CATA News

Through its Driving a Cleaner Illinois program, the Illinois EPA announced the Driving a Cleaner Illinois – Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) EV Charging Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the purchase and installation of new Direct Current Fast Charging (DCFC) light-duty electric vehicle charging stations at publicly accessible locations. This $27 million opportunity is being made available through Governor Pritzker’s bipartisan Rebuild Illinois capital plan for electric vehicle projects authorized under CEJA. The NOFO and related documents have been posted to the Illinois EPA website. Applications must be submitted to EPA.EVCharging@Illinois.gov by 5:00 pm CT on December 22, 2023.

Forecast summary: pent-up demand will provide momentum for the new vehicle market over the next 15 months, while the negative factors will place a ceiling on how high sales can go.

Read all about it and much, much more in the CATA's 2023 Q3 Auto Outlook.

Former CATA Chairman Michael Ettleson has been nominated for 2024 TIME Dealer of the Year award. Ettleson is one of a select group of 49 dealer nominees from across the country who will be honored at the 107th annual National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, on February 3, 2024.

The TIME Dealer of the Year award is one of the automobile industry’s most prestigious and highly coveted honors. The award recognizes the nation’s most successful auto dealers who also demonstrate a long-standing commitment to community service. Ettleson was chosen to represent the Illinois Automobile Dealers Association in the national competition – one of only 49 auto dealers nominated for the 55th annual award from more than 16,000 nationwide.

“I have been fortunate to have good people support me in business, a loving wife of 42 years, and a wonderful family,” nominee Ettleson said. “An Ettleson dealership has been in the Chicago area since 1968, and I am proud to continue our family’s legacy of employee longevity, honesty in pricing, and outstanding service to our customers.”

An active member in his state and local dealer associations, Ettleson has served on the board of the Illinois Automobile Dealers Association since 2015 and was chair of the group in 2020. He has also provided his leadership to the Chicago Automobile Trade Association (CATA) as a member of the board, chair of the board, and chair of the Chicago Auto Show.

In 2023, he partnered with the CATA to raise money for local service people and their families through the Chicago Automobile Trade Association’s USO BBQ for the Troops. The dealership joined more than 80 Chicago stores to offer hot dogs and burgers to visitors and raise funds for the USO Illinois.

Of all Ettleson’s good works, he is most proud of his time working with Helping Hand, where he served on the board of directors from 1995 to 2010 and policy board from 2010 to 2018. The organization provides services to children and adults with developmental disabilities and offers employment opportunities, community living options, and day programs.

Dealers are nominated by the executives of state and metro dealer associations around the country. A panel of faculty members from the Tauber Institute for Global Operations at the University of Michigan will select one finalist from each of the four NADA regions and one national Dealer of the Year. Three finalists will receive $5,000 for their favorite charities and the winner will receive $10,000 to give to charity, donated by Ally.

Ettleson was jointly nominated for the TIME Dealer of the Year award by the Chicago Automobile Trade Association and the Illinois Automobile Dealers Association. He and his wife, Jeri, have four children.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced a final rule amending the FTC Safeguards Rule that will require non-banking institutions, such as dealers, to report certain data breaches and other security events to the FTC.

The final rule requires financial institutions (including dealers) to report “notification events,” defined as the unauthorized acquisition of unencrypted customer information involving at least 500 customers, to the FTC. The FTC has stated that the rule and its notice requirement are specifically intended to facilitate enforcement of the FTC’s Safeguards Rule against entities that file reports.

The notice to the commission must be provided electronically through a form located on the FTC’s website and must include:

• The name and contact information of the reporting financial institution
• A description of the types of information that were involved in the notification event
• The date or date range of the notification event (if possible to determine)
• The number of consumers affected
• A general description of the notification event

Notices will be available in a public database. The final rule does not impose a consumer notice requirement.

This rule will become effective 180 days after it is published in the federal register, which is expected shortly. Dealers and their qualified individuals should review the final rule to understand its requirements and scope and should consult with their technology providers and counsel regarding the implications of the new rule.

Appraisals are one of the most important areas in the dealership and are now more complex than ever before. Dealers appraise trades at the dealership, online, at homes and offices, out of state and in the service center. These intricacies, along with volatile vehicle prices, have made appraisals more difficult. Missing damage or flaws can massively affect the cost to market and ruin opportunity for profit.

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The Internal Revenue Service recommends that the best way to file the next quarterly payroll tax return by the Oct. 31, 2023, due date is electronically. While paper filing is available, the IRS strongly encourages e-filing. E-filing is the most secure, accurate method to file returns, and saves time.

E-filing is easy with auto-populating forms and schedules and a step-by-step process that performs calculations for the user.

The IRS acknowledges receipt of e-filed returns within 24 hours, giving employers reassurance that their return was not misplaced or lost in the mail. E-file users also receive missing information alerts.

Two options to electronically file payroll tax returns
The first option for employers is to self-file by purchasing IRS-approved software that meets their specific needs. There may be a fee to electronically file returns through the software, and the software will require a signature to e-file the returns.

Depending on the software they choose, employers will do one or both of the following:

The second option for employers is to hire a tax professional to prepare and file their employment tax returns. Employers can use the Authorized IRS e-file Provider Locator Service to find a tax professional who can file on behalf of the business.

For more information on electronic filing of payroll tax returns, see the E-file Employment Tax Forms page.

Facing increasing pressure from automakers using future investments as a bargaining chip, the governor's office is considering a move to repeal the Illinois Warranty Reimbursement Act during the Fall Veto Session which is being held this week and next. The CATA is urging its dealer members to contact their elected officials immediately. We are also requesting that dealers ask their technicians to make calls.   

As a reminder, the warranty reimbursement legislation allows dealers to be fairly compensated for warranty repairs, has resulted in better pay for service technicians and made the automotive technical career choice more attractive in a highly competitive labor market.

Unfortunately, some vehicle manufacturers have communicated to the Pritzker administration that as long as the warranty law is in place in Illinois, they will not consider locating vehicle, parts or battery plants in Illinois.

The CATA asks its dealer members including technicians to contact their state representative and senator immediately to help them understand the impact a repeal of the warranty reimbursement act will have on dealerships and employees. Ask your representatives to vote "no" on any legislation to repeal the warranty reimbursement legislation. You may also want to pass this message along and encourage your employees to contact their legislators.

-- Click HERE to Find and Contact Your Elected Officials --

Illinois dealers have historically charged “shop fees,” also often referred to as “environmental fees,” “rag fees,” “consumables fees,” or simply “oe” (other expense.) As a result of legal activity in 2004 in Oklahoma involving Jiffy Lube, and a corresponding investigation by the New York Attorney General’s Office during that time, which found certain charges to be misleading, NADA undertook to collect state laws and guidance governing these fees and related service/repair advertising. It concluded that given the wide variety of approaches used in various states, NADA Regulatory Affairs would not develop a set of model rules or guidelines.

The CATA now has word of possible litigation in Texas, so we again alert our dealers as to the potential risk of liability. We are aware of no challenges to these fees in Illinois. However, as with any fee charged, any revenue received from the fee should approximate the expense it covers. Said another way, these fees should not be a source of additional income for dealers.

The CATA suggests that dealers periodically monitor the amount of revenue these fees produce and compare/contrast it to the expense for consumables shown on the dealer statement. If these two items reasonably offset, the dealer should be able to defend against any allegation, class action or otherwise, that the “expense” is a ruse and is merely “additional income.”

Many dealers charge such a fee as a percentage of an RO. Assuming that the percentage is “reasonable” under the above analysis, we suggest further that the charge be capped at a reasonable amount, so as to not make for unreasonable charges on expensive repair orders.

Abuse of these fees could also subject a dealer to investigation by the Illinois Attorney General, so again we advise continued caution.

[Souce: Automotive News] The FTC and the Wisconsin Department of Justice have reached a combined settlement of $1.1 million against Rhinelander Auto Center and affiliated parties for allegedly charging illegal junk fees and discriminating against American Indian customers. The FTC and Wisconsin DOJ had accused Rhinelander of charging its customers upward of thousands of dollars for add-ons without their consent, according to a combined statement released Wednesday. Rhinelander also was accused of unfairly marking up the transactions of American Indian customers. Though it agreed to the settlement, Rhinelander denied wrongdoing.

The current owners of Rhinelander, as well as general manager Daniel Towne, have agreed to cease the unfair practices and pay $1 million to refund customers. In a separate settlement, the former owners, Rhinelander Auto Center Inc. and Rhinelander Motor Co., agreed to permanently wind down business and pay $100,000 to refund affected consumers.

The complaint made by the FTC and Wisconsin cited a survey of Rhinelander customers that found half of customers were charged for add-ons "without authorization or through deception," the combined statement said. Additionally, the FTC and state of Wisconsin accused Rhinelander of marking up the interest rates of American Indian customers, which caused them to pay $401 more on average, the combined statement said. The agencies also accused the store of charging American Indian customers for unwanted add-ons at an above-average rate. The alleged practices cost American Indian customers $1,374 more on average for add-ons in credit transactions since 2019, the combined statement added.

It is almost daily that dealers’ consultants and attorneys receive a client call concerning an internal complaint of harassment or, even worse, an EEOC charge of harassment wherein the employer must respond in defending the charge. Statistically, complaints and formal charges of harassment continue to increase. As with our society and culture today, workplace cultures are wrought with poor language, nasty jokes, affairs, inappropriate behaviors, etc. It is, frankly, impossible to segregate today's societal culture from workplace culture. Additionally, employees tend to know their "rights" and aggressively pursue those, many times to protect their job, look for a windfall of money or in defense of their own inappropriate actions.

As such, it is critical that employers continue to remain on the offensive to include developing and implementing effective policy, training management as well as employees, aggressively looking into all complaints, directing frontline managers to be aware of and preventing or stopping inappropriate language. These and other measures are critical in any defense of an EEOC charge.

Click here to read the ACTION PLAN from SESCO.