Australian Automotive Dealer Association (AADA) chief executive officer Patrick Tessier has told AutoTalk that the success of the recent AADA convention was underpinned by key breakthrough policy discussions.
One key meeting has led to both the AADA and the FCAI agreeing to discuss key policy issues affecting the dealership sector, one of which includes, the Franchise Agreement between dealers and manufacturers among other issues.
“The agenda of the conference program was crafted along a lot of current policy issues, for example, the right to repair debate, the protection of dealer commissions on finance and insurance (F&I) business, which is currently under scrutiny by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the Luxury Car Tax, and the current arrangements with franchise agreements,” Tessier told AutoTalk.
“In terms of policy the convention hasn’t been the vehicle in which policy has been fostered so it is a very significant change to the structure of the program.
“A key meeting at the convention saw a majority of the chairs of the national dealer councils around Australia discuss the issue of how the AADA and the national dealers can assist each other in formulating good policy and reviewing the arrangements between the OEM’s and the franchise dealers in terms of the Franchise Agreement, which of course is a very important arrangement between both parties,” says Tessier.
“What will come out of this meeting is a resurgence between the AADA and FCAI in terms of working together and that is very significant, as that historically has never happened.
“In the main we are on the same page on many issues, and where we differ in regards to the franchise agreement we will continue to differ, but we have a commitment to dialogue to start having discussions and that we think is a significant event.”
Two workshops which stood out according to Tessier were the Moore Stephens Automotive (MSA) workshop into the results of an interactive survey on the issue of fraud, where dealers contributed to a series of questions. The overall results show that fraud is happening and it is something that dealers need to be on guard for.
The other workshop was delivered by Alan Bergman, from Star Automotive Consulting, who gave dealers a significant overview of how they can better manage their warranty obligations and the returns that they receive in terms of executing the manufacturer’s warranty work.
“This Convention sees a significant change in how it is constructed. The big change is that we are now a member based organisation, which means dealers need to pay a fee, and what this means is that the A.P Eagers and the big end of town were in attendance, so as the membership grows the conference will grow,” says Tessier
AutoTalk ran an article this week on the MSA fraud survey which can be viewed here:Fraud costs some dealerships $4 million
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