Attention Dealers:
Your business can change with one simple vote in your locality
It is the position of FADA that Florida’s new car dealerships are an essential business. FADA is ‘command central’ right now for our members as dealerships are threatened by the potential impact of a local municipality order that could cease your sales operation immediately.
We have had some huge wins in localities (Miami, Broward, Alachua) and as a result have prepared a memo
(click here login required)
for you
to use as a resource when talking to your local leaders.
Thankfully our Governor has not issued an Executive Order for staying at home (shelter-in place) yet. However, localities are not restricted by the absence of an order from our Governor and can still restrict your sales operations through their own local order. The only way a local ordinance can be restricted is if the Governor, in a future order, specifically preempts all local orders concerning dealers or all retailers.
For the last two days we have worked with dealers in Alachua County on the first local order that did not even mention “related facilities,”
and today the County added dealers as essential for sales and service.
We are also working to respond to orders that do not provide you with clear guidance, such as what Orange County released last night. The following is typical language being adopted in Florida and all over the country:
The following retail and commercial businesses are deemed essential, and may remain open: (7) Auto-supply, auto-repair, related facilities, and towing companies;
Broward County has the best order in place:
Section 3. The following retail and commercial businesses are deemed essential and existing retail and commercial business locations of these businesses may remain open, but shall practice, and ensure persons interacting with and within such businesses practice, social distancing and all other measures as advised by the CDC:
f. Gas stations,
new and used automobile dealerships
, and auto-supply, auto-repair, and related facilities;
It is imperative that we specify that
sales as well as service
are essential to the needs of your customers in your community. We also must abide by CDC recommendations to ensure the safety of our customers and employees. We are hopeful some localities will adopt these specific measures in order to grant your sales department authority to operate.
Please continue to
inform us
of any new orders in your locality and seek our assistance as we continue to represent you in the weeks to come.
