Dealer Business Journal June 2014 by Dealer Business Journal

What does the sub-prime market look like? We have the information you can use to compare your results with the rest of the industry. Page 20

ALSO INSIDE: Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s time for a refresher on your cash reporting procedures. Page 18

Asking the right questions can help you recover the right answers. Page 24 ...Your Success Is Our Business

June 2014 DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL | 1

RUNNING A BUSINESS AND KEEPING UP WITH NEW TECHNOLOGY ISN’T EASY. LET PAYMAXX PRO UPDATE YOU WITH THE NEWEST PAYMENT TECHNOLOGY: IVR | TEXT TO PAY | WEB PAY AND WE’LL SAVE YOU MONEY WHILE DOING IT. 877.527.5658 2 | DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL June 2014

DealerBusinessJournal.com

Contents Volume 11, Issue 6

IN EVERY ISSUE 4 6 8 36

rket ime ma n sub-pr es the informatio What do We have the your ? compare industry. look like use to the you can h the rest of wit s ult res Page 20

June 2014

DE:

INSI r on you refresher s. e for a ure It’s tim proced orting cash rep Page 18 estions qu ht right the rig Asking you recover the p can hel answers.

ALSO

Page 24

4 DEALER

June 201

CORNER OFFICE BHPH Boot Camp DEALER PROFILE INDUSTRY NEWS

L|1

S JOURNA

BUSINES

LEGAL & LEGISLATIVE

BUSINESS OPERATIONS

Legal Opinion

Business Basics 18 A Refresher on Cash Reporting and Form 8300 Have you stayed current with the cash reporting procedures required by the IRS? It may be time to review and reevaluate how you are doing.

Stop Loss 30 Are You Prepared for a Natural Disaster? Hurricane season is here. Time to get a plan and be ready for whatever Mother Nature brings your way. By John Krivacsy

10 Sic the Cops on Your Customers? Maybe Not It’s tempting to call the police when in a squabble with your customer, but it could be the wrong move.

By Tom Hudson

General Counsel 12 Ten Elements of a Good Offer Letter Writing an offer letter when hiring employees can help spell out expectations and avoid miscommunication.

By Debra Dawn

LEADERSHIP & TRAINING Learn to Lead 14 You Can’t Make People What They’re Not! You can train staff to learn new skills, but there are some things that just can’t be taught. By Dave Anderson

ess ...Your Succ

ness Is Our Busi

By David Wiggins

Skip Tracing 24 Ask and You Shall Receive Get more value out of your conversations by asking four key types of questions. By Alex Price Gender Gap 28 Can Women Drive the Future of the Auto Industry? Though still a maledominated industry, more and more women are finding their way into key positions. By Dani Sherrod

ReInsurance 32 If the Car Performs, the Loan Performs! Make good on customer expectations and the cash flow will follow.

By Tim Byrd

BUSINESS OPERATIONS Female Perspective 34 Oh How She Loves Her Mobile Device Smart mobile marketing tips to reach more women shoppers.

By Jodi DeVere

Developing Talent 16 Is Your Team Ready for the Major Leagues? Take notes from successful teams and score more profits. By Rick Resinger ...Your Success Is Our Business

June 2014 DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL | 3

LEEDOM GROUP

Corner Office The Days of Summer are Upon Us

dealer BusinesS JOurnal

A L e e d o m G r o u p P u b l i c at i o n

Dealer Business Journal 3700 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, FL 34239 Ph: 800.966.8733 | Fax: 941.371.2874 Executive Publisher

Christopher M. Leedom | chris@twentygroups.com

t is hard to believe 2014 is nearly half way complete. By the time you read this we will be approaching that point of the year where you should be at least 50 percent completed with respect to your annual goals for your dealership. This issue is packed with thought provoking information to help you look at your accomplishments and opportunities, and assess what “halftime” changes you need to make for the second part of 2014. While the media is full of stories as to why the economy is so good right now (the stock market at or near all time high levels, lots of positive stories in the press, etc) many of our dealers are finding it slightly more challenging. I just met with a Twenty Group and several of the dealers in the room are struggling to stay profitable this year. I am not suggesting it is an industry trend but it sure was an area of concern for these owner operators that have seen margins shrink, expenses increase and losses starting to move upward. I mention this as a thought-starter for each and every dealer owner reading this column. No matter what your position this year with respect to performance, it is a great time to assess what is going on in your market and how you are staying ahead of the competition. If not, why not? Speaking of improving performance it is also time for the association conventions to start for the various states across the country. I know I will be at the FIADA convention later this year and I wanted to put a “plug” in here for you to consider attending your state association convention. These events are a great way to stay abreast of what is occurring in your state from a regulatory, operational and competitive standpoint. Many of the associations put on a first-class event that is informative and also enjoyable. Contact your state dealer association to find out when your event will be held and register. As dealers we all need to stay strong together. Finally, it is with great sadness that I mention a true loss for our industry. One of my long time good friends, Todd Smith of Dothan Motor Company, in Dothan, Alabama passed away unexpectedly on May 24th. Todd was a “dealer’s dealer” and will be missed by anyone who knew him. I had a chance to work with Todd for nearly twenty years as his Twenty Group moderator. At his service I was struck by how many people—literally thousands—he touched in a positive way. It serves as a reminder to all of us that first, life is very short, and secondly, do all that you can for those around you. We all will miss you Todd. Until next month, make it happen!

Associate Editor Buy Here-Pay Here

Chuck Bonanno | chuck@twentygroups.com Contributing Writers

Dave Anderson | dave@learntolead.com David Brotherton | davidb@leedomgroup.com Debra Dawn | debra@leedomgroup.com Tom Hudson | thudson@hudco.com Guest Columnists

FOR QUESTIONS REGARDING SUBSCRIPTIONS CALL 800.966.8733

or subscribe online at DealerBusinessJournal.com ADVERTISING INQUIRIES CALL 941.371.7999 OR SALES@DEALERBUSINESSJOURNAL.COM

DISCLAIMER: The information included in this publication is obtained from sources believed reliable and has been produced with reasonable care in production and editing. It is not intended to be legal, accounting, tax, technical or other professional advice. Readers are advised to consult a professional for application in their particular situation. Copyright 2013 Leedom and Associates, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Content may not be photocopied, reproduced or redistributed without written permission. Dealer Business Journal is a publication of Leedom and Associates, LLC. POSTMASTER: Send change of address form to Dealer Business Journal, 3700 S Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, FL 34239

Chris Leedom

Executive Publisher 4 | DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL June 2014

DealerBusinessJournal.com

Calendar AUGUST Aug. 5, 2014

Buy Here-Pay Here Leasing Academy

Sarasota, FL

Buy Here-Pay Here Sales Training Boot Camp

Atlanta, GA

Buy Here-Pay Here Manager’s Boot Camp

Atlanta, GA

Buy Here-Pay Here Collections Boot Camp

Atlanta, GA

For Buy Here - Pay Here Dealers, Managers and moderated by David Brotherton.

SEPTEMBER Sept. 2, 2014

Sept. 3, 2014

Sept. 4, 2014

For Buy Here - Pay Here Dealers, General Managers, Sales and Finance Managers and moderated by David Brotherton. For Buy Here - Pay Here Dealers, General Managers, Sales and Finance Managers and moderated by Chuck Bonanno. Collection Managers, Collectors and Buy Here - Pay Here Dealers and moderated by Chuck Bonanno.

DECEMBER Dec. 8-10, 2014 Credit and Collections Conference For Dealers Principals, General Managers, Collections Managers, Collectors, Skip Tracers

Dallas, TX

Find out more about these events and register to attend online at www.TwentyGroups.com and click on events.

SPARTAN FINANCIAL PARTNERS. BET TER THAN A BANK for BHPH.

Lines of Credit • Immediate Postitive Cash Flow • Capital for Replacement Inventory •Dealer Retains Servicing and Collections Spartan Line of Credit Clients Increase Their Portfolio an Average of 165% !

Bulk Purchases • More Cash Up Front • Quick Funding • No Seasoning Requirements

Honest, Straightforward Pricing…

No Waiting for Bonus Pools, No Performance Fees

Nationwide Lines of Credit and Bulk Purchasing for: Buy Here Pay Here | Indirect Lenders | Loan Originators | Credit Unions

Spartan-Partners.com ...Your Success Is Our Business

June 2014 DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL | 5

LEEDOM GROUP

BHPH Boot Camp

By David Brotherton

The Importance of Fighting Liquidation

ne of the most critical metrics for evaluating and measuring performance in BHPH/LHPH is whether you are growing or liquidating your active account base. If you stop and think about it, pretty much everything we do is either directly tied to improving that number or accounting for what we have done to improve it. In the simplest terms, growing our active account base means that we have to sell in excess of losses and liquidation. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, controlling losses and liquidation becomes more difficult due, in part, to today’s highly competitive sub-prime

and BHPH/LHPH environment making it difficult for us to retain customers. Today, it is far easier for a customer to purchase a new vehicle than to repair their existing one. We can’t blame all of this on sub-prime being aggressive either —we have done a lot of this to ourselves. Increased competition in the BHPH/LHPH segment has resulted in a dramatic shift in general underwriting principles toward a more egalitarian approach. When I started in this industry, we actually cared about our customer’s credit histories and didn’t hesitate to turn someone away who hadn’t demonstrated sufficient stability, ability and willingness to repay a debt. The proliferation of financing options since then has forced the entire industry to rethink that approach.

Maintaining or growing our active account base is a critical metric for our business. Every account represents positive cash flow and we have to keep that in the front of our thinking when working through situations with our customer base. Don’t be short-sighted.

6 | DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL June 2014

Today, we are far less concerned with credit history as an industry than what was common just five years ago. Fortunately, technological innovation has enabled us to keep pace with more risky underwriting. Unfortunately, our customer has so many options available to them that needing a car doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing as needing us any longer. I routinely see situations where paying customers want to trade their vehicle but we tell them “no” because their balance is still too high. They then proceed to surrender the vehicle anyway and go purchase another one at a dealer down the street. We then re-recondition that vehicle and put it back on the lot and proceed to pay the same overhead expenses and taxes to generate a new sale to replace the customer we just lost. In this scenario, we spent a lot of money, increased charge off and didn’t grow the active account base. Why would we not trade this customer instead? Now we have a chance for two paying customers by trading the first and maintaining goodwill and selling an entirely new customer the vehicle that we took in on trade and re-reconditioned. I know there are still expenses involved but the bottom line is that we now have two customers paying us $400 a month instead of one. We say no because we want customers to stay in their vehicles longer. That is understandable. In a perfect world, we’d never trade DealerBusinessJournal.com

anyone early. Such a perfect world no longer exists and this scenario highlights the impact of BHPH/ LHPH becoming a commodity: they need a car; just not necessarily ours. Scenario two involves repairs. Take that same paying customer described above but instead of a trade scenario, they have a major repair needed for their vehicle. We generously offer to split the cost of that major repair with the customer and only ask for $1,000 and the work will take about a week to complete. Are they going to give us that $1,000 (which they more than likely don’t have) to repair their vehicle or are they going to walk away and purchase another one for $500 down somewhere down the street? From our customer’s perspective, this is what is called a “no brainer.” They surrender the vehicle, we call it a repossession, and then proceed to fix the vehicle for the lot and call it reconditioning. We proceed to lose a paying customer, spend the money on the repairs anyway and then spend more to generate a sale to replace the customer we just lost. The attitude some dealers have on repairs is very telling to me. The same dealer will sell a car to almost anyone for whatever they have in their pocket today to create the active account but ask them to invest in keeping that account active after the sale and you’d think I had asked for one of their kidneys. As long as it is very often easier for a customer to get a new vehicle than it is to fix the old one as described above, we will continue to have issues with keeping our portfolio moving in the right direction. Maintaining or growing our active account base is a critical metric for our business. Every account represents positive cash flow and we have to keep that in the front of our thinking when working through situations with our customer base. Don’t be shortsighted. In a lot of cases, you are going to spend the money anyway. Why not have two paying customers instead of one? David Brotherton is a consultant and Twenty Group moderator with the Leedom Group Contact him at davidb@leedomgroup.com ...Your Success Is Our Business

Do you ever wonder your dealership’s performance and profitability stack up against the rest of the industry? Leedom and Associates, LLC has created an easy to use Dealership Profitability Profile to help you find out. Go online to www.twentygroups.com and click the Analyze Your Dealership button. By answering some quick questions we can provide some complimentary, initial feedback about your key performance indicators and identify potential opportunities for growth.

Get started with your free analysis by scanning this code with your mobile device. June 2014 DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL | 7

LEEDOM GROUP

Dealer Profile IN MEMOR I AM

Todd Smith Dothan Motor Company

Todd Smith of Dothan Motor Company in Dothan, Alabama receiving a national Dealer of the Year honor from Leedom Group.

Dothan, AL Twenty Group member since 1996

odd Smith had one mission in life: add significance to the lives of all people he came in contact with. That included his family, friends, business associates and customers. He saw his role as President of Dothan Motor Company as more than just a job, and as an opportunity to live his mission of helping others. The story of Dothan Motor Company stretches across three generations. It begins with Mr. J.O. Smith, an Army Air Corp veteran who served at Napier Field, Alabama during World War II. In 1946, he founded Dothan Motor Company and established it as the place for young cadets who came to Napier Field for training to buy a car. Even with a shortage of tires, spurred from the military’s high demand for rubber, J.O. Smith was able to build a growing business that survived the war and flourished after it was over. As the country transitioned from wartime to peace, Dothan Motor Company was set to help young families in the Dothan area in need of reliable transportation. In 1948, DMC opened General Finance Co. to provide loans to the public and created an affordable Buy HerePay Here option for its customers. The next wave of Smith’s, led by J.O.’s son Jim, took over the leadership at Dothan Motor Company and helped it grow during the 1980s to 1990s. During that time Jim’s brother, Dan, joined the team also. Todd, Dan’s son, was interested in working with Dothan Motor Company and in 1993 he and wife Lori moved from Montgomery to Dothan to pursue the family business. Todd started training in sales and began to learn the ins and outs of the dealership with focus on the company’s mission of adding significance to their customer’s lives. With a great sense of family

8 | DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL June 2014

heritage, Todd took the helm of the business and was promoted to President in 1997. His leadership grew the company from nine employees to more than 40, selling an average of 1,200 cars per year. In 2006, Dothan Motor Company was named the top Buy Here-Pay Here dealer in the nation by Leedom and Associates and was ranked 15th out of the top 50 independent retailers by Auto Dealer Monthly magazine in 2007. As President of Dothan Motor Company, Todd was a member of the first Leedom BHPH Twenty Group in 1996 known as First Twenty. Leedom Group CEO Chris Leedom has known Todd since then and has long respected him as a businessman and a person. “Todd is one of the most genuine, caring human beings I have ever met. His works speak for themselves and the world lost a great husband, father, business leader and all around incredible person. We will miss you Todd. Thanks for all the good times,” Leedom said. While Todd’s career accomplishments are highly respectable, he was most proud of the investments he made in his family and faith. Described as “a man of integrity who loved the Lord with all of his heart,” Todd spent his mornings in prayer and Bible study. He kept a note on his mirror that described his perfect day: “to look for opportunities to encourage people and point them to Jesus, connect with the kids, and be in communion with God all day long.” Todd loved his children, Victoria, Clarissa, Elliot and Harrison and protected and encouraged them. They remember him for giving them a vision for their future and sharing his faith with him. Todd and wife Lori were high school sweethearts and were married for 22 years. Todd passed away on May 24, 2014 at the age of 47. DealerBusinessJournal.com

...Your Success Is Our Business

June 2014 DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL | 9

LEGAL & LEGISLATIVE

Legal Opinion

By Tom Hudson

Sic the Cops on Your Customer? Maybe Not

ne dark and stormy night, a car thief cuts the chain at the front of your lot and makes off with a late-model Escalade. You call the cops right away and they locate the car and arrest the bad guy. Crime and punishment, plain and simple. Except when it isn’t. When a business has engaged in negotiations or has entered into a contract with a consumer and the business deal goes south, causing a loss, the business is tempted to call the cops. That might not be the best idea. Here’s why. Alma Johnson went to Kramor of Plaquemine, LLC, d/b/a Supreme Cadillac of Plaquemine, to buy a car. The salesman handling the transaction was David Montoya.

Johnson signed the sales documents, paid a down payment, received the keys, and left with the car, believing the car to be hers. Montoya stated that Johnson knew she needed to pay off her existing car financing before credit would be extended for the new car. Johnson returned to Supreme Cadillac on multiple occasions and made the first payment without issue. Roughly a month and a half after her purchase, Johnson inquired about a license plate and was told she needed to return the car, but she did not. Montoya contacted the police, and the police contacted Johnson and told her to return the vehicle within two hours. Johnson failed to return the car and was arrested after she returned home from work. Johnson spent roughly 16 hours at the police station and the prison, before she was given a court date and released. The charges were later dropped.

Johnson sued Supreme Cadillac, alleging false imprisonment and seeking reimbursement for the down payment and the first payment on the car. The trial court found for Johnson and awarded $15,000 in general damages and $600 for the payments she made. Supreme Cadillac appealed. The Court of Appeals of Louisiana affirmed. Supreme Cadillac relied on Patin v. Duplessis Pontiac-Buick-GMC Trucks, Inc., 632 So.2d 790 (La. App. 1993), which found that a six hour incarceration should result in a maximum $4,500 damage award. The appellate court found that Johnson’s 16 hours at the police station and subsequent fear of missing the court date, even though the case was dismissed before the court date, was enough to conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in setting the damages award. So, the next time you get into a squabble with a customer and you are tempted to reach for the phone to call the fuzz, call your lawyer first. Johnson v. Montoya, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 1149 (La. App. May 2, 2014)

Tom Hudson, Esq. (tbhudson@hudco. com) is the author of several compliancerelated books that are available online at www.counselorlibrary.com. He is also the publisher of Spot Delivery®, a monthly legal newsletter for auto dealers, and the Editor in Chief of CARLAW®. Reach him by phone at (410) 865-5411 or visit www. counselorlibrary.com. 10 | DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL June 2014

DealerBusinessJournal.com

...Your Success Is Our Business

June 2014 DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL | 11

LEGAL & LEGISLATIVE

General Counsel

By Debra Dawn

Ten Elements of a Good Offer Letter

o be honest, I know of very few BHPH automobile dealers who actually send out offer letters except, occasionally, for upper level managerial personnel. However, these documents can be crucially important in setting forth the terms and conditions of employment for everyone at every level. This can protect your dealership in the event there is any type of employment dispute. The elements of a good offer letter are as follows Job Title/Job Description: It is important at the onset to establish exactly what the employee is going

and what, if any, positions report to him or her. Compensation: This paragraph should list the hourly wage by hour or a salary by pay period. If you set forth an annual amount, it could ostensibly be viewed by a plaintiff ’s attorney as a promise of employment for that period ($50,000 per year). A statement should also be made regarding deductions for taxes and other withholdings as required by law or by the policies of the company— think social security and deductions for medical insurance. Finally, for those employees who are incentivized, the entire bonus plan must be attached to the Offer Letter. This includes methods of calculation and timing of payouts. I cannot tell you how many employment disputes start with a misunderstanding about

Though very few BHPH dealers use them, offer letters can protect your dealership in the event there is any type of employment dispute. Taking the time to generate one at the start of employment can save you time and money in the end. to do. There is a difference between an executive assistant, for example and a title clerk. One is generally exempt from overtime, the other is not. You should also take this opportunity to establish a clear chain of command by setting forth to whom the employee is to report 12 | DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL June 2014

commissions. In addition the FLSA requires regular bonuses to be included in overtime calculations. Contingencies: An Offer Letter should always state that the offer is contingent upon the dealership receiving an acceptable background

check to include references, criminal convictions, confirmation of identification information, driver’s license history and personal references. Too often, dealerships will hire someone on the spot and discover 24 hours later that there is a serious problem with the individual hired. Introductory Period: There should be a standard 90 day introductory period set forth in the Offer Letter in order to determine whether the employee is a good fit. Benefits: The types of benefits your dealership offers as well as any waiting period for them should be explained. This includes vacation time/PTO, medical/dental insurance, sick days and holidays. Setting forth these benefits in writing at the outset prevents later misunderstandings. Employment Form: Completion of these forms is a federal government requirement. Failure of the employee to provide the information will result in liability for you as employer. Consequently, you must inform the employee that he or she must bring proof that he or she is presently eligible to work in the United States for I-9 purposes. Appropriate documentation, which includes two forms of identification, is required within three days of hire in accordance with the terms of the Immigration Reform and Control Act. Documents must be originals, not photocopies. DealerBusinessJournal.com

Non-solicitation/Non-compete: An Offer Letter can introduce an employee to prohibitions against entering into agreements or working for competing entities. There should also be a provision preventing solicitation of other employees, customers or venders. Non-disclosure: All employees are privy to some type of company confidential information. For those of you who regularly read my column, I am a staunch advocate of having all employees sign detailed NDAs to protect confidential information which runs the gamut from customer lists to pricing algorithms to bonus plans. Here, a quick reminder that a prospective employee is required to protect confidential and/or trade secret information is warranted. Employee Warranty and Indemnification: In today’s day and age, many employees may be

Countersignature: The Offer Letter should be countersigned by the employee. This is important in that it binds the employee to its terms. It is also crucial because you do not want the Offer Letter to be construed as a contract of employment. Therefore, you should state, at a minimum that: (a) The provisions of this offer of employment have been read and are accepted; and (b) The employee understands and agrees that the employment relationship is at-will and no contract of employment exists between the parties.

covered by the aforementioned non-solicitation, non-competition and non-disclosure agreements. Unfortunately, you will have no idea whether or not one is in effect when you hire someone. This is especially true for upper level employees. Consequently, there should be a statement in the Offer Letter to the effect that, “You warrant that your employment with Company does not violate any restrictive covenant in any agreement to which you are a direct or indirect party. You further agree to defend and indemnify Company, its employees, officers, directors and agents from any and all losses, claims, damages, liabilities and related expenses, including reasonable counsel fees, expenses, charges and disbursements, at trial and appellate level arising out of your hiring and employment.” It is likely that the indemnification will be financially worthless. However, the representation is invaluable from a liability perspective.

Taking the time to generate an Offer Letter at the commencement of employment can save you time and money at its termination. Debra Dawn is Leedom Group’s General Counsel and Compliance Director Debra Dawn has formed AUTOLAW Group to assist dealers in all facets of dealership compliance. debra@leedomgroup.com

Occasionally a new product, service or method comes across our desk that we feel may help your dealership’s bottom line. We share these idea’s with our email subscribers as well as post them on the DBJ web site for all of our readers to see. Check it out today to see how your dealership can benefit.

DealerBusinessJournal.com/netgain.php ...Your Success Is Our Business

June 2014 DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL | 13

LEADERSHIP & TRAINING

Learn to Lead

By Dave Anderson

You Can’t Make People What They’re Not!

ne of the most helpful lessons I’ve learned, applied and taught clients concerning developing others is this: I can help make you more of what you are, but I can’t make you something you’re not. There are key and critical success factors you cannot change about others; nor can you teach them to others. If you have people on your team lacking these traits the time, training, and motivational efforts you invest in them will bring little or no return. Thus, it’s essential that you hire people who bring these assets to the table. This article will outline six such traits to look for when hiring someone into your organization. They are also a useful template to assess the growth potential of those already cashing your paychecks. First, the good news. There are two key things you can teach others: skills and knowledge. In fact, the definition of teach is “to impart a skill or knowledge.” You can teach technical skills, closing skills, knowledge of a product or system and the like. Now, the not-so-good-news. The following six traits are factors you cannot change about someone, put inside someone, or even effectively teach to someone. To maximize performance these traits must be hired in and then developed with consistent coaching, and within a strong culture.

14 | DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL June 2014

Talent. Defined as: A special or natural ability or aptitude. The hard truth is that, regardless how hard you try, you can’t teach talent; you must hire it in and develop it. In fact, you can’t make yourself talented either, which is why anyone wanting to excel must purse the talents they have, not the talents they want. Without question, everyone has a talent for something; what’s essential is that an employee has a talent for what you’re paying him or her to do. While it’s also true that talent is never a guarantee of performance, it does provide a great head start towards excellence. In fact, excellence is impossible without talent. This is why training an untalented person longer, harder, and faster won’t make them great in a position where they have no natural ability or aptitude; the best you can hope is to make them less bad. Not very inspiring, to say the least. Drive. Defined as: An innate, biologically determined urge to attain a goal or satisfy a need. You can’t teach what’s innate, nor can you “make” anyone driven. Drive is an inside job. In fact, drive is like talent, in that you cannot put inside of someone what’s not there, you can only draw out what exists. You may certainly be able to temporarily change someone’s drive level with a deadline, incentive or threat; but without genuine internal drive, as soon as the external stimuli disappears so does the drive.

Attitude: Defined as: A settled way of thinking or feeling about someone or something reflected in one’s behavior. Most would admit it’s hard enough to change your own “settled way of thinking” and thus, the chances of changing someone else’s prevailing outlook on life are remote. Of course, you can temporarily change someone else’s mood based on how you treat them, but their natural attitude—good or bad—will eventually wiggle its way back out. At the end of the day, each of us is responsible for choosing our own attitude. While we can’t choose what happens to us, we do have the power to choose how we respond; and negative, “can’t do” people have a long history of making the wrong choices in this regard. Can someone change? Yes! Can you change them? No way! Character: Defined as: The aggregate of moral and ethical traits that form the individual nature of a person. Chances are good that we’ve all tried to influence someone’s character with a good example, words of wisdom or a diatribe on ethics. But despite heroic efforts, we mortal beings remain incapable of changing the individual nature of another human being. Again, the question is, can they change? Yes! Can you change them? The answer remains, absolutely not! Much like attitude, character results from the choices people make and the values they embrace; you can’t make those choices for them. When you peel character back to the core, it becomes clear that DealerBusinessJournal.com

many character flaws are rooted in the desire for instant gratification; shortcuts that take one away from pain and into pleasure without consideration of the consequences. Highly talented people often fall into the trap of making poor decisions, reinforcing the principle that character protects talent. Energy: Defined as: The strength and vitality required for sustained physical or mental activity. Some folks have strong internal drive and start the day with a flash, but run out of gas by mid-afternoon, or become overwhelmed when required to demonstrate the mental vitality to juggle multiple tasks simultaneously. You, nor I, can teach anyone the strength and vitality required for sustained physical and mental activity. While drive, like energy, can be affected by external forces, it isn’t sustainable through such means. Passion. Defined as: A strong feeling of excitement or enthusiasm for something, or about doing something. Neither drive nor energy compensates for a lack of passion. Many people have high drive and energy levels, but lack excitement or enthusiasm for what they do. As a result, they often feel frustrated and misemployed. Passion, like drive, can lie dormant in someone and may be aroused by a compelling vision, need, or cause. You can stir it up, but can’t force it down. ...Your Success Is Our Business

A leader’s obligation is to create the conditions to arouse passion in others through meaningful work and with a compelling purpose. However, pep talks and positive reinforcement doesn’t substitute for the internal passion someone must have to sustainably excel, through the many ups and downs, in a particular position. When all is said and done, you cannot make anyone passionate about what they’re doing. The most effective way to assess whether or not a potential employee has these six traits is during the interview. Rigorous, in-depth

interviews, anchored in highly effective questions, will help uncover the existence—or lack—of these traits within someone. After all, when you dig into a job candidate’s life these six factors will either show up or not; success leaves clues and so does failure. And while you can’t expect to find perfect people— anyone can get off track from time to time—the “off track” tendencies must, by far, be the exception rather than the rule. The same reasoning applies when you’re evaluating those currently on your team for future performance potential. Knowing that you’ll have a limited ability to impact any current team members without these six traits, you should be able to more accurately assess their ability to contribute to your organization in the future. Bottom line: Your life and business gets easier when you really, really, REALLY get the fact that some people won’t change no matter what you do. Dave Anderson is President of LearnToLead which provides in-person and virtual training to many of the world’s best dealerships. Dave speaks to dealer groups over 125 times each year and has given seminars in 15 countries. He has spoken at eleven NADA Conventions and is the author of twelve books. Follow Dave on Twitter @DaveAnderson100 and visit his website at learntolead.com for free articles and videos on sales and leadership. June 2014 DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL | 15

LEADERSHIP & TRAINING

Developing Talent

By Rick Resinger

Is Your Team Ready for the Major Leagues?

ow can you build a winning team like the World Champion Boston Red Sox who in just one season went from last to first and won last year’s Fall Classic? There are several things that we can learn from winning programs like Boston and that is that you need to develop your team, organization or business from the inside out by constant focused recruiting and drafting of top talent, structured training and development of that talent, developing a career path for the top achievers and promoting from within. The final step in building a major league team is taking care of your people so that they aren’t looking at the proverbial “greener pastures.” First Round Draft Picks Great programs are constantly scouting for the best people; the best time to recruit, interview and hire is before you need someone. Great teams prepare for life events. People, most of the time, don’t quit an organization because they are disenfranchised with the company but they quit because “life” happened. It has been my experience that divorce, marriage, births, sickness and deaths attribute more to career changes than because team members are unhappy with their positions. Since “life” is beyond our control as leaders we have to make sure that we have a good supply of

16 | DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL June 2014

players on the bench ready to go in case we have a starter go down. But, in order to have that supply of people you have to be on the lookout every day. You can’t just place an ad in the local newspaper and hope that the next David Ortiz walks into your showroom ready to knock it out of the park when you need a new player. Recruiting has to be a constant focused program performed by every member on the leadership team. You have to be proactive and contact and encourage the top performers who are already working to join your team. Talent Development Having conducted hundreds maybe even a thousand interviews one of the most common comments that I hear from prospective employees is that they want to be part of an organization that is going to challenge them and allow them the opportunity to grow. In other words they are saying please train me and coach me on how to succeed in your business. When you bring new people into your business it is necessary that you make sure they are on board with all the skills, habits and attitudes that they will need to perform their positions at a high level. The initial training needs to be such that the “green peas”

feel comfortable and confident in their new roles. They also have to know that they have the support of leadership and that they are part of a team and not a solo act. But once out of “boot camp” there needs to be daily coaching and training to maintain that initial enthusiasm and to guarantee continual improvement. You have to view training as an investment in your people and not as an expense that can be cut or eliminated when things are going good or when there may be a down turn in the business. As Zig Ziglar said “What’s worse training your people and having them leave or not training them and having them stay?” Promote from Within If you want to keep your top talent you have to show them that there is a career path within your organization. Does your business have a history of promoting your top performers into leadership positions

DealerBusinessJournal.com

or do you take the attitude that you can’t afford to lose them on your floor? If you are constantly recruiting you have players on the bench and this is a worry that you don’t have to deal with. But keep in mind if you have a top performer and you don’t promote them you are in danger of having your competition promote them and now you don’t have them on your team and worse they are now on someone else’s team. It’s Personal not Business Remember that the members of your team are people first

...Your Success Is Our Business

and employees second. You are dealing with people who have fears, frustrations, dreams and families and everything that happens at home affects how they perform at work and everything that happens at work affects what happens at home. Before our team will listen to us as leaders they first need to know how much we care. We can show them we care by first listening not to be understood, but to understand. We can show them how much we care by holding them accountable to our expectations of them as a member of the team. Finally we can show them how much

we care by setting that example of what we expect them to perform like; if you’re going to talk the talk, be prepared to walk the walk. Rick Resinger is the Director of Training and Recruiting for the Champion Auto Group a family owned dealership group consisting of six dealerships in southeastern Michigan. Rick has been selling cars since 1988 and has been in management for 24 of those 26 years. He can be reached at rresinger@ champion-chev.com or follow his blog at rickresinger.wordpress.com

June 2014 DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL | 17

BUSINESS OPERATIONS

Business Basics

By David Wiggins

A Refresher on Cash Reporting and Form 8300

any of you have probably gone through a Form 8300 examination five to 10 years ago and haven’t heard from the IRS in several years. These audits have ticked up recently. These examinations are focusing on new, used and Buy Here-Pay Here dealerships. Form 8300, Report of Cash Payments Over $10,000 Received in a Trade or Business, is required to be filed by any trade or business that receives more than $10,000 in cash, (or cash equivalents such as a cashiers check of less than $10,000, money orders, etc.) in one transaction or two or more related transactions. The minimum penalty of $25,000 may be imposed for intentional or willful disregard of the reporting requirements. The law provides that dealers may not work to structure vehicle or other transactions to avoid such reporting. Violations of the reporting requirements may also subject an individual or business to criminal prosecution and/or penalties of up to $250,000 for individuals or $500,000 for the business. Past Form 8300 Preparation Many dealerships trained employees and implemented programs to identify Form 8300 filing requirements when the

18 | DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL June 2014

laws were implemented about fifteen years ago. Unfortunately as employee turnover has occurred, many dealerships have experienced transition that has lead to dealerships currently overlooking filing requirements. We are seeing audits of dealerships that were “clean” in the past, and are now resulting in missed filings. Agents are being more aggressive in pursuing penalties, based on past audits that have been conducted.

may be “structuring” dealership transactions to avoid cash reporting. “Structuring” is strictly prohibited and carries the significant penalties mentioned above. “Structuring” generally will involve sales people, F&I managers or other management discussing the Form 8300 filing requirements with customers and assisting them to structure a transaction to reduce the cash or equivalents below the $10,000 threshold.

Actions You Should Take We suggest you ask your accounting manager or other responsible party to pull the Forms 8300 you have filed in the past three years. This will immediately let you know if any have been filed. If not, you should review the past three years’ cash reporting activity with your team. If you have been filing these forms, you should determine if your procedures are up to date and if you are indeed making the proper filings. Should you have several dealership locations, we would suggest that you also monitor the number and frequency of 8300 filings by your various differing dealership locations. Often we find that several locations will be filing a number of 8300’s each year, but one or two locations have filed none. This frequently indicates that one or two dealerships may not understand the filing requirements or, in a worst case situation, may indicate that you have employees that

Buy Here Pay Here Buy Here Pay Here (BHPH) dealers frequently believe they do not sell cars for cash, and therefore are not subject to the cash reporting requirements. This is not true. If a BHPH dealer sells a car, and the cash down payment and cash (or equivalent) payments exceed $10,000 for the upcoming rolling year, then a Form 8300 should be filed. Although this will not occur frequently it is very common that some transactions do occur. For dealers that have Related Finance Companies (RFCs), the rules seem to indicate that cash reporting is measured by each company, but does not have to be determined by adding cash receipts of both companies together. Thus if the dealership receives a $3,000 cash downpayment, sells the note to the RFC, and the RFC collects $8,000 in cash payments through the year, this should not require filing. Should a dealership have such transactions, it may want to err on DealerBusinessJournal.com

Phone: 888.874.7579

the safe side and file a Form 8300 any way as there are no penalties for filing when it is not required. Customers Not Wanting to Provide SSN With the number of reported security breaches that have occurred in the past several years (Target, Schnucks, etc.), many dealerships are finding that their “cash customers” are reluctant to provide social security numbers (SSNs) when purchasing a vehicle. In fact, some customers are paying cash so that they do not have to provide a SSN. Although these customers do not want to provide social security numbers, the law requires they do so. After having prepared the vehicle sale paperwork, and receipted the down payments including cash, you should inform the customer of the need to provide a SSN and file a Form 8300. You may want to inform the customer that all dealerships must follow this process and if they do not provide this information the form will have to be filed indicating that the customer “REFUSED” to provide the information. Such refusals are actually viewed as more suspicious than a normally filed form. In Summary You should use this time to review your current Form 8300 policies, procedures and training to bring them up to date before your next exam by the IRS. If properly handled, Form 8300 filings can be easily completed and do not result in further review by the IRS of your dealership or your customers. These forms are considered routine and normal, and unlike many suspect do not provide alarm when filed with the IRS. Don’t forget that a notice that a Form 8300 was filed must be provided to your customers by January 31st, or sooner, of the following year. You, the dealership are also required to keep a file of the Forms 8300 filed, and notice provided to your customer, for five years after filing. Dave Wiggins is an automotive CPA with CliftonLarsonAllen and has expert knowledge of the inner-workings of both retail and Buy Here-Pay Here operations. ...Your Success Is Our Business

Specialists in Specialists in Sub-Prime Sub-Prime g

We Buy the Customer and Their Story, NOT Their Beacon! We Buy With YOU Making a Profit We Buy Open Bankruptcies (7&13!) We Buy the First Time Buyer We Buy Deeper Than Our Competition!

“WITHOUT QUALITY, PERFORMANCE AND SERVICE ... IT’S NOT A GOOD DEAL” CURRENTLY LICENSED IN: IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, NE, OH, PA, and WI

CHECK OU OUR ALL T NEW WEBSITE!

WWW.SECURITYAL.COM

Continued on Page 20.

June 2014 DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL | 19

COVER STORY

hat is the most beautiful landscape you have ever seen? Maybe it’s the view of the snowcapped Appalachians from a turn-out on the Blue Ridge Parkway. How about standing in the shadows of the earthy, orange greatness of the Grand Canyon? Is it standing on a flat, white beach watching a brilliant, bright sun as it extinguishes itself into a sparkling blue-green sea? The beauty of all of these scenes is in, as they say, the eye of the beholder. To be able to get to the place where you can appreciate their greatness usually takes preparation, planning and proper tools. You need a well-used map with a highlighted route. The right set of tires on the appropriate type of vehicle and comfortable clothes that match the needs of the climate. Without these essentials you cannot explore the environment like you want to and you could quickly find yourself in a precarious position. Understanding the landscape of the financing world is very similar. Heading into it with no vision or little planning can be dangerous and unprepared explorers will miss the beauty of the potential opportunities that may be all around them. The sub-prime financing market is very cyclical. Talk to the veterans and you will hear that there really is nothing new under the sun. The key is being able to know where you are entering the cycle and which way it is headed.

20 | DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL June 2014

Recently, the National Automotive Finance Association measured the current state of the financial landscape with an annual survey of the non-prime market. Taking reports from 22 of its members, which included small, medium and large class finance companies that represent more than 1.2 million accounts, statistical data from Experian Automotive and additional information on belowprime consumer behavior from FactorTrust, the survey gives a good overview of the state of the market for 2013, and when compared to year’s past, is a good marker of where the industry is and where it is going. The sub-prime segment has seen three years of consecutive growth, however there are current factors suggesting the upward cycle may be evening out and preparing for a downward turn. However, not all companies reported weaker risk ratios and some managed to maintain or improve their profitability. As with all industries, consistency in the basics, such as risk management and underwriting, continues to be the key signs of success. “It’s still a very competitive marketplace,” said NAF Association Executive Director Jack Tracey. “There are things that indicate the cycle is moving downward such as extending terms and reducing Continued on Page 22 DealerBusinessJournal.com

...Your Success Is Our Business

June 2014 DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL | 21

FINANCIAL LANDSCAPE continued from Page 20

the market was acting more aggressively than in the previous year. The percentage of those that felt the competition was “much more aggressive” fell however from 65 percent in 2012 to 32 percent in 2013. Higher risk. The market continues to grow, but not without signs of higher risk such as trends in deteriorating quality of credit scores, financed amounts, loanto-value, payment-to-income, monthly payment, contract terms, delinquencies, repossessions and charge-offs. For a detailed look, see the illustrations below. Reduced profits. The NAF survey group still posted a stable profit level in 2013, but did report a year over year decline of 14 percent. The good news is that while two-thirds of the participants faced a decline in profits only a very small percentage posted actual losses. Understanding the state of the industry can help dealers as they build relationships with

underwriting restrictions.” Among the top of the trend list: Continued growth. After increases of 1 percent in 2011 and 10 percent in 2012, the portfolio values increased by another 14 percent in 2014 marking the third consecutive year of growth, with 2013 year-end data from Experian Automotive reaching levels near those of 2008. The NAF Association survey group showed similar growth of 10 percent. Captives increase share. Captive finance companies, subsidiaries with the purpose of providing financing to customers buying the parent company’s product, saw their market share grow from 11 percent in 2012 to 14 percent in 2013. This was at the expense of banks (now at 31 percent) and Buy Here-Pay Here operations (13 percent), according to Experian Automotive. Competition slowing. A majority of the NAF survey group, 91 percent, said they felt

lenders and/or seek their own independent financing options. When working with lenders, Tracey suggests smart dealers will take the initiative to start a conversation with lenders asking for input on what their portfolio should look like. Approach it like a report card, and ask for feedback on performance and areas to improve. This type of relationship-building can help dealers in the long run. “When the market turns down, and financing sources are more restrictive, lenders are going to stay with the dealers they have been successful with. Reaching out to finance companies and trying to meet their standards, will go a long way with them,” Tracey said. Editor’s Note: You can read the entire “Annual Non-Prime Auto Financing Survey” at the NAF Association’s webpage at www.nafassociation.com.

A Closer Look at the Risk: One of the trends uncovered in the NAF Annual Non-Prime Auto Financing Survey was the move toward higher risk. Declines in areas such as credit score, payment to income and loan to value data may be telling.

Average Credit Score -0.1% 554.4 554.0

-0.2%

Weighted Average Payment-to-Income 2012-2013 20%

149.1% 146.8% 146.2% 141.7% 141.4% 138.5% 138.4% 137.8% 137.6%

+0.8

537.6 536.6

2012 2013

New Vehicles

Used Vehicles

Source: NAF Association survey, BenchMark Consulting analysis. The Average Credit Score has been calculated as the simple average of all participants’ weighted average scores, which are based on the individual dollar weighted scores excluding any originations that had a null credit score.

22 | DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL June 2014

2011 2012 2013

137.2% 134.5% 133.6%

10%

2012 2013

Average Loan to Value Score Range - Used

Avg. all 2013: 12.57%

2012: 12.46%

The Weighted Average Payment-to-Income ration increased slightly to 12.46% in 2012 to 12.56% in 2013. The columns represent the performance in 2013 for the individual participants, the shaded area the value for the same ratio of the same participant in 2012.

300-549

550-619 620-679

Used vehicle LTV shows a slightly lower upward trend, up from 138.4% in 2012 to 141.4% in 2013. The level of increase was consistent across all below-prime score bands. After a modest increase in 2012 the LTVs rose significantly in 2013 as illustrated by the three year trend from 2011 to 2013.

DealerBusinessJournal.com

...Your Success Is Our Business

June 2014 DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL | 23

BUSINESS OPERATIONS

Skip Tracing

By Alex Price

Ask and You Shall Receive

atthew, Chapter 7, Verses 7 and 8 in the King James Version of the Bible, read: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” “Watch your tone!” It’s a familiar tableau played out between patient mothers and equally impatient toddlers everywhere around the world as the little ones among us learn how to communicate in a world where human instinct craves instant satisfaction, and yet patience and tact are more often rewarded. We usually learn to master the tone of our voice as we grow older, yet too often we allow emotions to govern the tone and the words that

simply asking the right question at the right time. To expand your understanding of communication, consider the possibility that what is truly being said comes not only in the form of the words, but also in the tone of the words, and in the body language accompanying the dialogue. If you really want to read between the lines, establish a basic understanding of the person you’re having the conversation with, be aware of their agenda and their emotional state at the time of the conversation to evaluate what is actually being communicated. Over the past year or more I have placed a great deal of time and resources into the study of human nature and how to apply these traits and characteristics to the trade craft of skip-tracing. One of my all-time favorite speakers during this endeavor has been Joe Navarro, who has authored several books on body language. His latest book, Louder Than Words: Take Your Career from Average to Exceptional with the Hidden Power of Nonverbal Intelligence There are four key types of is packed with valuable questions that you should information. include in your interviews During a to get the most value from conversation with Mr. Navarro, I explained conversational opportunities to him that as a skipwhenever they may occur. tracer, it is very rare that I ever come face-to-face we use, without giving a thought to with the subject. I needed advice the strategy that could be employed on looking for non-verbal tells. As to deliver them. How many times always Joe was generous with his have you asked for something, only time and resources, and pointed to be disappointed with the end me in the right direction to learn result? The issue may center around more about detecting deception 24 | DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL June 2014

while employing the right question at the right time with the works of John R. Schafer, Ph.D who wrote Psychological Narrative Analysis. It is important to note up front that you cannot listen if you are doing all the talking, so Grandma was truly correct when she told you that silence is golden. Below I will go over four key types of questions with explanations that you should include in your interviews to get the most value from conversational opportunities whenever they may occur: BASELINE Start your conversations by asking questions you already know the answer to, such as “You’re Jane’s mother, Correct?,” and, “You live at 123 Main Street, Correct?” The reason is that you want to listen to how the person responds to your questions when there is no need for deception. You’re listening for the speed, tone, and verbiage of the responses. How long in between the question and the answer? When someone is being honest, they will react the same way each and every time. Don’t think that a longer pause than normal is always a clue to deception. At times it is simply a human’s way of searching the brain for a memory. Yet it could be a stall used to fabricate an answer. OPEN-ENDED An open-ended question is used to explore or gather information. For example: “How was your day?” “When was the last time you saw Debbie?” Continued on Page 26 DealerBusinessJournal.com

...Your Success Is Our Business

June 2014 DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL | 25

SKIP TRACING continued from Page 24

Dealer Business Journal is a publication you will find in the hands of over 20,000 dealer principals, general managers and dealership executives each month. It is a magazine read by the decision makers of the industry. Don’t miss out on an opportunity to connect with this educated, experienced group of professionals in one of our many media outlets:

Print Advertising

Online Newsletters

Web Presence

Social Networking

Email Marketing

For Advertising Information

sales@DealerBusinessJournal.com

800.966.8733 DealerBusinessJournal.com 26 | DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL June 2014

These questions require more than one word to answer. They will usually require a minimum of a sentence or more, and the more you get someone to engage in a conversation, the more information they will reveal. A great way to reply to any statement is, “Really? Tell me more.” People like to talk (and to be heard!). It is just human nature. We each have an instinctive need to feel needed, accepted and to experience human interaction. Just saying “Tell me more,” will open the floodgates, if it is communicated at the right moment. CLOSED-ENDED A closed-ended question cuts right to the heart of the matter. It requires a one-word answer, such as yes, no, guilty, innocent. Once you have gathered all the evidence you need, you can go with direct closed-ended questions such as, “Isn’t it true that you know exactly where Alex is?” When using this type of question you need to be careful not to be combative as that will shut your conversation down completely. Remember about using the right tone? You’re not looking for a slammed door in the face. BAIT QUESTIONS: A bait question gets the person to explain themselves or validate their actions. Here’s the scenario: I start off with an open-ended question, “When was the last time you saw Debbie?” Answer: “Oh gosh, it has been months.” Now the bait question: “Wow! Really? I’m a father, and I cannot imagine not talking to my little girl for that long. Have the two of you always been estranged?” It does not matter who you’re talking to;

no one can tolerate having their parenting skills, honesty, character or faith called into question. So the reply comes barreling out before thought gets in the way: “No, we have always been close, until she started dating that Johnny kid and hanging out with all his friends!” BINGO! JACKPOT: who is Johnny? Now say, “Really? Tell me more. What did he do to bring her down?” Now you’re there as a shoulder to cry on rather than the enemy! To review: Begin with baseline questions to establish an understanding of how your subject responds without the need for deception, noting the pace of the response, the words they use, the intensity of the tone. Just like a lie-detector (without the wires) you have a barometer to detect deception, and a way to better plan the next type of question to deploy. It’s important to note that most people do not like to be deceptive, having been raised to speak the truth. The body and brain are instinctively thrown into conflict as the non-verbal tells fight to be ‘heard’ over the words of deception that are not so easily spoken. For that reason it is sometimes more important to pay attention to the details and how someone says something, rather than what they actually said. Alex Price is a nationally-recognized expert on the Art of Skip Tracing. Currently he is the Executive Vice President for MasterFiles and author of Skip Tracers National Certification Program, The Florida Records Guide, The Military Installations Guide and blogger with over 25+ years of experience in skip-tracing, collections and public speaking. Contact alex.price@ masterfiles.com or call (972) 735-2353 for more information. DealerBusinessJournal.com

Dave Anderson’s 90-Day Online Hiring Certification Course!

Plan for a new generation of owners under the guidance of experienced professionals who understand your dealership.

A dealership-changing 16 hour course! Make it mandatory for all managers in your organization!

Call 818-735-9503 for enrollment information!

ENVISION THE FUTURE Audit

Tax

Outsourcing

Advisory

CLAconnect.com/dealerships

Dave Anderson

Fast Track Your Cash Sterling Credit Corporation is your key to turning in-house sales contracts into fast cash. Our seasoned understanding of the industry will help you generate a timely return. Our professional team of ﬁnance experts can create a program designed exclusively for you and your dealership. We’ll get you the cash quickly, treat your customers with respect and free you from the hassles of collections, all with a personal touch.

BENEFITS: • Minimize risk • Purchase inventory • Accelerate your proﬁts • Reduce collection responsibilities • Meet operating cost goals • Grow your business!

We can help get your cash ﬂow back on track. Call today!

Sterling Credit Corporation

Offering Point-of-Sale and Bulk Purchase Programs

...Your Success Is Our Business

June 2014 DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL | 27

BUSINESS OPERATIONS

Gender Gap

By Dani Sherrod

Can Women Drive the Future of the Auto Industry?

he Year is 2014, and the Good Ole Boys Club still stands strong in the Auto Industry. The limitations that this industry had set for women, is slowly going away with a significant amount of female influence coming from the top down, such as a rise in the amount of female engineers involved with safety, design and styling. This is a natural fit because of women’s natural instincts to nurture and heal. It is crucial that women not only use their brain but also their heart in making corporate decision, and sometimes that cocktail does not mix in the auto industry. Women hold only 13 percent of executive-level positions in the auto industry on the ground floor, inside the dealerships, according

Poor work-life balance was the top reason cited for such low numbers of women in upper echelons. A slower rate of promotion than that of male colleagues was the second most cited reason, says Janice Krupic, president of Paragon Leadership International, the Wixom, Mich., consulting firm that conducted the study. On the upside women made up just fewer than 21 percent of employees in car manufacturing in the United States, and 16 percent of executives and senior management on the manufacturing side, according to a 2010 Equal Opportunity Employment Commission report. Huge advances have been made by women in the manufacturing side of the auto world, a place where they can combine their brains and their heart and feel like they are making a real difference. Women engineers have made huge advances

Huge advances have been made by women in the manufacturing side of the auto world, a place where they can combine their brains and their heart and feel like they are making a real difference. to a study released in July by the Automotive Women’s Alliance Foundation. Four large automotive companies in the Detroit area were surveyed: American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc., Ford Motor Company, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. and Yazaki North America Inc. 28 | DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL June 2014

in the auto industry, especially with safety, and the world has never been notified. Below are some amazing examples of the huge strides made and the millions of lives impacted by these incredible women. Grace Lieblein started her career in a car assembly plant at the age of 18, and has been with GM for

36 years. She played a primary role in the creation of the amazing Buick Enclave in 2008. The car includes a dip in floor on the driver’s side for women wearing high heels. “When we were launching the Buick Enclave or the Chevrolet Traverse, we did a lot of connection with mommy bloggers because we saw them as some of our key customers,” Lieblein, states. Marcy Fisher, Michele Lubin Henney, Susan Lampinen, and Melanie Banker, are all responsible for the all-new Ford Mustang, from how the car sounds, how it feels when it drives, the fuel economy, if it’s comfortable for the driver and passengers and the like. Alicia Boler-Davis was the first General Motors plant manager to also lead a vehicle launch for the Chevrolet Sonic. Gay Kent, General Motors’ safety vice president, also found the safety field especially rewarding. She helped design an auto industry first with side air bags that deploy out of the driver’s seat above the center console to prevent injuries or deaths caused by contact with the car, or another head. At Chrysler, Chris Barman headed the team that designed the new Dodge Dart. Chrysler Group CEO Sergio Marchionne recently singled out vehicle line executive Barman, 41, for her work developing the Dodge Dart, which he called “tangible evidence of how women are helping to lead the new Chrysler.”* Rebecca Seiler and Jennifer Shaw helped develop some of Ford Motor’s advanced safety DealerBusinessJournal.com

technologies that prevent crashes. Shaw, 35, is the supervisor on an “active safety” team of 11, including two other women. She helped develop Ford features including the self-parking system that helps with parallel parking, technology that warns when a moving car is in your blind spot, and an alert that sounds when traffic is crossing behind a car backing up. Shaw also worked on Ford’s keyless entry and ignition,

something that solves the problem for people who don’t like having to dig for their keys. Her own mother, who carries a big purse, was one of the big beneficiaries. Auto manufactures have had no option but to let women drive the creation, safety and design of the new and improved vehicles, because women buy more than 50 percent of all new cars and influence 85 percent of all new-car purchases in the United States.

From the looks of our newest safety additions and creature comforts provided by the women engineers, the decision by manufactures to foster this move is really paying off! *Excerpts and statements about auto industry female pioneers, taken from Jayne O’Donnell, USA TODAY February 15, 2013 article “Female auto engineers make marks while outnumbered”

Dani Has been in the retail automotive Industry for 16 years and has been a National Sales and Marketing Executive with Showcase Publications, Inc. since May of 2011. She is well published in many Automotive Blogs and regarded as a consultant to cutting edge IT Companies and Dealer Groups. She can be reached at dani@autoshopper.com.

...Your Success Is Our Business

June 2014 DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL | 29

BUSINESS OPERATIONS

Stop Loss

By John Krivacsy

Are you Prepared for a Natural Disaster?

t has been almost two years since Super Storm Sandy devastated the coastline of the Eastern United States and now with hurricane season underway dealers should be preparing to be ready if Mother Nature should make another house call. Your business needs to be prepared to react quickly when a disaster happens. Almost 40 percent of businesses that experience a disaster never reopen. Almost 60 percent of employers admit that they have no emergency plan in place. Catastrophic storms and hurricanes can occur anywhere, at any time. Any person, place or thing can be affected. You must put a plan into action right now to avoid or minimize sustaining direct damage to your inventory, buildings, property and employees. If a disaster strikes, do you know what measures you need in place for your business to survive? Purchase Financial losses can be devastating to your business. You must have the proper types and amounts of insurance coverage to reduce the damages and increase the probability that your business will be able to recover after a hurricane or when any other disaster strikes. Review your insurance policy for disaster coverage every year at renewal time to determine if any coverage changes have been made

30 | DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL June 2014

to your policies especially to their exclusions. During your review, you and your agent should decide if you need to obtain any additional coverages. Is your policy coverage location sensitive? Make sure you have separate coverage for each of your locations. Insurance companies regularly assess their exposure to disasters and adjust available coverage by adding exclusions that may minimize types of covered properties, increase deductibles and reduce coverage limits to certain property. To avoid any additional restrictions, be sure that your inventory and building values are appropriate. This will prevent any coinsurance or reporting penalties. Plan After your insurance needs are covered, management must create a Workplace Disaster Plan. This plan is a well written document that details everything you must do to protect your business, inventory, property and employees as a whole, in the event of an emergency. It is paramount to your business’s survival and should include details about your recovery plan, showing how you will get back to business quickly. Your plan should be reviewed annually and formally updated. Submit your workplace disaster plan for review to the local authorities involved in evacuations. Include a description or map showing your property locations, protective materials and utility service shut-off points; instructions on how to properly shut off utilities and a contact list of hired contractors or volunteers to assist

in installing protective materials to prevent or minimize damage to your buildings and contents. Also, mostly all data and records for your business, employees, customers and inventory are computer based. It’s advisable your records, documented policies and procedures are backed up periodically and stored in a separate area away from the main business location. Professional advice may be needed to develop your plan. Your own insurance agent and/or insurance company can provide you with a loss-prevention expert who will give you suggestions specific to your dealership to reduce your losses after a hurricane or other disaster/emergency. Check your local government agencies; they will have more information based on the location of your business. Many organizations such as The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) www.cdc.gov; The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) www.fema.gov (Both state and federal); The American Red Cross www.redcross.org; and The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration www.noaa.gov all have excellent tools, resources and guidelines to help you develop a plan. However, don’t solely rely on non-profit, government agencies or other public organizations to be able to prepare or react as quickly as you may require. Practice Now that your business has the right insurance protection and a well-written disaster plan for business continuity, it’s time to train DealerBusinessJournal.com

your employees and notify your customers of your detailed plan. Ensure your program is effective. Outline everything you need to happen and who you want to do it; define the roles and responsibilities of your employees; make sure the program is followed. Develop a practice routine now; don’t wait until the last minute. Executing a first “run-through” of the plan after a hurricane or disaster has already occurred, limits its success. It’s imperative that you test your plan ahead of time to find any open issues or concerns. Do your employees respond quickly and accurately? Do they follow through with all the activities required? Accountability is a key component to make certain all aspects of the plan get carried out in a timely manner. Prepare Your vehicle inventory is a significant factor in continuing your business immediately after a hurricane; prepare a specific plan for protecting this property. For predictable wind and flood storms, detail an evacuation plan for all of your vehicles and other easily moveable inventory, to a safer location. Create a specific route and secure a specific storage location. Some insurance companies provide reimbursement costs in implementing such a plan. This prevents damage to both your vehicles and possibly to customer vehicles that are in your possession for service or repair. Protect Store materials on your premises ...Your Success Is Our Business

that are useful in disaster situations: such as; sandbags, plastic sheeting, plywood and various hand tools. Be pro-active and schedule inspections of your buildings and premises for potential problems. The integrity of your building’s roof and exterior walls should be checked for any deficiencies. Trim and maintain your trees and landscaping to avoid green waste build up in your gutters and storm drains: clear debris from gutters and downspouts so rain water runs away from your building. Any storm drains or drainage ditches adjacent to your property should also be inspected and any problems brought to the attention of the landowner. You may consider hail nets if you are located in an area prone to severe hail storms. Discuss this with your agent to determine if there is any financial benefit from installing these nets. Post Disaster Your written business continuity plan should include exact directives for returning to your business after a disaster occurs. Immediately contact your insurance agent/adjuster/ company to report your damage and obtain instructions. Remember, it is highly recommended not to begin the recovery process; cleaning and salvaging, without first letting your insurance adjuster analyze the disaster and the damage done. Hiring a professional to remove debris and any standing water is recommended. After debris clean up and it is safe for you to enter the premises, photograph damages to your buildings, contents and parking and storage area. Keep in mind that

after a disaster, your property may contain waste matter, chemicals and other debris. You should wear protective gloves and appropriate clothing to avoid any contamination or infection. Devising a 6-point disaster plan for your business continuity is essential for preparing, executing and recovering the aftermath of a hurricane. Purchase the right amount of insurance to avoid any unnecessary or additional financial losses; create a workplace disaster plan to educate and prepare your business and employees. Invest in stored materials to protect your property. Find alternative locations for your inventory. Above all, follow the instructions of your insurance agent for post-disaster clean up, repairs and salvage. These simple, yet effective points will carry you through hurricane season, and any other disaster, as smooth as possible.

John Krivacsy is a senior vice president and Claims and Loss Control Manager with Automotive Risk Management and Insurance Services, Inc., (ARM) based in Stockton, Calif. To reach Mr. Krivacsy, send an e-mail to jkrivacsy@armonline.com.

June 2014 DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL | 31 June 2014 DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL | 31

BUSINESS OPERATIONS

ReInsurance

By Tim Byrd

If the Car Performs, the Loan Performs!

ouldn’t it be nice if all your accounts paid on time? If there were no lapsed insurance notifications stacked up on your desk? If the tires on your tow truck dry rotted from lack of use? Well, there’s no such thing as Payment Guarantee Insurance. So, what can you as a BHPH dealer do to better your odds of maintaining the kind of relationship with your customers that will get those payments in on time? In order to solve this we must look at some of the universal problems all BHPH dealers face. One of the biggest that can put a halt to payment flow is mechanical failure. A universal truth in this business is “if the car performs, the loan

have one simple, basic desire: reliable transportation. If you are asking them to make 24 monthly payments, they expect the car to provide them with reliable transportation for 24 months. If the car does not perform to that expectation, then historically, that creates a problem resulting in a repo, a side note or goodwill. All of which usually end up costing you money. Another big problem is lapsed insurance. Studies indicate that nearly 50 percent of BHPH customers are uninsured. They begin by putting down an average of $300 for insurance and let it lapse within 90 days. How many man hours must you spend making collections calls for the insurance company so that your collateral is covered? Lapsed insurance equals a repo. You can’t afford to take the hit if they don’t have insurance. Even when the customer has insurance, the insurance adjusters are always

You ask your customer to make 24 monthly payments so they expect the car to provide them with reliable transportation for 24 months. If the car does not perform to that expectation then historically that creates a problem that usually ends up costing you money. performs.” Statistics show that 33 percent of all repo’s in the BHPH business occur because of mechanical breakdown. The vast majority of BHPH customers 32 | DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL June 2014

wanting to “total” the car after an accident. By totaling it, they get the car. And when they book out the car, it is never in your favor. Wait, don’t forget capital.

Almost every BHPH dealer needs all the capital they can get. Capital for inventory, to make loans, to pay taxes. Capital for the million or so other things that pop-up every day. I think you would agree, these are three very important areas of concern in the BHPH business. So what do you do? You form a Dealer Owned Reinsurance Company to affiliate with your BHPH business. Your reinsurance company will then provide the tools you need to take control of all these problem areas. Tool #1: Warranty your cars for the term of the loan and let your customers provide the reserve to keep the cars repaired and on the road. How? Your reinsurance company will provide premium finance for your customer’s warranty, therefore not requiring you to pay the full price of the warranty up front which would deplete your lending pool. A prorated portion of the cost of the warranty is collected from the customer’s payment and forwarded to your reinsurance trust account. This will provide a constant stream of reserve to ensure when problems arise there is a well funded system in place. Problems are taken care of and your customers stay on the road and making payments. Tool #2: Debt Cancellation Coverage covers your collateral. By providing Debt Cancellation Coverage at time of purchase, your collateral is never without coverage. Customers love it DealerBusinessJournal.com

because it saves them time and money by eliminating the need for outside coverage from the insurance company. They will still need Liability Insurance required by the state. You will no longer have to make collection calls for the insurance company or be at the mercy of the insurance adjustors. In the event of a total loss, you keep the car, not the insurance company, to scrap or whatever the situation calls for, but you are in control. Tool #3: Capital, much needed capital. Your Dealer Owned Reinsurance Company will provide a great capital resource. By owning a reinsurance company, you will provide your BHPH business with the tools needed to succeed and maintain control. The premium for your Warranty and Debt Cancellation Coverage provide the capital you need to take care of problems that arise. Additionally what is not used to pay claims becomes the profit of the stockholders. Profit can be taken by the stockholders as a dividend distribution or can be loaned to your affiliated companies including but not limited to your dealership or RFC. Buy Here-Pay Here dealers can usually provide a warranty on the car as well as Debt Cancellation Coverage on the loan cheaper than the customer can buy insurance from their agent. So you profit from money which you had required the customer to spend with someone else. Tim Byrd is Founder and President of DealerRE a Tim Byrd & Associates company, a managing agency located in Gloucester, Virginia. An Auto Industry Expert on Dealer Owned Reinsurance Companies, BHPH Operations and F&I Development. A 25+ year veteran of the car business, Tim is a trusted advisor to many car dealers. Tim is a sought after speaker and co-author of the best-selling book “Unfair Advantage.” Tim can be reached at www.DealerRE.com or by calling 804-824-9533. ...Your Success Is Our Business

It’s time to change your approach to F&I compliance

WITH THIS SPECIAL OFFER... Subscribe to Spot Delivery and, at no additional charge, we will send you a copy of your choice of any of our legal compliance books, CARLAW, CARLAW II Street Legal or CARLAW III Reloaded.

To order, visit us at www.counselorlibrary.com/offer/spot or call us at 877-464-8326. Also follow us on: June 2014 DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL | 33

SALES & SERVICE

Female Perspective

By Jody DeVere

Oh How She Loves Her Mobile Device

iamonds may have been a girl’s best friend, but today’s women prefer ringtones to rings. In a recent study, Time, Inc. and Nuance Digital Marketing discovered that women are increasingly attached to their mobile devices. In fact, the study (called “Women + Mobile: The Unbreakable Bond,” found that 60 percent of women say their smartphone is the most important device they own, and 88 percent of women say their phones give them something to do during their “empty” time every day. What does that mean for you and your dealership? Well, if you’re not fully engaging the mobile space in your marketing to women efforts, you’re missing out. Mobile Marketing to Women: Text Reminders and Alerts If you’re not taking steps to go paperless at your dealership, you’re in danger of being left behind by dealers who are. Not only is paper becoming

34 | DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL June 2014

increasingly cost-prohibitive (if you don’t believe us, just take a look at how much you spend each year on printing alone), but women are very responsive to auto dealers who have green practices—and going paperless is a major step in that direction. Using paperless agreements, email, web, and mobile advertising, online appointment scheduling and finance qualification, and even utilizing text messaging to keep in touch with your customers after the sale are great ways to make sure your dealership remains front-ofmind for your women customers. Service reminders, 30k, 60k, and 90k maintenance notices, recall information and more can all be transmitted wirelessly straight to the conduit via which she gets all her other important updates: her mobile phone. Mobile Marketing to Women: The Mobile Web Of course, you also want to use the mobile space to reach women who aren’t already your customers, and the mobile web is where you do that. Smartphone and tablet users are threatening to overtake the population of desktop PC users on the web, so if your dealership is still using a website designed for desktop viewing, it’s time to give that site a face-lift and retrofit to fit inside the mobile space. It’ll make your site cleaner, simpler, and easier to navigate from a smaller screen, with some added benefits on the back-end as well: mobile SEO. Giving your website a mobile makeover is a great time to revisit

your SEO practices, ensure your entire website is “crawlable,” that you’re still targeting the right keywords, and most importantly, that you’re capitalizing on SEO geared at the mobile user. Mobile searchers are on the go, which means she’s actively looking for a business like yours if searching for a car dealer on her phone, so if you’re not taking steps to make sure she finds you first, you’re going to miss out on important sales opportunities. Mobile Marketing to Women: The Pitfalls When it comes to advertising on the web, mobile or otherwise, most women don’t mind ads as long as they can control the experience. Location-based offers are very effective right now, 41 percent of women say they prefer ads that are relevant to where they’re searching from and 52 percent say they prefer ads that are relevant to what they’re currently doing on the web. The number one negative? Intrusive ads with 91 percent of women saying they hate ads that pop up, take over, or otherwise distract from her browsing experience, so stay away from that! Simply make yourself visible, mobile friendly, and allow your business to become part of her mobile web space, and when she finds herself ready to shop for a new car, she’ll find you! Jody DeVere is the CEO & president of AskPatty.com. Contact her via email at jdevere@askpatty.com. DealerBusinessJournal.com

Advertiser Index ADVERTISER PAGE A.R.A. GPS

AUTO LAW GROUP

Are you a DBJ Subscriber?

CLIFTONLARSONALLEN 27

Get the Dealer Business Journal delivered directly to your dealership, your inbox, or BOTH for FREE! Sign-up online at:

COUNSELOR library

dealerbusinessjournal.com/subscribe.php

Dave Anderson

dealer RENEW

Autoraptor.com 35

PAYMAXXPRO 2 SECURITY AUTO LOANS SPARTAN FINANCIAL Sterling Credit Corporation

19 5 27

ADVERTISING INQUIRIES CALL 941.371.7999 OR EMAIL SALES@DEALERBUSINESSJOURNAL.COM

...Your Success Is Our Business

June 2014 DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL | 35

INDUSTRY NEWS

Technology Update Spireon Announces 99.9% Performance Guarantee

pireon, the leading M2M provider of telematics and mobile resource management (MRM) solutions, launched the industry’s first 99.9percent application uptime guarantee for customers of its automotive collateral management platform, designed for organizations in the vehicle finance industry, including automotive finance companies, banks, credit unions and dealerships with in-housing financing. One of the most important requirements of any telematics solution is providing performance customers can count on. As the first and only telematics provider of MRM solutions to offer a bestin-class performance guarantee program, clients of Spireon’s fourtime award-winning GoldStar GPS and LoanPlus CMS automotive collateral management platforms are assured they will always have 99.9percent access to their critical data to track vehicle assets in realtime, on-demand. “Spireon is extremely proud to offer the highest level of service availability in the industry for our 1.7 million subscribers, as well as the capacity to support millions more seamlessly,” said Sam Balooch, CIO of Spireon. “Spireon has invested significant resources in our next-generation, award-winning NSpire M2M Intelligence Platform, which was built from the ground up and now supports 0.25 million data events every day. We also updated it with CDMA technology to ensure more reliable connections,

36 | DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL June 2014

faster tracking and a future-proof technology ready to embrace evolving wireless networks. Our platform is ready to grow with our customers’ business needs today and tomorrow.” Key benefits for the automotive finance community include: •

Reliability with an industryfirst 99.9 percent performance guarantee. Spireon’s NSpire public cloud infrastructure has multiple levels of redundancy to eliminate any single point of failure.

•

Scalability. NSpire’s NoSQL databases with in-memory storage provide the ability to increase capacity to meet additional or unexpected demand and eliminate delays in obtaining real-time information and reports, without the need for re-architecting.

•

Security. Spireon’s network is composed of multiple Tier 3 and Tier 4 data centers strategically located nationwide, each top-tier data center adhering to stringent, industrybest practices for security controls and protocols.

Spireon understands the importance of delivering a reliable service that automotive dealers and lenders can count on when managing their collateral. The performance guarantee is Spireon’s pledge to their customers that they will stay connected to Spireon’s

Automotive Collateral Management Platform and vehicles anytime, anyplace, including in remote and rural areas, 99.9percent of the time. Customers who sign up for Spireon’s Performance Guarantee will enjoy peace of mind, knowing that they will have access to their SaaS telematics services on a twenty-four hour, seven days a week (24x7), 365 days per year at a rate of 99.9percent. Spireon’s automotive collateral management platform leverages the newest technology and is architected to take collateral management to the next level. The technology innovation goes well beyond providing vehicle location and tracking services that dealerships can use to help improve the recovery process. The Spireon platform is an intuitive, web based application that includes rich features such as interactive mapping, customizable reports, data security, customizable geofences and turnkey installation. Visit status.spireon.com to see Spireon’s application performance for yourself. Where’s Ron? Track Him Now with Spireon’s CDMA Talon Device As another proof point behind the performance and reliability of Spireon’s best-in-class Automotive Collateral Management Platform, Spireon has also launched their “Where’s Ron?” campaign. Where’s Ron is a real-life case study showcasing first-hand how simple it is to locate a vehicle DealerBusinessJournal.com

using the company’s GoldStar GPS tracking system – even when Ron visits remote and rural areas around the country where people typically experience dropped calls on cell phones. Customers can see the strength of Spireon’s best selling and best performing CDMA Talon powered by its award winning Automotive Collateral Management platform anytime, anyplace by visiting GoldStarGPS.com/track-ron. While the “Where’s Ron” application is only set up to show you his vehicle location and history, it certainly demonstrates the power of Spireon’s technology and expertise. By the way, Ron is actually one of Spireon’s field sales representatives based out of the company’s Dyersville, Iowa office. He is on the go 95 percent of the time, visiting a number of customers and prospective customers all over the map, including rural and remote areas. With one of Spireon’s CDMA Talon devices installed on Ron’s car, everyone can now follow along as he embarks on some interesting adventures. With a click of a mouse, you are assured to locate him with Spireon’s Automotive Collateral Management system— no matter where Ron roams. Visit GoldStar GPS.com/ track-ron today. ...Your Success Is Our Business

Paymaxx Pro Integrates with Cars*Plus DMS™

aymaxx Pro, the national automotive retail merchant services and payment processing firm, has integrated its payment processing services with Cars*Plus DMS (Radiant Concepts, Inc.) giving dealers the ability to efficiently provide consumers with more options for payments while simultaneously reducing costs and fees for dealers using this dealer management system. Cars*Plus DMS is a reliable and innovative management software tool for Buy Here Pay Here Dealerships that serves hundreds of dealers across the states of Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma. “We are very excited about the partnership. We believe this integration is a perfect fit for dealers looking to provide customers access 24/7 as well as boosting collections through integrated solutions. The Paymaxx Pro interface will have a significant impact by eliminating the geographical gap that had previously defined the BHPH model.” says Candy Wright, VP Radiant Concepts, Inc. “In today’s marketplace, it is all about providing a robust menu of payment options for consumers while improving operational efficiencies and reducing overhead at the dealer level,” said Paymaxx Pro President Chris Leedom. “We are excited about the strong partnership formed with Cars*Plus DMS and look forward to generating savings for the Cars*Plus DMS community of dealers.” This integration permits dealers to process web payments and automatically synchronize them between Paymaxx Pro and Cars*Plus DMS. At the same time, Paymaxx Pro offers retailers among the lowest costs and fees for merchant services in the industry. “All a dealer has to do is select Paymaxx Pro as their merchant services provider through Cars*Plus DMS” Leedom said. “This eliminates the need to use multiple software providers and eliminates double postings, thus saving labor costs. Dealer clients also have the ability to set up recurring automatic payments, both ACH and credit card which are often requested by consumers.”

June 2014 DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL | 37

INDUSTRY NEWS

Technology Update First Device Compliance Seminar a Success

assTime, an industry leader in Automated Collection Technology and GPS telematics solutions and Hudson Cook LLP., a law firm in the automotive financing sector teamed up last week at the National Alliance of Buy Here Pay Here Dealers (NABD) Conference to deliver what the companies believe is the first seminar for dealers and finance companies discussing the issue of compliance in relation to payment assurance and GPS tracking devices. As many in the automotive financing industry are aware, state and federal regulations are having an impact on how devices may be used in conjunction with financing a vehicle. As such, dealers and finance companies need to look at their business practices to help ensure they are staying compliant. The seminar was designed to inform dealers and finance companies about the overall topic of device compliance and items to consider when building or modifying business practices. PassTime, which has been in business for more than 20 years, prides itself on being more than just a vendor when it comes to its customers. “As a leader in this industry, PassTime often takes it upon itself to help educate dealers and finance companies about important topics impacting the industry. For us, it is about more

than just selling devices; it is also about helping the industry as a whole - and that is why we do what we do,” said Stan Schwarz, CEO and founder of PassTime. Scheduled just before the start of the NABD National Conference in Las Vegas, NV last week, and held at the same venue, the seminar was well attended by finance companies and dealers focused on the subprime automotive lending space. The seminar was led by Corinne Kirkendall, vice president of compliance and public relations for PassTime, and Nicole Munro, partner at Hudson Cook LLP. “We were extremely excited by the attendance and the feedback from the seminar,” said Corinne Kirkendall. “We had dealers and finance companies from across the country attend and it was a very successful event.” “We have represented PassTime since 1997, and have seen the laws and regulations governing the use of the devices evolve over the years. We are pleased to have been a part of this important industry initiative,” stated Tom Hudson of Hudson Cook LLP. PassTime mentioned that it plans to continue working to help educate the industry on compliance and other issues that affect the industry and will hold additional events in the future.

Market Watch

Cars.com Names the Most Affordable Midsize Sedans

ars.com, an online resource for buying and selling new and used cars, has named the 2014 Nissan Altima the most affordable midsize sedan. Contenders had to be equipped with features like automatic transmission, cruise control, a USB connection, Bluetooth, power windows, a power driver’s seat and a backup camera. Taking into account these features and the five-year estimated fuel cost, Cars.com compiled a list of 10 midsize sedans, ranked from most to least affordable, with the 2015 Nissan Altima taking the top spot. “The Altima is a strong choice for budget conscious midsize sedan shoppers. Beyond being a good deal, the Altima gets great gas mileage of 38 mpg and received very good crash test results” said Joe Wiesenfelder, Cars. com’s Executive Editor. “That said, there are many other

38 | DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL June 2014

great midsize sedans for shoppers to consider as well. This list helps shoppers understand which options will give them the most bang for their buck throughout the entire ownership of their car.” The top 10 most affordable midsize sedans according to Cars.com editors are: 2014 Nissan Altima S 2014 Hyundai Sonata GLS 2014 Toyota Camry LE 2014 Kia Optima LX 2013 Kia Optima Hybrid LX 2014 Honda Accord Sport 2014 Ford Fusion Hybrid SE FWD 2015 Chrysler 200 Limited 2015 Mazda Mazda6 Touring 2014 Chevrolet Malibu 1Lt DealerBusinessJournal.com

...Your Success Is Our Business

June 2014 DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL | 39

40 | DEALER BUSINESS JOURNAL June 2014

DealerBusinessJournal.com