CATA News

We’re thrilled to reintroduce CATA’s Learning University, professional training for retail sales, service and management dealership personnel.

Professional Automotive Selling – CLICK TO REGISTER

When: Tuesday, April 18, CATA HQ

Led by experienced performance coach Lee Eddy, the first course “Selling Vehicles in a Digital Retail Age” will focus on the core selling principles and framework while connecting the digital retail experience to achieve results. As inventory levels steadily increase, this convenient one-day course offers strategies and solutions to help automotive sales teams sharpen their skills after years of taking orders.  

Who should attend?

Professional Service Consulting – CLICK TO REGISTER

When: Tuesday, April 24, CATA HQ

Led by experienced performance coach Lee Eddy, the next course "Professional Service Consulting" will focus on the core processes, skills and behaviors that ensure an outstanding Service Experience, Service Retention and improved Service and Parts sales! As automotive professionals, we all know ongoing and long-term customer retention at our stores is a result of the Service Experience!

Who should attend?

Don’t hesitate…CATA Learning University courses are limited to 20 registrants for an intimate educational group setting.

If you have any questions, contact Lee Eddy at 630-215-3634 or leeeddy@comcast.net. 

When: Tuesday, June 13

Where: Cog Hill Golf & Country Club | Lemont, IL

Join us for the annual golf outing to network with fellow dealer and allied members, hear association updates at the annual membership meeting, and enjoy a beautiful summer day on the course.

As in the past, the outing will include several contests throughout the course for the chance to win cash prizes. Contests include straightest drive, longest putt, closest to the pin, hole-in-one and more. One lucky golfer even has the chance to win the $10,000 putting contest!

We will kick off the day with a coffee and networking reception, followed by the annual meeting and lunch. After golfing concludes, we will gather back together for a 19th hole Happy Hour.

Schedule of Events

New this year is a golf outing raffle. Your registration will include two raffle tickets to enterto win a variety of raffle prizes donated by our sponsors. Additional raffle tickets will be available for purchase onsite.

Registration

Dealer registration is $100 per golfer. Allied registration is $130 per golfer. There is an additional $30 charge if you wish to golf on the Ravines course.

Lunch-only tickets are also available for $40.

Registration is open now through May 24. Don't wait - register now!

This year marks the 10th Anniversary of the USO BBQ for the Troops fundraiser, a grassroots initiative directly supporting the USO Illinois. Each July, approximately 100 Chicagoland new-car dealers fire up their grills and raise money for a great cause. Since 2013, dealers have raised over $1M for local troops and their families.

Mark your calendars and save the date for this year’s region-wide BBQ: Saturday, July 15.

Click here to sign up and look for more information coming out soon.

As the Biden administration works to strike a balance between two objectives — accelerating electric vehicle adoption and securing a domestic supply chain — forthcoming guidance that further constricts battery material and component sourcing rules could tip the scale.

Under the Inflation Reduction Act, buyers who meet certain income thresholds can get a tax credit of up to $7,500 for North American-assembled new EVs that also meet sticker price restrictions.

Starting April 18, the credit will be split in two, with $3,750 for EVs that have at least 40 percent of the value of the battery's critical minerals extracted or processed in the U.S. or in a country where the U.S. has a free-trade agreement, or from materials that were recycled in North America. Another $3,750 is available if at least half of the value of the EV's battery components are made or assembled in North America.

Those percentages ramp up over time, maxing out at 80 percent in 2027 for minerals and 100 percent in 2029 for battery components.

An updated list of eligible vehicles, including the amount of the available credit, is expected to be available April 18 at fueleconomy.gov. Automakers will report monthly to the IRS — under penalty of perjury — on which vehicles qualify.

Source: Automotive News

Automotive News is looking for candidates for its best practices feature – a series of stories about dealerships doing something innovative that is delivering proven benefits to operations.

This survey asks dealers to briefly describe an established practice that is working well at your franchised store or dealership group. This can be in any department in the store – new-car sales, used-car sales, finance and insurance, parts and service, accessories, etc. It also could be something that applies to other aspects of operation — customer service and loyalty, employee satisfaction, employee benefits, marketing, expense oversight, etc. They’re also looking for innovative practices that are working well for dealerships as they navigate the shift to electric vehicles.

 They will review submissions, and we may contact you for a possible story. Please make sure to leave your contact information at the end of the survey.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE SURVEY

The automotive retail industry is changing at a rapid pace with levels of innovation unseen since the invention of the combustion engine. It’s time to embrace change and move into a future where the car buying experience is digital-first, personalized and customer-centric. Let’s rethink the role of the dealership and ensure we’re ready for this seismic shift.

Addressed by C-suite OEM and dealership speakers, this two-day event has been carefully curated to provide solutions for the most critical automotive retail issues including:

Presenters include:

Reserve Your Place Now

The Biden administration on Wednesday proposed new and very aggressive emissions regulations for new light-duty vehicle model years 2027-2032. These proposals go well beyond anything this or prior administrations have announced or targeted in the past and would effectively require 2/3 of all new vehicles sold in 2032 to be EVs.

America’s franchised new-car dealers remain all-in on EVs. During the comment period, NADA will explain everything that dealers are doing to get ready for widespread and mass-market EV adoption, including the substantial investments already made – and the billons of coming investments – in tools, training and equipment necessary to facilitate a first-tier education, sales and service experience for EV customers across the entire market and price-point spectrum.

NADA will also explain how emissions mandates that go too far too fast are concerning in that they:

In the end – and regardless of the stringency or feasibility of the final regulations – one thing is already clear: Dealers will be more essential than ever in helping America embrace EVs and get us to the adoption percentages that the administration is pursuing.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued yesterday its long-awaited final rule to implement section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act requiring financial institutions to compile, maintain and report to the CFPB certain data on credit applications received from small, women-owned and minority-owned businesses.

The final rule applies only to financial institutions within the CFPB’s jurisdiction. In particular, this does not include motor vehicle dealers engaged in indirect vehicle financing transactions, which are subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) in this matter. The FRB has not yet proposed a rule to implement section 1071 for such motor vehicle dealers, although, when it does, the FRB can be expected to seek consistency with the CFPB’s final section 1071 rule. For this reason, NADA and the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers (NAMAD) have jointly advocated on this issue on multiple occasions to both the FRB and the CFPB.

For banks, finance companies and other financial institutions that are covered by the CFPB rule and must report data to the CFPB, the requirements are extensive and these financial institutions may seek to have dealers make adjustments to the credit application process to facilitate their ability to satisfy these requirements. 

While the NADA Regulatory Affairs team is in the process of reviewing the CFPB’s final 888-page rule, certain features are particularly noteworthy:

NADA will disseminate additional information on the CFPB’s final rule after it has been more thoroughly analyzed and NADA will continue its active advocacy with the FRB. 

We are quickly approaching the one-year anniversary of CATA’s new website and the debut of our online portal for membership management and dealer forms ordering!

Of course, we hope that you are taking full advantage of the membership portal, but if you haven’t yet used the portal, we have compiled a comprehensive guide that walks you through registering and accessing the portal, adding additional employees at your dealership to the portal and ordering Odometer and Used Car Buyer’s Guides.

It is important to note that only ONE person at your dealership can manage the membership. That individual is called the “bundle coordinator” and he or she has the ability to add additional employees and pay membership dues. Any employee that is registered can access the “members only” area and order dealer forms.

Click the appropriate links below to download the Getting Started PDF.

The Federal Highway Administration announced a new Federal Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant Program, otherwise known as the CFI Program, which provides funding for EV charging and other alternative fuel infrastructure projects. Neither dealers nor dealer associations are eligible to apply for CFI program money. Even in instances where a manufacturer has implemented or initiated a voluntary or mandatory dealer program that includes publicly available chargers, or that promotes publicly available chargers near an interstate(s), CFI money is not available to dealers or dealer associations to help offset such costs.

“Eligible entities,” such as states, cities, towns, state and local government organizations, transportation authorities and Indian tribes, that are awarded a CFI grant, may use up to 5% of their grant money to partner/contract with dealers to develop and implement education programs regarding the use of zero-emission vehicles and related infrastructure.

On a related note to the CFI Program, the Chicago Auto Show Premier Sponsor, Autel, which provided charging on the show’s Chicago Drives Electric indoor EV track, is planning a Lunch and Learn in May at the CATA to offer dealers special pricing on its EV charging equipment. In addition, Autel and the CATA is encouraging dealers to invite their respective village mayors and planning officials to the Lunch and Learn to hear about the CFI program and how their municipalities can take gain from it. This is a win-win for dealers. More charging infrastructure in their hometowns can encourage EV adoption.

Watch for more information about Autel’s May Lunch and Learn in upcoming E-Newsletters.