February 2015 SDADA Column

I have written in this space about NADA's Fair Credit Compliance Policy & Program, a program
based on a compliance program that two dealers adopted in 2007 consent orders to resolve Department of Justice allegations of unintentional credit discrimination. It is designed to strengthen the dealership's efforts to comply with fair credit laws.

Several months ago, I encouraged you to look at implementing it in your store. I did finally employed the program at both of my stores on February 1, 2015. I can now tell you that it is painless and easy to do. It took me less than an hour at each store to adapt it.

The program is simply a way to manage the discretion we exercise in pricing credit, regardless of the way lenders pay us. It provides a dealer with an optional method of managing its discretion (and in a manner that allows consumers to benefit from competition) when working with lenders who pay dealers using a dealer reserve or dealer participation approach.

I strongly encourage you to read to look at this policy to see if it might help you mitigate these risks in your store. You can find all the resources you need including an editable version of NADA’s Fair Credit Compliance Program (MS Word .doc format) that you can use for your dealership at nada.org/regulatory_affairs/faircreditlanding.

Past Chairman McConnell to Speak at SDADA Convention in June

Immediate past NADA Chairman Forrest McConnell III will be one of the featured speakers at the 2015 SDADA Convention in Sioux Falls June 10-12. McConnell is a third-generation Honda/Acura dealer from Montgomery, AL.

Forrest and his wife Jennifer are good friends and wonderful people and I'm certain that you will enjoy meeting and visiting with him. This will be his first visit to our state so I look forward to him getting a big dose of South Dakota hospitality.

He is a encouraging and motivating advocate for dealers. If you heard his farewell address in San Francisco, you know he is a high-energy, positive guy (with a splash of southern wit!).
Make plans to attend our convention. You will enjoy Forrest!

NADA Issues New Compliance Guide on Federal Advertising Rules 

NADA issued a new publication that will assist new-car dealers in complying with federal advertising requirements on the sale, financing and leasing of automotive products and services.
 A Dealer Guide to Federal Advertising Requirements provides examples of “bad” ads and “good” ads and chapters on 41 different federal advertising topics, such as the use of discount claims, e-mail advertising, green marketing claims, Internet advertising, satisfaction guarantees and trigger terms. Readers can access the content quickly by clicking the hyperlinked topics in the table of contents page in the PDF document.

The guide is part of NADA’s Management Series, Driven and can be downloaded in PDF format here.