Latest / Auto Collabs / How Dealer Associations Help Navigate Compliance Changes with Laura Perrotta

Transcript

How Dealer Associations Help Navigate Compliance Changes with Laura Perrotta · Auto Collabs

• 0:00
  [upbeat music] All right, we're here at the CBT Fair Pricing and Compliance Summit. Uh, thanks to our friends at Force Marketing for sponsoring our coverage today.
• 0:08
  I'm here with my friend Laura Perrotta, president of NJCAR. Thanks for giving us a few minutes today. Oh, thanks, Paul. Appreciate being here with you.
• 0:15
  So you represent so many dealers in New Jersey, and this is obviously a topic of conversation that has, uh, really bubbled its way to the top. Why did you decide to come out today and be a part of this event?
• 0:26
  You know, Paul, I just think w- we have so many dealers with so many questions right now. Or what are the rules of the road going forward? Mm-hmm.
• 0:32
  You know, how do we, um, get more information from the FTC so we understand what we should be doing and what we shouldn't be doing? And we have so many folks calling us and just really hungry for more information.
• 0:43
  So I thought if there's an opportunity to come to one place and learn as much as I could today, it was on me to have to come and do this [laughs] you know?
• 0:50
  What, what, what are, what do you feel like are the biggest things that have come to the surface where your dealers have been like, "We're gonna fix that right away"?
• 0:58
  Uh, have there been some things that have come to the top where you realize people are moving very, very quickly to fix? You know, I think just having clarity. The doc fee has always been one of those questions.
• 1:07
  Without a doubt. Like, how do we need to, um, display this? You know, how do we need to promote it? How do we need to put it in our pricing? What i- what is right, what's wrong?
• 1:16
  And so I think that the FTC was pretty clear [laughs] that the doc fee has to be- They were very clear, yes... in, in your all-in pricing. So I think having that clarity- Mm-hmm...
• 1:23
  helps the dealers a lot to know this is very clear. And actually, it, it does comply with... New Jersey has pretty strict rules, actually- Yeah, tell me about it. Who-... as well.
• 1:31
  Yeah, New Jersey has pretty strict rules. Who's, who's more strict, New Jersey or the fed? Um, you know, to date, New Jersey's actually had more strict rules. So you have a little bit of a head start on them.
• 1:38
  Yeah, we have a little bit of a head start. Yeah. But then there were, there was always, you know, unless you have the FTC really singing from the pulpit that- Mm-hmm...
• 1:45
  "We're gonna come after you," 97 letters to dealers- Yes... that's the name of the game. Yes. So there's always that push and pull between competition- Mm-hmm... and transparency. Mm-hmm. And I think that this,
• 1:56
  you know, these actions from the FTC have made it very clear that, um, you might not wanna push that envelope anymore. You know, for those dealers that were making that choice- Yes...
• 2:04
  to do that, it was an eye-opening experience that, okay, we have to be clear. The doc fee has to go in the all-in pricing. No more fine print.
• 2:13
  I think that's something I've, I've seen dealers do in New Jersey and all over the country, the fine print. Yes, for sure. You know, it's just- For sure...
• 2:18
  like, to the point of, in this, one of the sessions here, that when you have more disclaimers- Mm-hmm... than you have- Yeah, Kevin Frye was just-... the ad... just there, yeah. Yeah. [laughs] Right. You know?
• 2:26
  Disclaimers, this, it's like a pharmaceutical commercial now. Exactly. Exactly. Right? "Oh, here's what this does." "May cause death." Yeah. [laughs] I know.
• 2:31
  And, and Kevin even in there, he joked because at the very beginning of this event, uh, Jim Fitzpatrick said, "My lawyer said..." Yes. And he gave us a disclaimer for the event, which I've never had- Right?...
• 2:41
  an event disclaimer before. I don't think I have either. It tis the season for disclaimers. Yeah, let's disclaim everything. We should disclaim this conversation. Why not?
• 2:47
  [laughs] So this is not legal advice, but is meant for entertainment purposes... No. [laughs] Not ent... Educational purposes.
• 2:53
  Um, okay, so this is, when things like this come up, I think the value of the state association, um, just becomes more apparent, right? Yes. Like, you know, dealers are out there doing, they're doing their thing.
• 3:04
  They're trying to compete. It's a very, you know, it's a contact sport. Things come like this, and now everybody is calling your office first. Yes.
• 3:10
  Tell, tell me about some of the things that you do, um, as an association to support the dealers in times like this and in other similar times when attention gets put on an, a thing that maybe they can't pay attention to, especially a small dealer.
• 3:23
  Right. Right? They don't have a compliance officer and legal counsel that travels with them. So what kind of programs and what, what are you all doing? Yeah, absolutely.
• 3:30
  Paul, you know, the thing is, um, yeah, when the fires start, who do you call? Mm. You're gonna call your s- your state association- Yeah. [laughs]... that the, or the fire put out, you know- [laughs]...
• 3:38
  the fire extinguishers. Yeah, triage. So, um, this is just very common for every issue that comes up. And so for us, it's about, um, getting the best information we can- Mm-hmm...
• 3:47
  you know, whether it's from NADA or from the, you know, NADA 'cause they're working with the FTC, whatever we can gather from the FTC.
• 3:54
  So becoming the clearing house for our dealers as far as they can come in and ask their questions. And if we don't know the answers, we'll get them the answers.
• 4:01
  So we really become the fact clearing house for them, you know, giving them the tools they need to, to be in compliance, making sure that we have partners, like one of our longtime partners has been ComplyAuto.
• 4:13
  So making sure we have partners available that we can, uh, refer our dealers to when they want, you know, a website, um, autopsy or they want- Mm-hmm... an audit of their website.
• 4:22
  So having strong partners, being that clearing house for our dealers, and then offering, um, having panels and webinars where we...
• 4:30
  or podcasts or whatever we need to do to, um, let our dealers and their employees tap into us- That's a big deal... to get direction and education.
• 4:39
  Making it easy for employees, you know, not just the dealers, because they're often the ones executing on the front line, right?
• 4:45
  The dealer principal isn't, so the dealer principal might be like, "Yes, we need to do that." Absolutely. But then have some resources to educate the team as well.
• 4:51
  And you wanna have those open, you know, very accessible to everyone, so that anyone can sign up very easily for free. You, you know, we normally never charge for our webinars unless it's some special reason. Yeah.
• 5:01
  Um, one other thing we have, too, at NJCAR is we have a compliance group. So we actually have a compliance focus group that gets together at least twice a year. Who does that make up? Who makes that group up?
• 5:13
  So it's, it's, um, anyone who, from the dealership who, a compliance officer usually are the people who, who join or a CFO. Yep. They come and, uh, really have a round table, an all-day event.
• 5:24
  We just had one, I was, just spoke to it last week, twice a year at least, where, um, we have our educators there developing content to give them a whole day of focus on compliance.
• 5:36
  You know, so various speakers who are at the national level, uh, the local level, and then al- so the state, making sure you're within state compliance, but then also, um, vendors that can help make their lives easier.
• 5:47
  So this is something that NJCAR's been doing a long, long time.
• 5:51
  And the wonderful thing, we just had, when we had our event last week, we had about 20 people in the compliance group meeting, but the number of rooftops that they represented, there were some of our bigger dealer groups, was like 80.
• 6:03
  Oh, okay. So the ripple effect- Big, big effect... of these people who can- Yes... take the day and spend the day with us, learn what they can, take notes, but then go back and share it with every rooftop.
• 6:11
  And, and they're, they're all, like, connected and friends, too, across manufacturers and OEMs. So you really, you get that core critical mass of the 20 that represent 80. Yeah.
• 6:19
  And then when you start mapping out the connections, really you can get, get across your dealer body really quickly. Absolutely.
• 6:25
  And the folks who are involved in these groups really tout the benefit to their, their friends at other dealerships. Mm-hmm. So I imagine we'll, all we'll do is grow. [laughs] You know? Yeah, of course.
• 6:33
  So that's- I'm sure. No, I mean- Uh-huh...
• 6:34
  there, there's one thing that, um, always happens when something like this becomes, uh, you know, the topic of conversation is that I think you just have an opportunity to welcome more adoption- Yeah...
• 6:44
  into all the services you offer, and the push, you know, push and, like, propagate a lot of the narratives that you're trying to help, you know, whether it's the technician stuff we've talked about. Yes. Right?
• 6:52
  When people take a step closer, I love it because it means when everyone's closer together to one another, all the good ideas start to spread, not just the compliance ones. Absolutely, like our grassroots.
• 7:01
  You know, the more we can get our dealers- That's right... and their, their key employees in front of us, the more they tap into us from many different avenues.
• 7:08
  And the more we can tap into them when we are trying to get a piece of legislation passed or get a grant funded or whatever we need, you know? That's how it works. Yeah. [laughs] What a great industry.
• 7:16
  Lauren, thank you as always for being generous with your time and coming out to contribute to the conversation here. Thanks, Paul. Appreciate it.