Larry Carl: ’Tis the season
The year continues to wind down, and it is customary to see various and obligatory year-end recaps. From the sports world there will no doubt be a plethora of Top10 stories. I’m certain that the still-amazing feat of the Royals winning the World Series will appear on every pundit’s list. It does seem hard to believe – the World Series champion Kansas City Royals! Then there’s always a Hollywood “best stories” recap complete with celebrity breakups and some Kardashian shocker. Books of the Year, Cat Pictures of the Year, Smartest Stocks to Buy Now round out an endless list of quasi news.
I did want to express a couple of important accomplishments from the auto dealer world this year. There are more than 16,000 franchised car dealers across the country, from the mega dealers with multiple locations and public ownership, to the tiny multigenerational family-operated store in rural Kansas. Through their hard work, passion and grass-roots advocacy, this amazing dealer network was able to get Democrats and Republicans of the U.S. House of Representatives to overwhelmingly pass legislation that would ultimately protect consumers. Getting Congress to do anything in a bipartisan manner is extremely rare nowadays, but the House passed the Reforming CFPB Indirect Auto Financing Guidance Act, which would revoke the flawed guidance issued in 2013 by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. A companion Senate version is expected. Most important, this bill would bring transparency and accountability to the CFPB’s regulation of the auto finance market. It stands as a stern rebuke of the agency's secret agenda to eliminate dealer-assisted financing. In short, the bill protects customers’ rights to fair and affordable financing. The details of the story are too long, winding and full of industry jargon. Suffice it to say, however, the passage of this bill was the right thing to do.
About 17.3 million new cars and trucks will be sold in 2015, including more than 70,000 here in Kansas City. This marks the seventh consecutive year of annual increases, with 2016 expected to continue the trend. For a business model that was under attack this year – and questioned for its relevance in the car-buying process in the 21st century – dealers provided 17.3 million reasons why no one is better than they are at the business. No one services customers better and no one provides them with cars more efficiently and more affordably than dealers. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
Challenges within the auto industry are not new. Just a few years ago the dealer network took a tremendous body blow as part of the Chrysler and GM bankruptcies. Too many dealers lost their franchises through no fault of their own. Those that survived remain resilient in an ever-changing business world. Dealers who employ thousands of men and women who arrive early at their stores and close late; who hire the best employees from sales to service; and who meet customers daily, and serve their communities proudly and selflessly. This is the way it’s supposed to be.
This story was originally published December 18, 2015 at 4:20 PM with the headline "Larry Carl: ’Tis the season."