#19 | June 24, 2020 | View PDF of Full Issue | Subscribe
In This Issue

  • Area Motor Vehicle Departments Begin Ramping Up Operations
  • SBA Publishes New PPP Loan Forgiveness Forms
  • Md. Customer Connect Portal Launches July 6; Transition Begins July 2
  • Reminder: Md. Dealer Processing Charge Cap Increases on July 1
  • Keynote Addresses from WANADA’s 100th Anniv. Now Available Online
  • Independence Day Holiday Signs Available for Members
  • FTC Conducting Deceptive Ad Enforcement During COVID Pandemic
  • A Note About Upcoming WANADA Bulletins
Over the past couple of weeks, the state motor vehicle departments in our region have begun expanding their appointment-only in-person services, as the rate of positive COVID-19 cases continues declining across the area.

The DC DMV recently announced that, effective yesterday, all service stations would begin offering in-person services once again, on a by-appointment basis. The Brentwood CDL facility, and the vehicle inspection center in Southwest also will re-open with modified hours. In addition, road skills tests will resume on June 30.

All appointments can be made using the DMV’s central registration portal .

In Virginia, nearly three-dozen DMV service centers are now open ; appointments can be booked up to 32 days in advance on the state’s central registration site . Please note that there do appear to be significant backlogs in in-person services, potentially due to the hundreds of thousands of residents who need RealID-compliant licenses before the Oct. 1, 2021 deadline.

The Virginia Motor Vehicle Dealer Board has been offering licensing exams by appointment since mid-May. To request an MVDB appointment, please email Ann Majors at ann.majors@mvdb.virginia.gov .

The Maryland MVA is also gradually re-opening service centers around the state , and you can book an appointment using the state’s central scheduling system . While VEIP stations remain closed, there are seven VEIP self-serve kiosks open around the state, and they are available 24 hours a day.
Upcoming Events
News to Us
In the wake of the passage of  the Paycheck Protection Flexibility Act  (PPFA), the
Small Business Administration released new PPP loan forgiveness application forms, including an  EZ Forgiveness Application  and corresponding  instructions for the application .

The SBA also issued  a revised version of the full loan forgiveness application , which is five pages long. The revised full-length forgiveness application does not include the full instructions that the original application did, but the SBA did revise those instructions, and you can view them  at this separate link . 

As the EZ instructions explain, PPP borrowers who are eligible to file with the EZ application must be able to demonstrate that they did not reduce the salaries or hourly wages of any employees by more than 25 percent during the loan period. Eligible borrowers using the EZ form must also meet one of the following two qualifications:

  • The borrower maintained their pre-pandemic employment levels (not including offers of re-employment to furloughed employees that were rejected by the employee).

  • The borrower's business was unable to operate at the same level of pre-pandemic activity due to state or local health and safety mandates, or because of efforts to fully comply with social distancing guidelines published by OSHA, the CDC, and HHS.
Please note that the Maryland MVA’s Customer Connect system will launch on July 6.  The MVA has published a detailed timeline  outlining the rollout of the system at the beginning of July, which will “include vehicle services, business licensing, and the International Registration Plan (IRP)” at launch.

Please note that there will be a nearly four-day period, during the Fourth of July holiday, where the legacy system is offline and the state will be transitioning to the new portal. Please review the  latest MVA Bulletin  for a full list of best-practices and document retention requirements.

The state recommends that any pending electronic title and transfer transactions be completed prior to the transition period, which will commence when the state’s current registration system is taken offline at 5 p.m. on July 2. Electronic registration and titling work conducted between July 2 and July 6 will be validated upon the launch of the Customer Connect system. The MVA will also accept drop-off dealer and tag-and-title service work at all administration branch offices on July 2, and will use those transactions to test the new system during the transition period.

Please also note that the state will only be proactively creating Customer Connect login accounts for Maryland-based tag and title workers. Dealers in Virginia, Delaware, and other states that process Maryland titles will need to contact the state MVA at  mvablcsd@mva.maryland.gov  for access information.

We encourage you to reach out to the MVA with any questions you may have, as quickly as possible, ahead of the transition period. Please also feel free to contact Joe Koch, WANADA’s Vice President of Operations, at  jk@wanada.org , if you need additional information.
Maryland’s dealer processing charge limit increases from $300 to $500 beginning on July 1, and WANADA has produced a helpful guide for our members to better understand the processing charge and the associated disclosure requirements.

Please click here to view the two-page processing charge summary; we encourage our members to print out the guides and keep them on hand for their employees.
During these uncertain times we’re all going through, we thought it would be nice to look back on happier moments in WANADA’s recent history. WANADA has recently re-posted keynote addresses from the late Jack Pohanka, Gerard Murphy, and John O’Donnell on the association website. You can view them at this link .

You can also view the keynote addresses by visiting the Helpful Links for Dealers section on the WANADA website, which also features links to local police auto theft divisions, national recall databases, and much more.
WANADA is providing our members with optional business hours signage for the upcoming 4th of July holiday. 
 
We hope you use the closing sign for your modified holiday-sales hours. To download the sign, please  click here . You may type in your hours and print several to post around your dealership.   
  
Please contact Kathy Teich at  kt@wanada.org  if you have any questions.
Last week, the Federal Trade Commission filed a civil action against a Louisiana auto-auction middleman that sent out deceptive mail advertising that purported to be “stimulus relief program” information. According to the FTC, Traffic Jam Events LLC, which manages auto auctions for dealers and does direct-mail marketing on their behalf, sent mailers with fake checks that were designed to look like they were from the federal government.

Using language that mirrored that of federal programs like the CARES Act, Traffic Jam Events urged people to visit a “relief headquarters” location that was actually the location of a car tent sale. As the FTC notes in their summary of the injunction , filed in federal court in the Eastern District of Louisiana, “falsely claiming a connection to legitimate economic stimulus programs” is deceptive and will be shut down.

Marketing companies are subject to unfair practices lawsuits, notes the FTC, and businesses that partner with them also risk legal liability, even if they’re not directly involved in the scheme.
WANADA Bulletin will shift back to publishing once every two weeks, and the next issue will be published on July 8. The Bulletin has been published weekly since mid-March, when the COVID-19 pandemic really began changing everyday life in the United States. As we have throughout this crisis, we will continue providing e-mail updates to our dealers and Kindred-Line members on a very regular basis.

Please continue referring to WANADA’s COVID-19 Information Library , which will be updated on a frequent basis for as long as this crisis persists. You can also view a full archive of our pandemic-related e-mail communications at this link . WANADA is honored to be able to serve all our members, industry partners, and Bulletin readers during this difficult and uncertain period, and we will continue to do so long after this pandemic abates.