On November 19, 2015, U.S. District Judge Marianne O. Battani of the Eastern District of Michigan issued an Order Granting Final Approval of an initial, partial settlement of $59 million to auto dealers in the multidistrict (MDL) antitrust litigation against Japanese parts manufacturers. The MDL alleges that certain Japanese parts manufacturers rigged bids and fixed the…

Everyone in the retail automobile industry is familiar with the terms “front-end” and “back-end.” They represent two sources of potential revenue (and, hopefully, profit) for auto dealerships: The “front-end” refers to revenue realized on the sale of the vehicle and the “back-end” includes revenue on anything sold after the vehicle including dealer reserve on dealer-arranged financing (a/k/a indirect auto loan financing), extended service contracts,…

Why do dealerships keep purchasing statutory errors and omissions coverage that is not likely to protect the dealership if it is sued by a customer for truth in lending violations?

I’ve been handling dealership insurance coverage disputes for a long time. I thought the following insurance coverage form became obsolete by the early 2000's, but recently learned I was mistaken:

[A]ll sums which the insured shall become legally obligated to pay as damages solely by…