CATA News

Eight cars, including a rare 2023 Dodge Challenger Demon SRT 170 valued at $158,000, were stolen from the North County Ford dealership in Arab, Alabama, and investigators are still trying to piece the whole thing together. AL.com news reports that two of the vehicles—a Jeep Wagoneer and Ford Bronco Raptor—have since been recovered.

While they aren’t Fort Knox, generally speaking, car dealerships have very robust security measures in place. It’s not uncommon for a large dealership like North County Ford to have millions of dollars in inventory on its lot at any given time, so major security measures are a must. With that being said, how did these criminals manage to get past North County Ford’s extensive camera system, alarms, and the individual alarms of each vehicle they stole? Well, it all started with a rock.

According to the report, at 12:28 am on April 9, the thieves used a rock to break a window in the service bay to enter the main building. Once inside, they found the security camera hub, turned off all the cameras and erased several hours of footage.

The dealership said the thieves plugged a laptop into the key safe and managed to hack it open like a scene out of a '90s heist film. They stole 330 keys from the safe and put them all in a bag. Since many modern cars use keyless entry and have push button start, the thieves simply jumped into different cars with the key bag in hand, started each of the eight cars, and drove them off the lot.

The only physical evidence left behind was broken glass from the window found by the cleaning crew in the later morning hours.

North County Dodge is now going through the tedious task of reprogramming replacements for all the keys that were stolen but have taken to Facebook to appeal to the thieves for their return. Offering a $10,000 reward for the return of the keys “no questions asked.”

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The Illinois Treasurer requires all businesses and not-for-profits to file annual unclaimed property reports, due on May 1, 2024. Even if an entity is not holding any unclaimed property, it must still file a negative (no unclaimed property) report.

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The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has released the anticipated final rule defining Overtime Exemption requirements, including guaranteed salary requirements, for the White-Collar Exemptions: Executive, Administrative, Professional, and Highly Compensated.

Key provisions of the final rule are as follows:

1. Effective July 1, 2024, the new guaranteed salary level to be exempt is $43,888.00.
2. Effective January 1, 2025, the salary requirement will be increased to $58,656.00.
3. The salary requirement will then automatically increase every three (3) years.
4.  For the Highly Compensated Exemption. First, on July 1, 2024, the salary threshold will rise from $ 107,432 to $132,964 per year. Second, on January 1, 2025, it will rise to $151,164 per year. The threshold will also be updated every three years.

Of noted importance, is the ability for employers to apply Non-Discretionary Bonuses and Incentive Payments (including a valid commission payment) to satisfy up to 10% of the guaranteed salary level requirement of $43,888.00 and then against future salary requirement increases. Please note that Non-Discretionary Bonuses and Incentive Payments, such as commissions, must be well defined and meet the DOL’s requirements under the regulation.

Have your HR contractor conduct an audit of all pay plans and subsequent exemption compliance. With this news, employees will be interested in challenging their pay plans and eligibility for significant overtime payments.

Consider pay plan options:

1. Increase the current salary in one fell swoop to the new required level and in future years.
2. Consider the use of the Fluctuating Work Week method of payment. Strongly recommended for consideration.
3. Revise the current salaried pay plan to a hourly plan, with overtime paid at 1.5 times the regular rate for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. Work schedules must be challenged to avoid significant increases in labor costs, re, overtime.
4. Consider commissioned based pay plans or salary/hourly plus commissions to avoid overtime requirements, re: Retail 7i exemption. In states where allowed.
5. Apply other available overtime exemptions.

If you have further questions, SESCO clients receive a wage and hour compliance assessment at a CATA member discounted rate. Feel free to contact their experts at 423-764-4127 or email sesco@sescomgt.com.

On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted 3-2 (along party lines) to issue a final rule banning employers from using noncompete agreements. The final rule bans new noncompete agreements with all workers, including senior executives, after the effective date 180 days after publication date (which is expected to be soon). Existing noncompete agreements may remain in effect for senior executives but will be unenforceable for all other workers after the effective date. 

The new rule will prohibit dealers from imposing new noncompete agreements with workers or to enforce or attempt to enforce such agreements after the effective date.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce immediately sued the FTC on the grounds that it exceeded its authority—the same basis that the two dissenting commissioners voted against the rule. The Chamber described the rule as an “administrative power grab.”

Area new light vehicle registrations increased 17.1% during the first three months of 2024 vs. depressed year-earlier levels. The national retail market was up 6.9%. Note: reported registrations in the First Quarter of last year were especially weak, likely due to registration processing delays. This contributed to the sizeable percentage increase in Q1 ‘24.

2024 Forecast: According to Auto Outlook’s forecast, registrations are now expected to exceed 318,000 units this year and increase 6.7% from 2023. That projection is 15% higher than the total in 2022 when the market was significantly impacted by product shortages but is still below the pre-pandemic level of 354,256 units in 2019.

Key determinants for the market: The shaded box on the right reviews the primary forecast determinants. Pent-up demand is still significant, and the area labor market is strong. Vehicle affordability is still a concern but should improve as the year progresses. As pointed out in the previous release of Auto Outlook, barring any unforeseen negative shocks (such as the possible escalation of conflict in the Middle East), we think the new vehicle market could be stronger than expected in 2024.

Tracking alternative powertrain sales: Area BEV registrations were up 6.6% in the First Quarter of this year versus a year earlier, and market share increased to 7.8%. Gains have levelled off during the past few quarters, however. Hybrid registrations exceeded 7,400 units in Q1 ‘24 and improved 81% versus year earlier. Plug in hybrid market was up 8% (see page 6).

Brands that fared best in early 2024: Among the top 25 sellers in the area market, Buick, Lexus, Honda, Mazda, and Cadillac had the largest percentage gains in the First Quarter of this year. Honda, Toyota, Chevrolet, Ford, and Hyundai were market share leaders.

Top 10 selling models in the Chicago area so far this year include: Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4, Tesla Model Y, Honda Civic, Mazda CX-5, Hyundai Tucson, Ford F-Series, Nissan Rogue, Honda HR-V and Chevrolet Equinox.

Download the complete Q1 2024 Chicago Auto Outlook

Dealerships are always looking for ways to improve profitability in their stores with a trusted partner. Many of our current and past board members are leveraging services from Dynatron Software to increase their profitability in fixed operations, and they report that the results are outstanding.

With today's margin compression on the variable side and an increased focus on fixed operations, Dynatron has been proven to be the preferred partner to generate an increase in profit and retention to reinvest in your dealership(s) and people.

The document shows how Dynatron improves customer pay ELR revenue for their customers. From there, dealerships can take advantage of opportunity to file for a significant warranty labor rate or parts margin increase with Dynatron’s FileSmart solution.

You can schedule your 30-minute Zoom call to learn more by clicking on the QR Code on the attached or visiting Dynatron Software for CATA members.

Sincerely,
Jennifer Morand
CATA President

The IRS has several resources available to dealers and sellers for help with the navigation of the IRS Energy Credits Online tool. All dealers and sellers must be registered through IRS Energy Credits Online to be able to submit time-of-sale reports and register for advance payments.

·         Publication 5867 Clean Vehicle Dealer and Seller Energy Credits Online Registration User Guide is an excellent manual to reference when registering for the first time.

·         For assistance allowing multiple users to be registered on behalf of the organization, use Publication 5902 Permission Management and Additional Authorization User Guide. This guide explains the different roles of each user and will walk through how to add additional users.

·         For instruction on how to submit time-of-sale reports, refer to Publication 5867-A Clean Vehicle time of sale reporting user guide.

For quick reference for IRS Energy Credits Online registration, how to submit time-of-sale reports, advance payments and credit transfers, see:

 Questions and Help: If there are any questions or problems with submitting a time-of-sale report or registering with IRS Energy Credits Online, dealers can send an email to irs.clean.vehicles.dealer.info@irs.gov. The IRS may respond through email or a phone call to help resolve the issue. 

Clear The Shelters PAWSitively Good Awards salute those who go above and beyond to help shelter animals. Kelly Keefe of Brilliance Subaru was presented with the award by LeeAnn Trotter from NBC.

Kelly started the “Rescue Dog for a Day” program in August 2021. Twice a week shelter dogs from Anderson Humane Society in South Elgin are posted on the Brilliance Subaru website and on social media. Then in July 2022 Kelly produced a documentary entitled “Promise Love” chronicling the dedicated rescue workers in Oklahoma and the dealership’s journey picking up the dogs for a mega adoption event at the store. Since that time, the dealership has been hosting bi-annual adoption events. Overall, Kelly and Brilliance Subaru have assisted in the rescue and adoption of 734 dogs.

For more information, you can watch the NBC 5 news segment here.

[From CATA Approved Partner Dynatron] Compare Your Dealership’s Performance to Your Manufacturer AND Your Competition with Dynatron’s Exclusive Report. You know who most of your direct competitors are, but do you know how well they are selling common services to customers? What about how your dealership’s common service sales penetration percentage compares to others with your same manufacturer? Seems like valuable information that would be nearly impossible to obtain…until now.

Dynatron Software has created a report leveraging our comparative data to show penetration percentages for 18 different common services across 31 OEMs. Are you ready to see how your dealership compares?

Download the REPORT for full access to Dynatron’s data insights!