VA Dealer Board Imposes Fines for Unlicensed Salespeople
At its July 10, 2006 meeting at the DMV headquarters in Richmond, the Virginia Motor Vehicle Dealer Board (MVDB) considered two cases involving sales by unlicensed salespeople, and voted to impose a civil penalty of $2,800 on one dealer and a civil penalty of $5,075 on the other dealer. These are the latest in the regular string of cases in which the Board has imposed civil penalties on dealers.
Dealers are reminded of the need to review regularly to be sure all salespeople are licensed. In addition, as of July 1, 2006, all F&I personnel and sales managers must also have sales licenses.
The most effective way to do an audit of salespersonsê licenses is to compare those licensed in the dealership with the MVDBês list of salespeople licensed to the dealership, which is available on MVDBês website, http://mvdb.vipnet.org. Click on Dealer Database Search, and then enter the dealer number or the dealer name.
In other notable actions, the board considered two cases of license applicants who had felony convictions, and refused to grant licenses to either applicant.
Dealers should note that not all applicants with prior misdemeanor or felony convictions are denied licenses by MVDB, which has discretion to grant licenses to those who have previous convictions and does so on a regular basis.
However, when an applicant applies and discloses a prior conviction or the Motor Vehicle Dealer Boardês request for criminal record discloses a criminal history, the applicantês request for a license will be taken out of the routine process. In the event of such disclosure, the MVDB staff will separately consider the application and may grant or deny the license based upon the type of conviction. If the license is denied, the applicant can then seek to have the matter heard by the board. All of this is time consuming. Consequently, a dealer should expect that any applicant whose background check reveals a criminal conviction will take a much longer time to complete the application process.
MVDB also voted to have the Transaction Recovery Fund Committee hold a special session to consider legislative changes to the fund. These changes can, hopefully, solve some of the problems that have led to criticisms of the fundês operation.
The next meeting of the MVDB and its committees is scheduled for September 11, 2006.
Download Bulletin PDF