Important video from President Ted Smith
FADA Members Deserve the Fine Reputation You Enjoy
When Michael's destructive winds demolished our FADA stores in the Panhandle, we anticipated hearing about lost property and damaged lives. What we couldn't foresee is the unexpected kindness that continues to pour in as dealers and their employees make contributions to help our FADA member employees.

Michael will never be forgotten by the dealers in Panama City or those whose lives were altered in this historic and grisly storm. The pictures we have included tell the story of the destruction to our dealerships.

FADA is on the scene providing temporary living expenses (from FADCF ) for employees who have suffered immense losses and need short term financial help for their families. To date, we have paid out around $40,000 to help our member families and we anticipate spending $80,000 before it is over. Every dollar contributed goes to dealer employees with needs and no money is used to rebuild or repair dealerships. Join us in thanking those who have contributed thus far to the Florida Automobile Dealers Charitable Fund, Read More
Condolences go out to the family of Steve Sweet, the Sales Manager at Chevrolet Buick of Quincy. Mr. Sweet was killed in his home on Wednesday during Hurricane Michael when a tree fell on their house. Please keep his family in your thoughts and prayers. .
Florida Franchise Dealers Must Renew your Licenses Before December 31, 2018
The Dealer License Section of Highway Safety has provided the renewal application for the renewal of your Florida franchised dealer license.  Your current license and your supplemental licenses will expire on December 31, 2018 and your renewal is good  for the license period January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2019. Read More.
The re-scheduled statewide dealer meetings are being held in:

Tampa on 11/8
Jacksonville on 11/13
Orlando on 11/14

Learn about legislative issues, state and federal compliance items and critical dealer topics. Please make every effort to attend.

Hope Scholarship Commences

October was your first month complying with this new law allowing your customers to divert $105 of their sales tax to this program. FADA needs to know about your experience handling customer requests and how you have handled the administrative requirements of the law.

Please do not use old DR-15 form to file your sales taxes and Hope contributions for October (in the next 20 days). We hope this warning is not necessary as most of you file online and the DOR will update its system to include the Hope remittances.

You are not required to file the new DOR HS-2 form unless at least one person during October made a contribution to Hope. If they did you will file the HS-2 with Step Up for Students and DOR. The new DR-15 form must however include an amount on lines 6 and 16, even if zero dollars was collected and remitted to Hope.
FADA needs your responses – Hope Scholarship Survey!
This Hope Scholarship program was created by legislation and the formal procedures will be adopted in early 2019 so your experience and your customers’ use of this tax diversion is hugely important so that we can help change this program and reduce the impact on your store and your employees. PLEASE HAVE THE PERSON RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR HOPE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM take this short 4 question survey . It will be the tool we use to help you!
How to File and Remit Hope Scholarship Forms & Contributions
The fastest and easiest way to submit the DR-HS2 Hope Scholarship program - Dealer Contribution Collection Report with the Florida Department of Revenue and Step Up for Students is online.  Read more
Election Day This Year May Be The Most Important In The Recent History of Our State

The battle for continuing our conservative business climate is being mixed up in a political tornado and voter turnout will be the deciding factor in how our state and our retail auto industry moves forward for the next 8 years.

Remember to vote "yes" on Amendment 2 as it will keep property taxes from being raised by maintaining a current cap on property value increases for commercial property, like dealerships.

(Personal input only) Twelve amendments remain on the ballot. Frankly, this is just Ted Smith talking, not FADA, but I believe that citizen votes through the ballot process are not the best way to make statewide policy decisions, because 8 of these amendments are being proposed by a State-organized Commission, 2 by citizens’ groups, and only 3 come from the legislature. We should let the Florida legislature decide what is best, not uninformed citizens, and not ask for votes on complicated measures where multiple ideas are grouped together in one proposal. Just my two cents!
Thank you so much if you are one of the 125 dealers owners who contributed to CAR-PAC this election cycle. You helped us raise and spend nearly $451,000 on local candidates in your home districts for the Florida House and Senate. We also supported candidates for Governor, Attorney General and Agriculture Commissioner. 

Please remember that the Attorney General has the most impact on your stores. The Governor is important relative to vetoes of FADA bills and the appointment of agency heads and judges in Tallahassee.
Voting In Hurricane Affected Counties 
Due to Hurricane Michael, early voting locations, dates and times and election day voting locations may have changed. If you are a voter in Bay, Calhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Jackson, Liberty and Washington counties, you still have the option to vote-by-mail, vote early, or vote on election day. 
  
Supervisors of Elections in affected counties are required to report any changes to their early voting and election day schedule to the Florida Department of State. As the Department receives this information from Supervisors of Elections, they will post information on their website ; please check it regularly for updates.
FADA Dealers Write Generous Checks for Campaigns

In addition to growing CAR-PAC, some of you responded even more by helping FADA with statewide races.  Thanks to the following dealers for supporting FADA’s initiatives with contributions above and beyond CAR-PAC:

  • Past Chairman Jonathan Chariff
  • Past Chairman Ralph Ghioto
  • Past Chairman Larry Morgan
  • Past Chairman Alan Wildstein
  • Greg Douglas
  • Jim Ferman
  • Chris Kraft
  • Sebastian Malo
  • John Mantione
  • Ken Marks
  • Ron and Randy Parks
  • Bert Smith
  • Steve Straske
  • Greg Soulliere
  • Bert Smith
  • Steve Straske
  • Allen Turner
  • Ed Williamson
KPA Ends Partnership With FADA
Effective September 30, 2018, KPA has canceled our long standing partnership agreement. FADA will be announcing a new partnership for environmental, human resource, risk management and compliance services in the near future.
NADA Issues Federal Records Retention Guide

Recently, NADA issued A Dealer Guide to Federal Records Retention and Reporting , available for NADA members to download online at  www.nada.org. Franchised dealerships generate a great deal of information, some of which must be retained or reported for business or contractual reasons, and some to fulfill federal, state or local regulatory requirements. Appropriate record keeping and reporting must also be considered in the context of litigation and other risk. Read more
GM's New Limited Warranty Product – Illegal in Florida

FADA started receiving calls last week about the new GM warranty program that has just been announced across the country. Six states have declared this program to be illegal so it is not being offered here in Florida or five other states due to provisions in the program that are unlawful. 

As you know Florida requires all pricing of vehicle service contracts to be on file at the providers’ offices and all prices in Florida must be followed without discounts at the point of sale. Vehicle service agreements must also offer cancellation options.
Audits on FTC Buyers Guides

We know that some of you are being audited by the FTC on the use of the new FTC Buyers’ Guides for used vehicles. If you have had an experience and need some help we would like to assist, contact members@flada.org .  
Using Credit Reports on Employees or Candidates

The Fair Credit Reporting Act is not just about risk based pricing, it also has new requirements for employers who might use credit reports in the employment process. New requirements went into effect September 21, for dealers in their role as employers. Read More
Sales tax and South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. – What’s new?

We are being asked about this case that is about vendors in other states charging sales tax on Internet sales. What is the impact on you? For now it appears that if you are selling a significant amount of wholesale parts in other states, you may be required to register as a business in those states and pay sales tax. Currently about 19 states have passed legislation requiring you to meet their law guidelines, if you sell above a minimum number of transactions (usually 200). 
Dealer disclosures on lease contracts and RISC
Please pay special attention to how you are listing and disclosing your various dealer fees in your sales documents – buyer’s order, lease order, lease agreement and retail installment contract (ex. LAW). 
Lawsuits and regulatory activity have increased due to how and where these fees are listed and disclosed.  Read more
Barbara Miller Honored in Orlando
The Seminole State College of Florida Board of Trustees has unanimously approved renaming the College's Professional Automotive Training Center to the Barbara Miller CFADA Automotive Training Center in honor of her long-term efforts on behalf of the program. Congratulations to Barbara in her retirement and on this honor. Read more