In August of this year, we sent out our dues renewals for the new October 1 fiscal year, and with that stressed the importance of renewing your investment in FADA - especially CAR-PAC. We are so proud to report that to date, 80% of our members have renewed their membership and 27% have donated to CAR-PAC.

Whether you've given $500 or $20,000 - your support is valuable and recognized! By responding - you've acted. You've shown your support with whatever dollar amount you've chosen and for that we are GRATEFUL!

So far we have raised a record-breaking $300,000 in CAR-PAC funds (since August 1) toward our $1,000,000 goal. Just look at the most recent scoreboard below! Please celebrate with me these contributors listed herein. You are making a difference in protecting Florida's franchise laws. But there is much to be done to reach our goal and we need the rest of you to act immediately!

PROUD SUPPORTERS - $500+ 
Anderson Subaru 
Bert Smith Automotive 
Chipola Ford 
Gordon Chevrolet 
Key Scales Ford 
Scanlon Automotive Group 
Sunset Automotive Group 
Tropical Ford

AMBASSADOR'S CLUB - $1,000+ 
Arlington Toyota
Bill Cramer Chevrolet Cadillac Buick GMC
Bill Ussery Motor Group
Bob Steele Chevrolet
Boast Motors
Cannon Automotive Group
Castriota Chevrolet
Claude Nolan Cadillac
Conley Buick GMC Subaru
Dixie Buick GMC Truck
DeLuca Toyota
Don Gasgarth's Charlotte County Ford
Earl Stewart Toyota
Fitzgerald's Countryside Auto Mall
George Nahas Chevrolet
George Moore Chevrolet
Hodges Motor Company
Karl Flammer Ford
Kisselback Ford
Lakeland Automall
Lynch Auto Group
Mahalak Auto Group
Massey Yardley Dodge Chrysler Jeep RAM Fiat
Miller Management Company
O'Brien Auto Park of Fort Myers
Orlando Dodge Chrysler Jeep
O'Steen Auto Group
Palmetto Ford Truck Sales
Paul Clark Ford
Port Charlotte Honda Volkswagen
Preston Hood Chevrolet
Red Hoagland Hyundai
Reed Nissan Auto Group
Rick Matthews Buick GMC
Sam Galloway Auto Group
South Pinellas County Auto Dealers Association
Stadium Auto Group
Suncoast Chrysler Jeep Dodge RAM
Tallahassee Dodge Chrysler Jeep
Tyrone Square Mazda

SPEAKER'S CLUB - $2,500+ 
Kraft Auto Group
Lakeland Motors Auto Group
Morgan Auto Group
Stadium Auto Group

PRESIDENT'S CLUB - $5,000+
Bozard Ford Lincoln
Craig Zinn Auto Group
Deardoff Automotive Group
Douglas Jeep Chrysler Dodge
Kelly Auto Group
Lehman Auto Group
Maher Chevrolet
Nimnicht Auto Group
Phil Smith Auto Group
Pines Ford Lincoln
Reeves Auto Group
Sandy Sansing Dealerships
Scott-McRae Group
Sheehan Auto Group
Stingray Auto Group
Williamson Cadiallac Company

CHAIRMAN'S CLUB - $10,000+
Alan Jay Automotive Group
Allen Turner Auto Group
Ferman Auto Group
Gunther Motor Group
John Lee Nissan
Rick Case Auto Group
Tom Bush Family of Dealerships

DEALER LEADERS - $20,000+
Central Florida Auto Dealers Association
Fields Auto Group
Jacksonville Automobile Dealers Association
South Florida Automobile Dealers Association
South Motors Automotive
Tampa New Auto Dealers Association
Warren Henry Auto Group

Just imagine what we can do if the other 73% of our members take a stand to tell our OEMs that we will not be pushed out of the Florida legislature. That we will fight for our franchise model and invest in the Florida legislative process in a way that is equivalent to our opponents. 

We are a $80 billion footprint in the Florida economy! If every dealer sees the vision and understands the need to invest in CAR-PAC to protect our franchise model, getting to $1,000,000 will be easy! It all starts with you right now. Thank you for whatever you can do to protect our future.

Sincerely, Ted
OEM Challenges are the new norm – FADA’s response

Your challenges from OEMs today are not just about our laws that are in place, they are more about enforcement of these laws so FADA has initiated a new process for addressing issues that impact all dealers in a certain brand.
 
When FADA receives a complaint from one of its members about the actions of a manufacturer, the first step in the process is to reach out to other dealers in that brand and determine if there is consensus that the actions are a significant issue that must be resolved.
 
If enough dealers agree that the issue is a major one, FADA will first address the concern to that OEM directly, as we have been doing for a while now. If the OEM ignores our inquiry or fails to adequately address the concern we will ask several key linemake dealers to attend a meeting with the Department of Highway Safety and ask the Department to address the issue. If the problem is still not addressed to the satisfaction of our members, we will assist the impacted dealers that wish to further contest the matter by identifying and assisting with the hiring of legal counsel to pursue the available legal remedies against the OEM.
FADA Member Assistance Program

For over two years FADA has had a Member Assistance Program where we work out resolutions, such as we did with the Hyundai/Genesis program. We have assisted in finding a middle ground on others issues, such as OEM subscription programs and attempts to launch new products outside of existing dealer agreements. 

Currently, FADA is objecting to:

  • Jaguar Land Rover about their facility program and goodwill parts reimbursements

  • Ford Motor Company’s requirement that dealers become EV certified and sign a new agreement to receive allocations

  • Lincoln’s new Commitment Program and the various payment components

  • Hyundai/Genesis plans to force dealers to join and pay the expenses of their new Redcap installation program and their new data sharing program

  • Mitsubishi’s sales objectives/reward program
PDP Memo to Dealers on 10-day requirement for service loaners and dealer protection

You may have recently received a memo from PDP outlining how you can be protected for service loaner vehicles as rentals. The memo is accurate relative to Florida law but there is more to know.

The update from PDP explains how Florida law classifies a “rental company” in Florida and provides that a dealer loaning a vehicle for 10 days or less is considered a “rental company.” Dealers offering service loaners will be classified as rental companies and thus are protected from vicarious liability suits because of the protection of the Graves Amendment. 

A recent decision by one of Florida’s five appellate courts concludes that a dealer offering a loaner vehicle to its service customers is shielded from vicarious liability arising from the customer’s negligent use of the vehicle by the federal law, known as the Graves Amendment. 

This decision is the first by a Florida appellate court to hold that the Graves Amendment applies to loaner vehicles. While the recent appellate decision does not address Florida’s definition of a “rental company,” FADA does agree with PDP’s recommendation -- that service customers in a loaner for more than 10 days should execute a new loaner agreement every 10 days (and perhaps change the loaner vehicle).
DOL Issues Salary Changes to White Collar Overtime Exemptions 

The  U.S. Department of Labor is updating and revising the earnings thresholds  necessary to exempt executive, administrative or professional employees (EAP or “white collar”) from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime pay requirements. The final rule will be effective January 1, 2020. Employees who work more than 40 hours in a workweek but who meet both the salary and duties tests for an EAP exemption do not have to be paid the federal overtime premium of 1.5 times their regular rate of pay. The EAP exemption salary threshold is increasing from the current $23,660 to $35,568 per year (or from $455 to $684 per week).

The DOL is allowing up to 10% of these salary thresholds to be satisfied by nondiscretionary bonuses or commissions. No changes were made to the EAP exemptions duties tests. The salary threshold for highly compensated employees (HCEs) also is being increased from the current $100,000 to $107,432 (there are no duties tests for HCEs). The new rule requires that HCEs receive at least $684 per week in salary, but the remainder of their compensation may be in the form of nondiscretionary bonuses or commissions. 

NADA is amending its  Dealer Guide to Federal Wage and Hour, Child Labor and Wage Discrimination Compliance   to reflect these new changes. *Important: under federal law, it is possible for more than one overtime exemption to apply to a given employee and for certain state laws to restrict how federal overtime exemptions may be applied. For more information email  regulatoryaffairs@nada.org .
NADA Washington Conference

Last month, FADA President Ted Smith took 7 Next Gen Florida dealers to NADA Washington Conference. The Florida delegation included:

  • Eric Coffey, Fitzgerald Motors
  • Alan Conley, Conley Buick GMC
  • Chris Conley, Conley Buick GMC
  • Rich Devoe, Devoe Automotive
  • Emerson Lee, Lee Buick GMC
  • Justin Hoagland, Red Hoagland Hyundai
  • Cade Rivard, Rivard Buick GMC

A special thanks to these men for serving FADA with their time and efforts. Together we lobbied the Washington House and Senate, as well as attended multiple NADA-PAC events, and meetings. If you haven't given to NADA's PAC, now is the time to make that investment.
Reminders



  • ADA website compliance is a difficult subject. Dealers across the state are seeing lawsuits filed for failure to comply with ADA accessibility requirements. FADA has advised about this numerous times but the suits continue. FADA is looking for root solutions to these technical issues and will continue to offer responses.
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