NADA files comments with Federal Reserve Board concerning Main Street Lending Program
We previously reported the new Main Street Lending Program announced by the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury was designed to provide further payroll assistance for small and mid-sized businesses affected by the coronavirus. At the time, NADA put together an
informative summary
of the new program, writing loan eligibility would be broader than under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
If you’ve obtained a PPP loan, you are not prevented from obtaining financial assistance under the Main Street Lending Program. However, certain restrictions of Main Street loan recipients may keep dealers from wanting to pursue such a loan. Last week, NADA’s Paul Metrey wrote the Federal Reserve, thanking the Fed and asking that it remove these unnecessary limitations.
See the letter
.
Guidelines for Opening Up America Again
As you are aware the White House announced
Coronavirus Guidelines for America
last month, as the global pandemic rapidly began its impact on the United States and Americans looked for guidance on how to mitigate its effects. Last week, President Trump announced Guidelines for Opening Up America Again, “a three-phased approach based on the advice of public health experts” that “will help state and local officials when reopening their economies, getting people back to work, and continuing to protect American lives” according to the
White House website
. See this
fact sheet
for more.
Auto service
and
sales are now considered essential by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security
On Friday (April 17), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency amended its list of essential critical infrastructure workers to include those engaged in vehicle sales. This has no impact on Kansas dealers, as we were already deemed essential under Governor Laura Kelly’s executive order.
CNBC:
“The coronavirus pandemic isn’t hurting U.S. auto sales as much as feared, J.D. Power says.”
According to a
CNBC
article
published last week, J.D. power expected American auto sales to drop as much as 80% relative to predictions before the global pandemic.
CNBC
’s Michael Wayland writes, “While still significantly down, sales through the first 12 days of April were only off by about 55% — indicating that sales for the full month might not be as bad as feared,” according to J.D. Power.
