MISSISSIPPI SPARK PLUG

ALSO From PC to PocketPLUS Best Practices for Getting Your Customers Financed

KEEPING YOUR WEBSITE AHEAD OF THE CURVE

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PAIDDALLAS,TEXASPermitNo.2079

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NATIONAL INDEPENDENTAUTOMOBILE DEALERS ASSOCIATIONWWW.NIADA.COM•WWW.NIADA.TVNIADA HEADQUARTERS:2521 BROWNBLVD. • ARLINGTON, TX 76006-5203PHONE (817) 640-3838FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION CONTACT: TROY GRAFF(800) 682-3837 OR [email protected] SPARK PLUG IS PUBLISHED BI-MONTHLY BY THE NATIONAL INDPENDENT AUTO-MOBILE DEALERS ASSOCIATION SERVICES CORPORATION, 2521 BROWN BLVD., AR-LINGTON, TX 76006-5203; PHONE (817) 640-3838. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID ATDALLAS, TX AND AT ADDITIONAL OFFICES. POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGESTONIADASTATEPUBLICATIONS,2521BROWNBLVD.,ARLINGTON,TX76006-5203. THESTATEMENTS AND OPINIONS EXPRESSED HEREIN ARE THOSE OF THE INDIVIDUAL AU-THORS AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT THE VIEWS OF THE SPARK PLUG, THEMISSISSIPPI INDEPENDENT AUTOMOBILE DEALERS ASSOCIATION, OR THE NATIONALINDEPENDENTAUTOMOBILEDEALERSASSOCIATION. LIKEWISE, THEAPPEARANCEOFADVERTISERS,OR THEIR IDENTIFICATIONASMEMBERSOFNIADA,DOESNOTCONSTI-TUTEANENDORSEMENTOFTHEPRODUCTSORSERVICESFEATURED.COPYRIGHT2010BYNIADASERVICES, INC.ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.STATE MAGAZINEMGR./SALES: TroyGraff • [email protected]: MikeHarbour •[email protected]/PRODUCTIONMGR.: ChristyHaynes • [email protected]:NiemanPrinting

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010 T H E S PA R K P L U Gwww . m s i a d a . c o m

FOR INFORMATION ON HOW TO BECOME AMEMBER PLEASE CONTACT TAMMY CARROLLAT [email protected] OR601-957-1010.

MIADA OFFICE110 AIRPORT ROAD, SUITE FPEARL, MS 39208PHONE: 601-957-1010EMAIL: [email protected] SITE: WWW.MSIADA.COM

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AutoTrader.com ............................................Back CoverDealer Funding, Inc. ....................................................5First Consumers Financial ............................................17LA’s 1st Choice Auto Auction ...................................... 7Manheim.com ............................................................11Manheim Mississippi ..........................Inside Front CoverSmart Auction .................................... Inside Back CoverWest Insurance ............................................................ 8Western General / Protective .................................. 13

MAGAZINECONTENTS

ADVERTISERSINDEX

4 From PC to Pocket: Connecting With Shoppers6 Best Practices for Getting Your Customers Financed

10 Keeping Your Website Ahead of the Curve12 Regulations and More Regulations

John McElroy is host of the long-running"AutolineDetroit" television program, covering allaspects of the automotive industry. In this presen-tation, McElroy provides a thorough and insight-ful review of where we've been, where we noware, and where our industry is headed. Taped atthe Automotive Fleet & Leasing Association'sAnnual Conference.

THE CURRENT STATEOFTHEAUTO INDUSTRY

CATCH THISONWWW.NIADA.TV

WESTERN FUNDING TO USELOANPLUS PRODUCTSProconGPS, Inc., the leader in asset management solutions for the automotive fi-

nance industry, announced in September it will provide its lineup of customized Loan-Plus GPS product offerings and services byWestern Funding, Inc., of Las Vegas, Nev.The LoanPlus brand of GPS technology by the Lender Services division of Pro-conGPS, Inc., provides customized programming,Web services, account manage-ment support and state-of-the-art electronics to finance companies and banks.“We sincerely appreciate being selected byWestern Funding to assist them across

the country with our LoanPlus GPS product services,” said Jim Giammarco, exec-utive vice president of ProconGPS, Inc. “Western Funding has been a valuable fi-nancial resource to dealers for over 48 years and we are very pleased to help themcontinue in that tradition.”Western Funding purchases automotive contracts primarily from independent

dealers in the Buy Here-Pay Here(BHPH) market.“We are excited about our alliance

with ProconGPS and their LoanPlusGPS device and servicing providedby the Lender Services division,” saidGary Shannon, vice president of salesand marketing for Western Funding.“Our partnership with ProconGPSwill be a tremendous help in buildingour presence within the independentdealer marketplace.”

vAuto becomes part of AutoTrader.comAutoTrader.com and vAuto announced in September an agreement under which

AutoTrader.com will acquire vAuto, the automotive retail industry’s leadingprovider of advanced software tools for used vehicle management, pricing and in-ventory optimization. The terms of the deal are not being disclosed.vAuto will operate as a subsidiary of AutoTrader.com and the two companies

will operate largely independently, although they will collaborate in the areas ofproduct development and customer training. Going forward, dealer customers ofbothAutoTrader.com and vAuto can expect to see enhancements to both compa-nies’ products and services, such as more real-time, market demand-driven toolsthat will benefit their businesses.“Over the past decade, the Internet has enabled consumers to have a tremen-

dously more transparent view of used vehicle availability and pricing on a local,regional and national basis,” saidAutoTrader.com President and CEO Chip Perry.“This change in the way consumers shop for cars has created a strong need fordealers to efficiently manage and merchandise their vehicles in a way that en-sures they remain competitive. As a result of these trends, the many dealers whouse third party classifieds sites like AutoTrader.com and who also employ state-of-the-art inventory management and pricing tools like vAuto are generatingstrong growth and profitability even in the face of a soft automotive market.”vAuto will maintain its management team; founder Dale Pollak and president

Keith Jezek will remain with the company at its headquarters in Oak Brook, Ill.“I am excited to see vAuto join forces with AutoTrader.com because our two

companies share a common passion for helping dealers leverage the Internetthrough strong product innovation and customer service,” said Pollak. “Togetherwe are intent on ensuring that customers of both vAuto andAutoTrader.com willcontinue to benefit from the expertise and consulting services that they’ve cometo depend on and trust.AutoTrader.com is a majority-owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises, which

also owns auction giant Manheim.


FROMPC TOPOCKET:CONNECTINGWITHSHOPPERSONTHEMOVE

6.2“At any giventime, about50 millionAmericansare shoppingfor a car,and up to6.2 MILLIONare usingtheir mobilephones duringthat process.

Internet access from mobile devices is ahot topic for automotivemarketers. It’s alsoan important one.MobileWeb growth is so strong,it’s suggested mobile usage will overtake tradi-tional Web access from wired devices (desktopsand laptops) in just three years. That means youneed to start thiking today about how this technol-ogy might affect your business in the near future.First, let’s define the mobile Web. It refers to

any browser-based access to the Internet or Webapplications (or apps) using amobile device. Thereare many different types of mobile devices, but bythis time next year, smart phones (i.e., the iPhone,Blackberry, Android, etc.) will be the dominanttype of phone. This information is important be-cause smart phones are the most efficient and ef-fective mobile devices for accessing the Internet.More importantly, it’s on the smart phone whereadvertising and shopper engagement can happen.Now let’s talk about how consumers usemobile

devices as part of the vehicle shopping process. Atany given time, about 50 million Americans areshopping for a car, and up to 6.2 million are usingtheir mobile phones during that process. However,there are some key differences in shopping behav-ior when car shoppers are on the go versus using aPC or laptop from their home or office.

FOR EXAMPLE, MOBILE SHOPPERSARE TYPICALLY:• Closer to making a purchase• More likely to be looking at contentrelated to their final selection and/orpurchase

• Not close to a PC and therefore notconducting extensive research

In addition, the mobile shopping cycle appearsto complement the traditional online shoppingcycle.According toAutoTrader.com site statistics,online traffic from a laptop or PC is the highest atthe beginning of the week and gradually declinesas the weekend approaches. But how does mobileWeb use compare?AutoTrader.com site usage alsoshows a dramatic increase in mobile access to oursite over the weekend.This information reveals there is a natural con-

tinuity between the research that car shoppers aredoing Monday through Friday and their trips todealerships at the weekend. The most valuablething you can do as a dealer is develop a strategyto stay connected to vehicle shoppers when theytake that shopping experience from their PC totheir pocket.

MOBILE CONSIDERATIONSFOR YOUR DEALERSHIPTALK TO YOUR WEBSITE PROVIDERAsk your website vendor if your site is mobile

device-friendly. Go ahead and check it out fromyour own phone.What do you see?As you evolveyour dealership for the future, think about opti-mizing your virtual showroom for themobile web.

KEEP YOUR LISTINGS IN FRONTOF IN-MARKET CAR SHOPPERSWHEREVER THEY AREMake sure your inventory is listed on third-party

sites that offer a satisfying mobile web experiencefor car shoppers. Independent sites such as Auto-Trader.com have streamlined mobile sites thatallow dealers to stay connected to in-market shop-pers when they go mobile.

ENSURE YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION ISFRONT AND CENTER ON YOUR DEALER-SHIP SITERemember earlier when Imentioned consumers

aren’t conducting extensive research on their mo-bile phones but instead are more likely to be in thefinal stages of making a purchase decision?What if that decision was to walk into your

dealership but they need to look up your street ad-dress or phone number from their mobile device?Make it easy for them. Keep your dealership con-tact information prominent on your homepage.Even from wired devices, consumers don’t like tonavigate through several pages to find basic infor-mation, and they’re even less likely to do it on theircell phone where the screen is small and the pageloading time is slower.

BASIC BLOCKING AND TACKLING IS STILLTHE MOST IMPORTANT THINGAdvances in the technology for the mobile web

are great opportunities for dealers to stay con-nected to car shoppers during all stages of theshopping process. However, effective online mer-chandising should be the higher priority before in-vesting time and money in mobile platforms.

Tori Morandi has more than 10 years of ex-perience as a public speaker and expert traineras well as extensive in-dealership experience.As an industry educator for AutoTrader.com,she covers what's happening in the automotivemarket, consumer car shopping behavior,emerging trends, and what's new with adver-tising and marketing on the Internet.

BYTORIMORANDI,managerof industry education,AutoTrader.com

T H E S PA R K P L U G NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010 w ww . m s i a d a . c o m

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In this economy, it’s imperativethat your dealership take advantageof every opportunity to get yourcustomers financed. Each deal isunique, but your best chance tofund each and every deal is to payattention to the basics. Let’s focus ona key tenet: your finance source selec-tion and partnership.Know the finance source policies.

Knowing and following your financesources’ guidelines for receiving applica-tions can make or break your approvalsuccess rate. Additionally, understand-ing how to package your final deal willalso speed your funding. Find out yourfinance sources’ policies regarding cashdown, credit scores and scoring models,model year/mileage restrictions, PTI, andLTV.What about the lender’s book value(which book do they advance on?) Isyour value accurate?Verify contract accuracy.Verify the ac-

curacy of your contract prior to submis-sion to the finance source. Are yousending the customer application to thefinance source most likely to fund thatcandidate? Check customer quality, ve-hicle selection and advance sought.Create a complete funding package.

Know the stipulations prior to delivery!Always create a checklist, whetherpackaging the deal on your own orproviding to a clerk. Make sure youinclude all relevant data. Verify allstipulations prior to sending, andverify that all standard docu-ments are included, completeand accurate. For example, apromissory note for $500 downcould cost you time and effortto track down, maybe even a$500 write off. The missingstipulations for POI could costyour dealership $25,000 in fund-ing, or worse, loss of an approvaldue to expiration - not to mentionthe frustration if the bank decides

not to re-approve!Ensure your customer meets program

guidelines. In times past, ’cash wasking’. This is not necessarily true any-more. It’s possible that your customercould meet 99 percent of minimum pro-

gram guidelines – but missing that onepercent could cost you the deal! So makeit easy on yourself. Don’t submit a dealwith $250 cash down knowing the pro-gram minimum is $500. You may not re-ceive a counter offer for an additional$250 down - you may just receive an “au-tomated turn down”. (Did you knowsome finance sources have policieswhich prevent them from rehashing aturndown?)Avoid “shot gunning” deals. Shot

gunning does not work to your advan-tage or speed your process. Actually, itdoes just the opposite. These days, fi-nance sources are very tightly manag-ing risk and cost. As a result, look tobook and risk portfolio management aremore critical than ever.Build relationships. It’s important for

you, the dealer, to build a solid relation-ship with your lenders. Get to know themand request that they provide you or yourstaff the training, education or feedbackneeded to have a successful partnership.Be accurate.Avoid vehicle value errors

or ‘power booking’, ‘grossing up,’ or oth-erwise enhancing the truth. It may seemharmless to round up an applicant’s in-come to the nearest “x”, or even providea luxury vehicle with all of the bells andwhistles, but it is not in either your, or thefinance sources’, best interest. Your cus-tomer could have provided an applicationfor credit using a different income at adifferent location, thus creating a dis-crepancy. This could delay your ap-proval, create additional stipulations orworse, cause a decline.Additionally, many finance sources

are now completing their own customerinterviews, either at random or generatedbased on the finance source’s risk as-sessment of your dealership’s perform-ance or repossession rate. The ‘powerbooked’ car may have provided a niceadvance and appearance of profit to yourdealership, but if a discrepancy is found,you could be charged back, or even losea finance source.Most importantly, communicate

with your lenders at every turn. It’snever too late to be a great partner.Good selling!

BEST PRACTICESFORGETTINGYOURCUSTOMERS FINANCED

BY G E O R G E H A R T M A NDirector, national business development,RouteOne LLC

George Hartman is the directorof national business developmentat RouteOne LLC, a free, onlinecredit application managementservice for franchised and inde-pendent dealers nationwide.RouteOne’s credit platform al-

lows automotive dealers to submitcredit applications to a widevariety of lenders, including prime,sub-prime, banks and creditunions. RouteOne offers dealers avast array of F&I tools includingcredit bureau access, DSPintegration, free reporting, anda host of subscription-based tools,with no long-term fees or contractsrequired at any time. RouteOneoffers dealers a common platformfor all their credit applicationfinancing needs.

More information is availableby contacting Hartmandirectly at 248-862-7050 [email protected]. Dealersmay also contact RouteOne SalesSupport at 866-933-0663 [email protected].


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8

In an effort to keep dealers up-to-date on the latest tools,technology and buying/selling trends in an ever-changingmarketplace, NADA University and ADESA have teamedup to present a series of free lunchtime educational semi-nars called “Industry Insight.”ADESA’s Tom Kontos, president of customer strategies and

analytics, was one of a panel of four experts giving industryviews to dealers during the first Industry Insights seminar en-titled, “What’s Now? What’s Next?” held at ADESA Dallason September 15.Kontos talked about the used car market’s vehicle supply for

rental, lease, repos and dealer consignment. He explained thatthe remarketing industry obtains supply from a broad array ofsources so that it’s not dependent on any one outlet—which,as a result, have kept auction volumes relatively constant.

However, the mix ofvehicles has shifted.The turnover of

rental fleets was atits lowest in 2009,but has begun to re-bound somewhatthis year. Fleet salesin 2010 are an indi-

cator of future increases in wholesale used vehicle supply in thelane and online. ThroughAugust, total sales volume for rental,commercial and government vehicles has increased about 39percent from 2009. Kontos added both new vehicle sales andlease penetration are on the rise as well as new vehicle leaseorigination. This means there will likely be more off-lease ve-hicles on the market in about three years.

Kontos noted off-lease volumes will drop slightly this yearand then fall significantly during 2011 through 2012.After that,off-lease volumes should begin to recover. As credit tightenedand new vehicle sales fell, auto loans and outstanding leasesdeclined. Kontos said, “It’s no surprise that repos reached anall-time high during the recession—but this should begin totaper as the economy improves.”Speaking of economic recovery, Kontos said new and used

vehicles sales in 2010 are significantly improved from last year.For both the U.S. and Canada, Kontos pointed out that new ve-hicle sales are up—and that truck sales have grown more thancar sales.Since bottoming in November 2008, average wholesale

prices have firmed and are likely to continue to be up on a year-over-year basis, albeit more moderately and with typical sea-sonal ups and downs, during 2010.Tim Zierden, ADESA’s vice president of dealer sales and

services, facilitated the event’s lively discussion. Other indus-try experts who spoke at ADESA Dallas during the “IndustryInsight” seminar were:■ LesAbrams, NADAAcademy instructor, who discussed usedvehicle inventories and today’s best practices■Dale Pollak, vAuto’s chairman and founder, who talked aboutnew technologies, and■ George Heppe, GigglePop’s president and owner, who ex-plained new mobile Developments.Attendance at the seminar was favorable with about 50

dealers participating. Please contact NADA University at(800) 557-6232 for information about future Industry Insightevents.

New Industry Insight Series Educates Dealerswith Free Seminars

“IT’SNOSURPRISETHATREPOSREACHEDANALL-TIME

HIGHDURING THERECESSION—BUTTHISSHOULDBEGINTOTAPERASTHE

ECONOMYIMPROVES.”ADESA’s Tom Kontos, president ofcustomer strategies and analytics


WH I T E HOU S E R E FORM R EQU E S TOn September 23 and September 29, Federal Advocates was contacted by the

White House, which is trying to organize and schedule a meeting to include “peo-ple who are working to setup the CFPB.” This meeting is in response to a lettersent by NIADA to President Obama requesting “the opportunity to work with youto reform our industry in common-sense ways that achieve real safeguards for con-sumers, that promote accountability and transparency, and that really work.”

SMA L L B U S I N E S S J O B S AND CR E D I T A C T O F 2 0 1 0On September 23, the House passed the Senate-passed bill, which includes an

increase in the amount the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Dealer FloorPlan Financing program can guarantee. This permits the SBA to guarantee bankand finance company loans up to $5 million, which should help, the committee be-lieves, expand dealer access to floorplan lines of credit. We worked with LouisianaDemocrat Sen. Mary Landrieu’s committee and personal staff, in conjunction withothers, on this. This bill may be the subject of subsequent meetings with CapitolHill and the SBA on how the

WAL L S T R E E T / CON SUMER F I N AN C I A L S E RV I C E S R E FORM B I L LOn September 21, Keith Whann and Federal Advocates met with staff of the

Federal Trade Commission (FTC): James Dolan, assistant director; CaroleReynolds, senior attorney, Division of Financial Practices; Rebecca Kuehn, assis-tant director, Division of Privacy and Identity Protection; Katherine Worthman, at-torney, Division of Financial Practices; and Daniel Hanks, attorney, Division ofMarketing Practices. The meeting covered implementation of the above bill and itsimpact on the auto industry. Following discussion of various issues, including BuyHere-Pay Here issues, with NIADA General Counsel Keith Whann leading the dis-cussion and answering various questions as to how the auto industry segmentswork, which also covered the auto auction process, it was decided to schedule an-other half day session in the following weeks to allow for a more detailed discus-sion of issues.To review, on July 22, President Obama signed into law the so-called Wall Street

Reform Bill. As reported previously, the new law exempts certain auto dealersfrom increased oversight with respect to dealer-assisted financing. To get to thatresult, advocacy activities over the past month included numerous meetings, strat-egy phone conference calls, letters, talking points, legislative alerts and more. Thelaw does grant increased powers to the FTC regarding dealer oversight. Also, it re-quires coordination with the Defense Department (DOD) to ensure service mem-bers and their families are treated fairly by automobile dealers.

D E PARTM EN T O F D E F E N S ERegarding the issue of “how to ensure that service members and their families

are treated fairly by automobile dealers,” Keith Whann and Federal Advocates alsomet on September 21 with Frank Emery of the Defense Department’s Family Pol-icy Outreach Directorate. Whann relayed a specific example of how he helped aservice member at Fort Bragg, N.C., regarding an automobile situation, workingwith the base Judge Advocate General’s office and others. He also talked about aplan for a special program to teach dealers on how to deal fairly with service mem-bers and their families. Emery mentioned a November conference in Denver whereKeith could give a presentation. Details are to be finalized at a later date.

FEDERAL ADVOCATES IS NIADA’S GOVERNMENTAL ADVOCACY PARTNER.To read past lobbying reports, visit http://www.niada.com/legislative_and_legal.php

Federal AdvocatesLobbying ReportManheim

CorporateSecurityDate: Aug. 18, 2010

TO:All GM’s and AGM’s

CC:All Front Office Managers andAll Security Managers

FROM:Alan Walker, DirectorCorporate Security

STATUS:High Importance

ISSUE:Interstate Suspect Alert #3

Suspect:PRICE, Shawn D. - BlackMale Adult, 5ft 11 ins tall 230lbs. D.O.B. 09/13/74(It is believed this suspect is thesame person who was usingthe name, Marcus EDWARDSand a fake IL DL pictured inprior alerts)

Our Interstate Suspects havestruck again. The suspect listedabove is using a fakeWisconsinDrivers License as identifica-tion. He stole 3 vehicles fromNashville Auto Auction TN inthe evening of Monday August16th. The gate releases hadbeen left at security after 3 sep-arate phone calls had beenplaced to the front office re-questing No Sale releases. Hisdescription matches the personwho is responsible for vehiclethefts from our auctions inFredericksburg VA, ManheimPA and Atlanta GA.This is preventable; if you

have all personnel who receivephone requests for No Sale Re-leases from an individual theydo know, confirm the requestwith the Dealership/Ownerusing contact info from ourrecords.

SECURITYALERT

URGENTMESSAGE FORALLAUCTIONMEMBERS


9


Despite many articles you’ve read, just hav-ing a Twitter, Facebook, MySpace orLinkedIn account is not going to sell youmore cars. The realpower of social media isallowing your customersto share your inventoryonline to the friends intheir social network.Take advantage of thefact Billy has 2,500friends and when hisfriends or family place avehicle from your dealership on his socialnetworking page, your dealership is in-stantly exposed to everyone in his network.

There are many free tools in themarketplace you add to your site ifyour provider hasn’t already implementedthem for you. The following is a list of thetop three sites where you can get free sharingtools to add to your website.By simply adding these sharing tools to

your site, you are opening up your dealer-ship to the masses and allowing yourself tomake a viral jump in the social mediarealm.

ADDING A BLOG TO YOUR SITESearch engines love to see site growth on

the weekly visits to your dealership site, aswell as links from valuable sources con-necting to it. Offsite blogs are great for bothof these, as you can link to your dealershipsite from your blog. Most blogs allow youto have a section you can paste into yoursite to showcase the most recent blog post-ing to your potential customers. Becausesearch engines try to match the words peo-ple are typing into them to websites, addingautomotive related terms in your blog willhelp tremendously with search engine op-timization (SEO).Here is a list of the top 3 free websites

that you can sign up for and link to yourdealership website.The above listed sites allow you to cre-

ate your own blog for your dealership aswell as customize the design to implementyour dealership graphical logos to matchthe current branding of your dealership.The more avenues that you give the internetwith content pertaining to your dealership,the larger the footprint that you will leaveon the internet.

MANAGING YOUR SOCIAL MEDIAWith all of the social media tools avail-

able online, it can become a painstakingprocess to make sure you keep them all upto date. Between Twitter, Facebook, My-

Technology has advanced andchangedmore in the last ten years thanit has in the last 100 years combined.This is mainly due to the Internet era andthings are looking like they’ll only speedup from here.When consumers purchase a vehicle

from your dealership, the first thing theyhave the option to do is to make it theirown by adding custom accessories. Web-sites are very similar, and there are manyaftermarket accessories you also can addon to your site to make it unique. Makingsure your site and computer are up to dateis easier than you think, and doing so willallow you the ability to get the maximumbenefit with the least amount of effort.Over the last several years, website

providers have been slowly shifting theability and power over to the webmasteror site owner. This puts you in the driver’sseat by allowing you more access to addfunctionality by editing the content,changing out photos and even addingsimple HTML code. If your websiteprovider does not allow you to edit con-tent on your site, you still can utilize theitems listed below by having your siteprovider add them for you.

BROWSER UPDATESNow you can’t put the cart in front of the

horse, as they say, so we need to startwith updating the browser you use on

your computer.This is how youlog onto the Internet.The following isa list of the latestbrowsers so youcan determine ifyou either wantto update theversion you havenow or switch toa differentbrowser.

Knowingwhat your potential customer isusing on his or her computer might help youmake a decision onwhat browser you shoulduse, too. We’ve included a list of the latestversions of the top five browsers so youmay download the correct version for yourcomputer. You can find these free down-loads by simply searching for the belowlisted items in any search engine:1. Internet Explorer: version 82. Mozilla Firefox: version 3.6.103. Google Chrome: automatic updates4. Safari: version 55. Opera: version 10.6.2

By updating to the latest version or evenswitching to a different browser, you’llhave the ability to keep all of the contentsaved in your old browser and transfer it tothe new version or new browser of yourchoice along with your favorite websites.Now that your operating system is up to

date and in place, let’s make sure you havethe ability to correctly track the resultsyour site is bringing to your dealership.

WEBSITE TRACKING TOOLSMost sites do come with an analytics

section, but Google has developed a freetracking system called Google Analyticsthat’s 100-percent free and can beinstalled by your website administrator.This tracking system is far more in depththan what’s traditionally provided byyour website provider. You can create afree account with Google and gain freeaccess to this tracking system by visitingwww.google.com/analytics.This system will allow you to track vis-

itors viewing your website in extreme de-tail including, but not limited, to thefollowing:• Mobile visitor tracking• Data benchmarking• Internal site search features• Flash tracking• Video and social network applicationtracking

• Advanced segmentation of data• Advanced analysis tools• Analytics intelligence• Custom reporting• Custom set variables• Easy-to-use dashboards• Data exports to transfer all data from thesystem to spreadsheetsIt is impossible to improve upon the re-

sults of your website if you don’t knowthem. This system will allow you to viewany of the data from your site visitors, aswell as set up goals for your website trafficso you can reach the desired benchmarksyou set for your company with ease.

SOCIAL MEDIA SHARING TOOLSSocial media is going viral on the Inter-

net and dealers need to take advantage of it.

KeepingYourWebsite Aheadof the Curve

YOURWEBSITE

www.AddThis.com

www.AddToAny.com

www.ShareThis.com


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Space, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, FriendFeed, MSN Messenger,AIM Messenger, Google Talk and Yahoo! Chat, you could easilyspend all day just updating your social media outlets as you jumpfrom site to site. That’s wherewww.Yoono.com comes in; it’s a social mediamanagement platform that’s free and allowsyou the ability to update all your social mediaoutlets with one of the mouse.Yoono.com offers a browser add-on (rec-

ommended) specifically for Mozilla Firefoxand Google Chrome browsers; however, fordifferent browsers, you can download a desk-top application for Windows (Internet Ex-plorer), Macintosh (Apple), Linux or USB tomanage all of your social media channels.This tool allows you to update your status

across the board as well as share links, im-ages, videos and stay connected on all of yourinstant messaging channels.Time equals money, and money equals time.

The more of both you save will allow you the ability to work moreefficiently and accomplish more for your dealership on a daily basis.Making sure you’re utilizing all of the above listed features in

your website will tremendously increase your results. By simplysetting site traffic goals and staying aware of amount of trafficyou’re receiving, you’ll be able to improve upon it on a monthly,quarterly and annual basis.

www.Blogger.com

www.WordPress.com

Yoono.com

www.MyBlogSite.com

By Michael D. Jackson, CEO,Auto Search Technologies, Inc.

(949) 608-0809 (Direct Line)[email protected] NIADA.COM

ALL NEW FOR YOU!NIADA has unveiled a brand new

website that’s easy to navigate andoffers many new technologically-ad-vanced features for dealer members.Among them:

• The entire NIADA membership rosteris now included on the home page via a statemap, and dealer members can opt-in to add morecontact info to their online membership listing.

• All state magazines published by NIADA can nowbe viewed inclusive of advertisements. The maga-zines also will be archived on the site. Plus, thosesame state associations will have direct links fromtheir websites to our site promoting readership oftheir particular state magazine. To view these mag-azines go to http://www.niada.com/state_maga-zines.php

• NIADA National Corporate Partners (NCP) will nowhave the ability to add a company or product-specificvideo next to their NCP description.


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When Congress passes a bill andthe president signs it into law, that isjust part of the story, and the devil isalmost always in the details. The de-tails come in the rules and regulations thatfederal agencies are required to develop toimplement the laws. In other words, thefederal agencies take the legislation, inter-pret it and write rules designed to blend therequirements of the new law into existingrules and to advise the affected entities ofthe actions they are to take to comply withthe new law. In some instances, they havea good deal of latitude in interpreting alaw, so required implementation actionmay not always agree with an entity’searly understandings of the law and whatis to be expected of them. Be that as itmay, the rules are written and the affectedentities attempt to comply.There is always a time lapse between

when a law is written and when the rulesbecome effective. Attempts are generallymade to develop the rules and make themavailable for public input in a timelyfashion. Given a time frame for pubicinput and consideration of the commentsreceived and possible rules revisionsbased upon those comments, it some-times takes months or even years after abill becomes law before compliance isrequired. Generally, the more compli-cated the law, the longer the time beforecompliance is required.For instance, compliance with the rules

written for the “Financial Services Regu-latory Relief Act of 2006” has been set asJan. 1, 2011. That’s when several newforms, including the privacy notice (fromthe Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act) and therisk-based pricing disclosure notices (fromthe Fair andAccurate Credit TransactionsAct) are set to become mandatory. Modelforms have been developed and adoptedby the agencies the use of which is notmandatory, but when used in their busi-nesses, provide a “safe harbor” for deal-erships.These new forms are in a tabular format

(rather than paragraphs of text) dividedinto questions on the left-hand side of thepage followed by answers on the right-hand side, and use supposedly consumer-friendly terminology. These changesreflect a conscious decision on the part ofthe financial services regulatory agenciesto adopt a disclosure style intended tosimplify consumer disclosures.Unfortunately for dealerships, this sim-

plification means the disclosures are beingmade for the benefit of the consumer re-ceiving them, not the dealership that has touse and explain them to customers. Deal-erships will face significant operationalchallenges in implementing the newforms. These challenges include adaptingto the new style of disclosures, customiz-ing them to their needs, timing theswitchover to the new forms, and main-taining their regulatory safe harbor.The use of this new form style will also

involve the risk-based pricing disclosurethat comes from the Fair and AccurateCredit Transactions (FACT)Act and is alsoeffective Jan. 1, 2011. This disclosuremust be given when lenders use consumerreports in connection with extensions ofcredit where the interest rate is materiallyless favorable.Automotive Dealer Resource (ADR)

staff is working to develop the model pri-vacy form for use by dealerships that willpreserve the safe harbor format. We willkeep you posted on our progress.

CONSUMER FINANCEPROTECTION BUREAUNow comes the recently enacted 2,000-

plus-page law to further regulate financialinstitutions and, although most dealershipsare excluded from regulation by the newConsumer Finance Protection Bureau(Buy Here-Pay Here dealers are not ex-cluded), the Federal Trade Commission(FTC) which writes rules for all dealershas been given extended powers underthis law. Bearing in mind the presidentspecifically identified dealerships as sig-nificant contributors to consumer miseryin the financing of motor vehicles, it willbe interesting to see what comes out ofthe FTC offices.Financial transactions falling under the

agency's jurisdiction would include mort-gages, credit cards, student loans, autoloans, payday loans and more.The devil will be in the details on this

law, too, as the various agencies attempt towrite the thousands of pages of rules re-quired before the law can be implemented.Although Congress established specifictime frames for implementation, and au-thorized an additional 800 employees toget the job done, it’s difficult to believerules and regulations will be developed torequire compliance in less than threeyears; it’s likely to take much longer. Weshall see.B

yADRStaff

THESECHANGESREFLECTACONSCIOUSDECISIONONTHE PART OF THEFINANCIALSERVICESREGULATORYAGENCIES TOADOPT ADISCLOSURESTYLE INTENDEDTO SIMPLIFYCONSUMERDISCLOSURES.

RegulationsAND MORE REGULATIONS


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To find out how we can enhance your dealer profits and customer satisfaction

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Lifetime Engine Warranty, Limited Warranty, Vehicle Service Contracts (VSCs) and GAP are backed by Lyndon Property Insurance Company in all states except NY. In NY, VSCs are backed by Old Republic Insurance Company. GAP, Lifetime Engine Warranty and Limited Warranty are not available in NY. Credit Insurance is backed by Protective Life Insurance Company in all states except NY, where it is backed by Protective Life and Annuity Insurance Company.



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M I S S I S S I P P I I N D E P E N D E N T A U T O M O B I L E D E A L E R S A S S O C I A T I O N

Membership in MIADA is $250, which includes membership in the Naitional Independent Automobile Dealers Associ-ation. Please make a copy of this application for your file and send the original to the address below with your checkfor membership dues made payable to:Mississippi Independent Automobile Dealers Association • 110 Airport Rd., Suite F • Pearl, MS 39208601-957-1010

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