. Again, they need better insight.

Better insight must come from the local dealer. We often focus on the state level and have had much success doing so (see many of my past articles pointing to the doc fee, warranty reimbursement and traditional franchise law defense as examples). That said, it’s time to focus our collective efforts and partner with NADA to offer insights into why these rules interfere with improvements made to dealer’s online processes and procedures and how some ill-informed agencies could take dealers back years in complicating what’s becoming a transparent and seamless process.

Better insight comes during the 2022 NADA Washington Conference where the largest grassroots gathering of automobile dealers occurs. There, we can educate our members of Congress to support good policy that streamlines a well thought out and transparent sales process that is good for the consumer. Not the ill-informed regulations currently being pushed. We can also seek support for the bi-partisan LIFO Relief Act. But the work does not stop there; we must commit to the mission back home.

We are a strong voice, and together we thrive! I look forward to working with all of you to continue to push good policy both that the state and national level.

Will H. Green LADA President/CEO | LADA-SIF Fund Administrator