WANADA is very fortunate to have Geoff Pohanka, one of our distinguished members and former chairmen, serving as the current chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA). Below is a detailed missive from Mr. Pohanka outlining NADA’s current priorities, including updates and links with more information.
FTC Vehicle Shopping Rule
The big picture: The FTC’s proposed Vehicle Shopping Rule would drastically alter the entire process by which franchised dealers advertise and communicate with their customers and sell and finance new and used vehicles and voluntary protection products.
Changes that franchised dealers would have to make under the proposed rule would inject massive amounts of time, cost, inefficiency and complexity into the vehicle sales process at a time when the entire auto industry is united behind an effort to simplify and streamline vehicle sales, shorten transaction times, and improve the customer experience.
What’s new: In July, the House Appropriations Committee passed language as part of a broader spending bill to stop the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from finalizing, implementing or enforcing the Vehicle Shopping Rule. NADA strongly supports this provision, which was included in the House Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill.
This is a major step by Congress to use its “power of the purse” to protect consumers from this deeply flawed proposed rule.
What’s next: The House will likely consider the full appropriations bill, including the Vehicle Shopping Rule provision, at some point after the August recess. Preserving this language through the appropriations process is a top NADA priority.
Why it matters: An independent analysis by Center for Automotive Research (CAR) found that the FTC’s rule would cost consumers $38 billion over 10 years. This study highlights the FTC’s rush to judgment, failure to conduct any regulatory due diligence, and problematic testimony by the head of the agency, Lina Kahn, about the economic impact of the proposed rule.
The bottom line: Because of these fatal flaws, the FTC absolutely needs to go back to the drawing board before forcing implementation of a series of unstudied and untested mandates that will have significant negative impacts on customers.
Go deeper:
- Issue brief
- NADA comments to the FTC
- Summary of FTC comments
- NADA letter to FTC Chair Khan
- CAR study