It has been about 5 years since I worked as a controller in a dealership, and many things have changed in the auto industry since then. One thing I am surprised to see has not changed is the lack of designated compliance officers. We didn’t have one then, and most dealerships still don’t have one today.

Compliance officers can protect…

That feeling of dread – the letter arrives at the dealership with a return address from an attorney you don’t recognize, addressed to "Owner" or "General Manager." Inside is a demand letter indicating that your website or mobile application is inaccessible as required under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). You need to contact them right away to…

As ADA lawsuits become commonplace in the industry, FZA Digital releases a solution for auto dealers to combat this frustrating issue.

Lakeland, FL, October 22, 2019 – With the recent news that the supreme court is allowing  cases to move forward against retailers if their websites are not…

In this blog I’d like to talk a little bit about American with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility and your websites, quickly covering some emerging issues and simple corrective actions you can take.

If you are an auto dealer in Florida or New York, your website is likely under scrutiny by lawyers representing potential customers. They review…

With the fourth-quarter in sight, now’s the time to be planning for ways to end the year strong and insure you maximize your dollars and their effectiveness.  One way is to make sure you evaluate how you maximize OEM reimbursements and move more inventory.  Co-op funds can substantially improve a dealer’s ROI by reimbursing up to 50% of your marketing spend.   Think about…

It’s a sad fact that current recall repair compliance rates are so abysmal. Most dealers know it., the Feds know it, state governments know it, and the manufacturers know it. Resolving this recall crisis starts with a notification.  But, people simply don’t read recall notices, they discard them as junk mail.

For those that do read them, a second problem…

Life at a dealership is hectic. There are so many pieces moving simultaneously that it can seem as if you’re living in a real-life version of the classic video game “Frogger,” continuously ducking, dodging and weaving your way through the dealership -- just as everyone else is. Combine sales, service and customer activity, and that brings the risk to personal safety to a…

January 1 saw the enactment of Tennessee House Bill 141, to the collective groan of consumers. In a nutshell, this new law prevents consumers from suing car dealers if they purchase a used vehicle with an open safety recall, as long as it was disclosed, and the customer signed off on that…

Manufacturers hold dealerships accountable for customer satisfaction and the overall experience in both sales and…

Technology revolutionized the way people communicate. Every day we see new apps which improve how we interact with each other. However, in order to be used, all those apps need to comply with laws and regulations ordered by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), namely the 1991 Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA).…

Recall Masters’ Christopher Miller warns auto dealers they could be easy targets for aggressive plaintiffs’ lawyers; offers advice to keep them safe

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   So many trainers like to tell you when they started in the business, how great they were and how they single handedly saved a manufacturer from near ruin. Not my thing. I’m simply stating that I sold my first vehicle for a dealer in January of 1979 for the purpose of this article. What I’m sharing, I’ve participated in, witnessed or at least saw from a distance. In other words, I was there.

    As I got to be about 6 months into the sales end of the business, domestic dealers were…

We've all heard that expression, "The tail is wagging the dog." In retail, that usually means our sales staff is dictating management rather than the other way around. Usually, the fix occurs when new management or a new training process comes in and everyone gets to start on the same page. However, the decision to change process or change personnel is at the dealer level.

Lately, a much larger tail has been dominating the countryside and predicting the end times if we continue as we…

Vehicles can easily change hands multiple times over their lifetime. When a recall occurs, it then becomes increasingly difficult for manufacturers and dealerships to notify the current owners, which compounds the problem of low recall compliance. For many vehicle owners, it’s not that they don’t want the recall fixed, it’s simply that they don’t even know about the recall…

     As Director of Training, I am always paying attention to the needs of dealers to see if a simple suggestion or note would solve the problem, or if it’s a larger issue, a training program to change the current practice.  As it is with most things that involve change, I’m usually met with resistance.  “If it’s so important, why are you the first to tell us?”

     Sometimes, it’s because a new practice has emerged, but most of the time, I’ve discovered that I wasn’t the first…

by John Fuhrman – Director of Training, OptionSoft Technology

     Recently, I was visiting with a dealer and the recent rash of articles concerning compliance came up.  As I shared what I knew on the subject and the current climate concerning fines and penalties, the dealer sat back, smiled and said, “I’m good.  We use a menu.”

     Since I was there to train the F&I managers (there were seven), I thought I’d…