Consumer Law

Car Dealers Fear Financial Reform

By Kemnitzer, Anderson, Barron, Ogilvie & Brewer

Finance reform has been bumped from front page news by international incidents and the catastrophic BP oil spill. But even as public attention has shifted elsewhere, the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) has not lost its focus on Washington. They are lobbying hard against legislation aimed at improving consumer protection. Why?

The landmark financial reform package that is working its way through Congress would greatly improve financial oversight of lenders. This means a wide variety of entities who share in the business of lending money, not just banks. After the House and Senate passed different versions of the bills, lawmakers from both bodies are in the process of reconciling the two versions. The battle is drawn, because the House passed a bill that exempted car dealers from financial reform, but a similar amendment failed in the Senate.

The outcome of this process will greatly affect the way cars are sold in coming years. NADA is lobbying for its car dealers to be exempt from financial regulation, and is trying hard to persuade committee members that dealers don't get involved in car loans. Nothing could be further from the truth. As Paul Wiseman of USA Today reports, "auto dealerships originate 79% of auto loans and leases." He goes on to quote the non-partisan Cambridge Winter Center for Financial Institutions Policy as concluding "that auto finance is demonstrably susceptible to unfair and deceptive practices." You can read USA Today's article here.

The argument made by car dealers that they are all small mom & pop shops is also far-fetched. While many are indeed locally owned, thousands of dealerships are controlled by mega-dealers like AutoNation whose 100+ stores have reportedly sold more than 7,000,000 cars. These multi-state conglomerates keep a short leash on customer finance through their tightly controlled on site dealer finance departments and preferred lender programs which direct dealer-arranged financing to a handful of financial institutions.

Just this week, the trade publication, Automotive News reported NADA to be particularly concerned that the proposed consumer financial protection agency would have scrutiny over sale of service contracts and aftermarket items. As we have often discussed on this blog (click on "Shopping for Car Loans") regulation of dealer finance departments is long overdue.

Full post as published by Lemon Law Blog on June 11, 2010 (boomark / email).