QAP STRAIGHT TALK
That’s A Wrap by Chuck Hardy NMEDA DIRECTOR OF QUALITY & COMPLIANCE
W
hile most people want
While we hope to return to on-site
a list of all non-member conversion
to forget 2020 ever
auditing in 2021, one thing is for sure,
companies and any of their WAVs that
happened, myself
remote auditing is here to stay.
have been verified.
New QAP Rule for Vehicle Conversions and New Vehicle Safety Review Posting Page
Complete Overhaul of the QAP Rules
For years dealers complained about
a thorough review of the QAP Rules
the array of WAV conversions on the
document looking for ways to
marketplace that lacked available
streamline. The effort took the good
crash test data. There was no good
part of the year to complete. Staff met
system in place for conversions made
at least once a month to go over every
by non-NMEDA members to identify
single section—every single word—in
what ones were crash-tested and
the QAP Rules and recommended
what ones were not. Even scarier
changes to clarify the rule to be in
was that nothing prevented dealers
concert with how the rule is applied
included, I don’t want to lose sight of some really amazing things that happened this past year for our association and specifically QAP. It might sound odd, but with the staff working from home for the most part, it allowed us to focus on some really important items that I am happy to say were a great success. For this article, I would like to wrap up this past year and go over some of the key improvements to the QAP and a little about what’s coming in 2021. In no specific order, here we go!
New QAP Audit Program Completes its First Cycle In 2020 we completed our first cycle with the new audit program. I can tell from the feedback I have been receiving from our dealers that the new process has been a success. Dealers are telling me that they are learning more from these audits than
“
from selling potentially non-FMVSS
we are on the right track. The audit
compliant conversions to customers.
should be a learning experience for
That all changed when the Regulatory
the dealer. In 2020, about 85% of all
Compliance requirement for the QAP
audits were performed remotely, and
Rules was put in force on July 1, 2020
while remote auditing was required
and the NMEDA website was updated
to be put in place due to the COVID
with the new posting page. After
concerns, most dealers found that
that time, all new conversions sold by
it was highly effective. Many dealers
dealers had to be posted by NMEDA.
were surprised at how much could
The new posting page shows all WAVs
actually be accomplished remotely.
from NMEDA members, as well as
NMEDA Circuit Breaker
in real life. Trust me when I say this
Staff met at least once a month to go over every single section, every single word in the QAP Rules and recommended changes to clarify the rule to be in concert with how the rule is applied in real life.”
they have in the past and that means
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By the end of 2020 staff completed
