AFSA Extra Credit Podcast: Auto Remote Sales Compliance
Representing Commission Salespeople
In September 2022, Ford rolled out its “Model e Program” establishing requirements for Ford dealers who choose to sell and service Ford electric vehicles (“EVs”) after December 31, 2023. The Model e Program replaced Ford’s...more
Until now, having a reduction-in-force in the sales department of a retail automotive dealership was about as rare as selling vehicles at MSRP. Thanks to a combination of factors, including the pandemic and the chip shortage,...more
Introduction - For only the second time in 27 years, this publication places two annual trends in a tie for first place. Both the Coronavirus pandemic and the now completed 2020 election cycle will predictably have the...more
In July 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) issued its “Staff Report on Buying and Financing Cars.” The Staff Report consisted of two separate reports – a report from the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection (“BCP”)...more
On July 30, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a Bureau of Consumer Protection Staff report titled Buckle Up: Navigating Auto Sales and Financing. The report includes findings from the FTC’s April 2017 study and...more
The Federal Trade Commission's Cooling-Off Rule has been around since 1972 (it became effective in 1974), but generally has been a non-issue for dealers until the Coronavirus pandemic when dealers were forced to conduct...more
This is my third article in as many months about remote sales, a topic that is suddenly hot, hot, hot with dealers and finance companies during the COVID-19 pandemic because consumers have been restricted from coming to a...more
Let's say you want to drive the vehicle a customer is interested in buying to that person's home, let the customer see and test-drive the car, negotiate the price of the car, present and offer F&I products, and then have the...more
While not binding nationwide, a recent federal court decision should put to rest any legitimate argument that dealership parts counterpeople are not overtime exempt under federal law. Based on the concept that Fair Labor...more
We are almost half way through 2018, and this year has been filled with fast and furious changes at USDOL. Proposed tip credit changes (Check, including a reaction from Congress and more tip credit changes on the horizon)....more
If you’re not an auto dealer and you missed last month’s Supreme Court decision in Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro, we forgive you. After all, a ruling on the correct application of the “salesman” exemption to service...more
No doubt last month’s Navarro ruling in the Supreme Court was a big win for retail automotive. That decision affirmed that the same federal overtime exemption that applies to a “salesman, partsman, and mechanic” also applies...more
We are about midway through the 2017-18 term of the U.S. Supreme Court. One case the Court has already decided and another it refused to take up provide some insight on how the Court has handled employment cases it has been...more
I bet you’ve heard of the famous equation E=mc2. You may know that Albert Einstein is credited as its developer. You may even know that it’s often called the Theory of Relativity. But, like most people, you might not know...more
In this podcast, David Lindsay discusses the Supreme Court's recent decision in Encino Motor Cars v. Navarro et al., finding that auto service advisers are exempt employees and not covered by the overtime pay requirements of...more
It’s finally over; we can now say definitively that service advisors employed by automobile dealerships are exempt from federal overtime requirements. If you haven’t been following this story ... what have you been doing? ...more
What keeps employers up at night? The prospect of collective action overtime lawsuits under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is right at the top of the list of human resources nightmares....more
If you're not a car dealer and you missed the Supreme Court's decision last week in Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro, we forgive you. After all, at first blush, the decades-long battle over application of the "salesman"...more
While the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) generally requires employers to pay its employees overtime for any hours worked in excess of 40 in a workweek, the law also provides that certain types of employees are exempt from –...more
On April 2, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its opinion in Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro, holding that, because service advisors at car dealerships are “salesm[e]n . . . primarily engaged in . . ....more
Q. I heard that the U.S. Supreme Court just issued a ruling finding that auto service workers are exempt from overtime pay. My company is not in the automobile industry. Will this opinion apply to us?...more
Auto dealers finally have the answer they have sought regarding compensation for service advisors—and it is favorable. On April 2, 2018, the US Supreme Court issued its much-awaited decision in Encino Motorcars LLC v....more
On April 2, the U.S. Supreme Court held, in Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro, that service advisors at automobile dealerships are exempt from the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Court was divided...more
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires employers to pay overtime compensation to covered employees, but exempts from overtime numerous categories of workers. ...more
On April 2, 2018, the Supreme Court rejected the longstanding principle that Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) exemptions must be construed narrowly, holding that service advisors at a California automobile dealership are...more