CATA News

To counter the ever-increasing nation-wide crimewave targeting auto dealers, Trydon’s proprietary ChaseLight® feature offers a truly proactive approach designed to enable auto dealers to protect their vehicle inventories from afterhours theft and vandalism.  Police report that such theft typically happens between the hours of 1:00am and 3:00am so whether it be catalytic converters, wheels, or whole vehicles being stolen that has impacted your operation, Trydon’s patented lighting controllers empower your outdoor lighting to become an after-hours motion sensing network capable of detecting and deterring unwanted trespassers from entering your site. 

Our controllers are designed to integrate with both existing and new outdoor LED lighting installations and are installed at the top of each light pole.  Once installed, the light pole now becomes “smart” and will monitor the area beneath each light pole.  Any undesired motion will trigger an audible alarm with flashing light, creating a disruptive and attention-getting environment designed to discourage criminals from remaining on your lot. (Add link to ChaseLight video on our website: www.chaselight-tech.com).

Trydon’s BrowseHours™ feature understands the difference between the behavior of criminals and the interests of car shoppers, welcoming them to enjoy an after-hours walk-through of your vehicle inventory.  This is particularly beneficial now that dealer inventories are finally on the rise.

Trydon’s innovative and unparalleled level of inventory protection saves dealers significant repair and replacement costs.  In addition, ChaseLIght can reduce insurance premiums and self-insurance exposure.  With the onset of recent substantial increases in the cost of energy (+11% in 2022, +13% in 2023), Trydon’s sustainably focused and cost-effective method for managing outdoor area lighting can enable the lighting controllers to pay for themselves within a relatively short period of time.   

ChaseLight systems are being installed in dealerships across the Midwest near Trydon’s headquarters in St. Louis.  Why not have your lighting system work harder for you?  With ChaseLight, it’s easier to proactively chase away risk rather than watch surveillance video the next morning.  Secure your lot today!    

For more information, contact: Don Jacobs at Don@trydontrue.com.

WHEN: TUESDAY, JUNE 13

WHERE: COG HILL GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB, LEMONT, IL

Join us for the CATA Annual Meeting and Member Golf Outing to enjoy a day on the course with fellow CATA dealers and allied members. From amateur to pro, this is a fun day for golfers of all levels! Not a golfer? Lunch-only tickets are available for purchase so you can still enjoy the beautiful day and networking before the shotgun begins.

The day will begin with a networking reception followed by a hot lunch buffet. During lunch, the 2023-2024 CATA President & Chairperson will address all members and give an annual meeting update. The shotgun start on all courses will begin promptly after lunch.

The golf outing will take place across 3 courses: Course 1, Course 3 and the Ravines Course (a premier, more challenging course).  Note: there is an additional fee for those who wish to golf on the Ravines course.

MORE INFO AND ONLINE REGISTRATION HERE

At the March 28, 2023, meeting of the CATA Board of Directors, the Board noted that the terms of the following four Directors are expiring at the CATA Annual Meeting on June 14, 2023, and that each is eligible for re-nomination and re-election to the Board:

The CATA Nominating Committee, consisting of J.C. Phelan, Chair, Kelly Webb Roberts, Jason Roberts, Ryan Kelly, and Kevin Keefe met and renominated all four incumbents, but failed to recommend any additional candidate(s). The Nominating Committee then directed that a communication be sent to all CATA members soliciting names of other potential candidates with interest in serving on the CATA Board. That communication was sent to CATA membership via email on April 28, 2023, with a deadline of May 2, 2023, for additional recommendations. There were no additional recommendations provided to the Nominating Committee. Therefore, the Nominating Committee has elected to nominate only the four incumbent Directors. Those Directors, with no opposition, are hereby deemed elected to an additional three-year term on the CATA Board of Directors without the necessity of balloting.

Dealer principal members should bear in mind that the CATA is always looking for interested candidates to join its dynamic board as openings will be available beginning next year. If interested, please contact CATA Co-President Jennifer Morand to learn more: 630-424-6084 or jmorand@drivechicago.com.

Congratulations to Dan Heller, Steve Phillipos, Dan Marquardt, and Kelly Webb Roberts on their re-election to the CATA Board!

As NADA has been warning, discussing, explaining and reminding dealers for several years, the compliance deadline for the Federal Trade Commission’s amended Safeguards Rule is fast approaching.

The original deadline was December 9, 2022, but after NADA sought an extension, the FTC extended the deadline to June 9, 2023. There are no indications of any further extensions. And with the deadline now a month away, dealers are reminded again that full compliance with these complicated new requirements must be completed by June 9. 

As NADA has repeatedly noted, compliance with this rule is complicated and time consuming, and dealers must act now if they have not yet completed their compliance efforts. Compliance is not a simple task that can be undertaken lightly or quickly, or simply outsourced to a vendor.      

You can find guides, program templates, webinars, workshop sessions, third party and governmental resources, vendor services and more at www.nada.org/safeguardsrule. 

More webinars and related material will be issued to dealers in the coming weeks. In addition, NADA continues to work with vendors, OEMs and others in an effort to bring clarity and efficiency to Safeguards compliance for dealers going forward. 

For those of you who have met the requirements of the Rule, remember, this is not a “one and done” type of rule. It will require a consistent effort toward security that should become part of your ongoing operations. 

And even if you have not started, don’t despair, but don’t wait—work with your advisors, staff, attorneys, vendors and others today. You are behind, but that should not stop you from taking the steps necessary to comply with the new requirements in order to protect your dealership and your customers. 

NOTE:  Many of you may likely be aware of a separate proposed rule from the FTC—the Vehicle Shopping Rule—that would regulate dealership sales and advertising practices. These numerous new regulatory requirements can be confusing, but do not confuse that proposal (which is important but unrelated) with the Safeguards Rule and this pending compliance deadline.

With record profits, obvious inventory constraints, and “unique” employment circumstances, automotive sales consultants across the country (many of whom started selling cars during the pandemic) are struggling to remember what it’s like to walk a customer through all ten steps to the sale (if they ever had to in the first place).  Remedial as it may sound, now is the time to focus on getting your sales consultants “back to basics” in order to close the sale and maximize gross… FTC – Find the Cash! Re-train on performing a good needs assessment, a solid selection, a skilled walk-around, a transparent trade appraisal, the “laborious” service walk, and an exhilarating test drive- complete with close-ended questions and a trial close! 

Without these key elements, new sales consultants will grow frustrated with their sudden lack of success, and veterans will start seeking greener pastures as high grosses become minis. 

As the CATA’s Recommended Service Provider for F&I, Zurich is committed to the success of ALL its members- and would love to help!  Whether you call us or call your current F&I provider, ask them what kind of scheduled, impactful sales training (with written follow-up) they provide as a getting “back to basics” for your sales team.

Autel - Established in 2004, Autel quickly became one of the world's leading providers of intelligent automotive products and services. Now, with the launch of its EV Charging and Energy Solutions product line, Autel offers solutions with the latest features, highest quality standards, and best-valued products in the industry. Autel is committed to green energy solutions that combine hardware, software, and support for all its customers’ varying needs. For more information, contact John Thomas at jthomas@autel.com.

PureCars - As the industry leader in automotive marketing, PureCars is trusted by the best dealers in North America. From innovative solutions to support from trusted experts, making marketing easier is our job. For more information, contact Melissa Cofar at melissac@purecars.com.

Automotive Risk Management - Automotive Risk Management Partners, Inc. (ARMP) brings together more than 40 years of automotive industry experience. In fact, more than 20 years ago, founding partner Terry Dortch created the first GLBA auditing process for the sales and finance centers within dealerships. Over the years, this process has been molded and updated to bring dealers the most current detailed risk audits available, allowing the dealer to make informed business decisions. For more information, contact Terry Dortch at tdortch@autorisknow.com.

The CATA Nominating Committee is seeking dealer principals/owners who may be interested in running for the CATA Board, now or in the future. If you're interested in learning more or would like to be considered by the CATA Nominating Committee, please send an email to CATA Co-President Jennifer Morand by Tuesday, May 2.

To find the current listing of CATA board members, click here.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

When

Tuesday, May 24, 2023

10:00 AM - 11:30 AM

Location

Chicago Automobile Trade Association, 18W200 Butterfield Rd., Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181

New-car dealers are being asked by OEMs to build the most EV dense parking lots in the country. Many dealers are moving forward based on the minimum OEM requirements, but they may not be considering the future.

On May 24, CATA will be hosting an EV charging lunch and learn with Autel Energy’s COO John Thomas at our headquarters in Oakbrook Terrace. Designed to give dealers peace of mind and intelligence on understanding what it takes to install scalable, reliable, and high-quality hardware with an eye toward serving the dealership’s needs today and tomorrow. At the same time, making use of that infrastructure to engage with the public and cultivate new customers.

Autel Energy, an EV charging OEM, will talk about its unique approach to help new-car dealers meet the challenges of electrifying dealerships. Autel recently held a similar event in Detroit with the Southeastern Michigan Ford Dealers. After the event, more than 20 metro Detroit dealers selected Autel as their hardware provider of choice. Autel’s products are built to automotive quality standards and the company has two decades of Automotive Service and Repair experience; meaning, Autel understands the importance of operational excellence and uptime in a dealership, while providing the highest quality equipment at the most affordable pricing. 

“Unlike other EV charging companies Autel understands the challenges this EV transformation brings for an auto dealership,” said Autel COO John Thomas. “As a 30-year auto-industry insider I understand the car business. In the next five years, dealerships will have the most EV-dense parking lots in the country, and together with the CATA, Autel is here to help CATA dealers successfully navigate this challenge.” 

Autel has been taking the EV charging industry by storm, and we are excited to have them as a partner with the CATA. Most recently Autel sponsored the Chicago Auto Show’s Chicago Drives Electric EV Track.

Bring your mayor or local city manager …

Additionally, the federal government recently announced a grant program for cities, municipalities, and under severed & rural communities which will equate to $2.5 Billion for EV charging deployment. CATA dealers should consider bringing along their mayor or city manager to learn about this program and expand EV charging in local communities. More chargers in your town means more EV customers at your dealership.

John Thomas will be available to answer any questions during and after the seminar. Lunch will be provided.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

The NADA helps break down the complexities and nuances of the clean vehicle tax credits included in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The following key areas are covered:

Search Google and you’ll find story after story of criminals trying and often succeeding in stealing vehicles from dealerships by using a fake ID and pretending to be someone else. In the last year according to an eLend study, 79% of dealers had an identity fraud-related loss and 60% lost at least three vehicles due to identity fraud.

“I would say just before the pandemic, it (identity fraud) started to explode, and it continues to be a bigger and bigger challenge for dealers,” said Doug Fusco, founder of Informativ’s Dealer Safeguard Solutions. “I think fraudsters are getting better and they’re getting smarter. The IDs they’re generating are very authentic looking and they’re also not coming in on a Monday morning, they’re coming in when the dealerships are at their busiest hoping that they can get through the hoops and the distractions and not get caught.”

Add to that fraudsters have unlimited time to work on this and when they win, they win big. All that has made preventing fraud a big challenge for dealerships. But beyond implementing tech to identify and prevent fraud, there are things dealers can look for to avoid getting ripped off.

Money is no object: If the car buyer isn’t putting any money down, doesn’t care what the payments or terms are, you may want to take a closer look at that customer. “If it’s ‘yes, yes, yes, check the box and just get me through the process’, that’s the first thing we see pretty consistently,” said Fusco. “They’re not putting any money down. They don’t care what the payments are, they don’t care what the terms are.”

“Yes” to everything on the menu: This goes together with “money is no object”. Besides not even trying to negotiate the price, the fraudsters also say yes to every “add–on” you offer – – on the sales floor and in F&I. They’re saying “yes” because they have no intention of paying for it. The salesperson may be thrilled by a fast, high gross deal, but you could be paying for it.

Remote delivery: Covid prompted dealerships to offer this great service and benefit. Fraudsters are taking advantage of it. Especially be aware if the delivery location is an office building or retail location, like a Starbucks. How can you verify that the address on the driver’s license is the buyer’s residence?

“They say ‘Hey, I want to meet at my work, my office. I’ll meet you in front of the building’, or they choose a Walmart or somewhere,” says Fusco. “That’s strange, right? But because it’s always a healthy financial deal, sometimes that gets overlooked.”

Once the vehicle is stolen, dealers have to do a lot of work to get it back–and may never get it back.

Sometimes vehicle tracking systems like Onstar can pinpoint the location–but that’s only if the theft is detected very soon after the vehicle is stolen and before it’s been shipped overseas or dismantled in a chop shop.

While the naked eye may be able to detect fake IDs, criminals are getting more sophisticated, so technology needs to keep up, and employees need to use the technology.

“There are clearly lots of different tools to identify fraud and lots of different ways to identify fake driver’s licenses,” said Fusco. “For the tools to be successfully used and stick in the showroom just about like everything else that salespeople want, it has to be simple. It’s got to be fast, and it has to be accurate. If it doesn’t do those three things, they’re going to use it when they feel like it. So, the consistency is the main part of that.”

The challenge at many large dealerships is that they may have one device to scan a driver’s license that all salespeople have to use and when a salesperson has a buyer impatiently waiting for a test drive, the step of verifying an ID can easily be skipped increasing exponentially a dealership’s risk.

The tech also must work both in-store and remotely because since the pandemic many more customers are doing transactions remotely and dealers still need a way to verify their driver’s license.

“Unfortunately, we see driver’s licenses being texted to cell phones, sent to Gmail accounts and those are compliance violations that are directly against a dealership’s privacy statement,” said Fusco. “We built a tool that’s simple, it’s fast, it’s accurate, and it works on in–store and remote sales.”

The tech also protects other rooftops in a dealership group. If a driver’s license is scanned in one store an alert is immediately sent to other dealerships in the group. “Talk about broadcasting it out! We’re going to let everybody in our family know that’s within a close geographic proximity that we just had a fraudster walk into our showroom,” said Fusco.

In another case, over a six–month period, a large Texas dealership used the ID fraud technology to detect 19 fake IDs, protecting the dealership from $1.2 million dollars in losses from stolen vehicles.

“We have a tool that validates the driver’s license,” said Fusco. “We go a step further though and also have a synthetic fraud platform that comes along with their credit report that we’ll look at identities that have been created by taking one person’s social, another person’s address, another person’s piece of information and over a period of time sewing together and creating a false identity with information on the front end.”

Click here to learn more about our fraud detection and prevention.