Read our blogOperation Steer Clear put out by the FTC.

     Last year I warned about the shot across the bow of our industry from the FTC. For the first time in decades, the FTC brought 5 dealers to account for their alleged deceptive advertising practices. Each dealer became saddled with painful consent decrees. Which is a way of saying. OK, I…

BAU (Business As Usual) Costs more dealers tens of thousands while many wait for prosecution.

Are you ready for Caveat Venditor?

Hello Friends, 

     It’s been awhile. I had to take some time away to assist in an explosive expansion of my company. As a part of that explosion, I recruited people I knew from the business.  In doing so, I always ask, “Who is your Compliance officer?” The most common answer is “I don’t have one”, or “My F&I manager” or “My (You fill in the blank)”.

Why is this significant for 2014?

One acronym – CFPB. If I need to explain what that means then maybe you…

Last week I had the experience of visiting with dealers in a well-known city in New York. I figured that they would be a 21^st Century dealers in tune with all the latest regulations and process technologies that will improve their overall business.  To my dismay, they were not keeping up to date. Much worse is, I observed willfully ignorant sales processes where pencils were being delivered with no concern for their dealer‘s liabilities that management is creating by doing…

The following case is a true case of ignorance and BAU. For years, we have been educating dealers of inherent pitfalls in their current sales processes. So, when I hear stories like this, I take it heavy. Especially because comments like "I've been doing business this way for years." Or recently, "I'm not afraid of..." Are not acceptable, since willful ignorance is not a legal defense. the number one challenge a dealer has is training quality people to meet the demands of today's consumers.…

Friends,

In case you have not heard there is a new sheriff in town and he is not friendly to consumer facing businesses. His name is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and his top dog is Richard Cordrey. A little about Dick, He made notoriety in the automotive industry by successfully making Adverse Action Notices…

  As an industry professional for over 23 years and as a specialist in compliance and process management I am no longer surprised when I read of sad stories such as this. For the past 7 years, I and my peers have been at the forefront of promoting Compliance within the entire front end sales process for dealers. The number one risk to a dealer when it comes to Compliance is ambivalence. Compliance today is as much about preserving hard earned capital as it is about earning trust from our…