Charapp & Weiss, LLP

A pay plan for your dealership employees is just as critical as any other document. It informs the employees of how and when they will be paid. Some of the keys to pay plans include: 🗝️ Must be written - This avoids the "he said, she said." 🗝️ Needs to be dated - Both parties need to know when the pay plan goes into effect. 🗝️ Must be signed - Rule of thumb to live by, if it wasn't signed, it wasn't seen. 🗝️ They are NOT contracts - Include verbiage resembling a disclaimer stating that it is not a contract and that the employee can leave or be let go at any time. 🗝️ Clear definition of the commissionable base for salespeople - What are they getting a percentage of? And how much from each vehicle sold? 🗝️ Reserve the right to change the pay plan at will - Nothing is written in stone. We could go on and on about why pay plans are critical, but it is imperative that you incorporate them into your dealership. If you would like to discuss this matter further, please contact us! We're happy to help Drive Your Success! 📞 (571) 346-7507 🏢 Stop by our offices and see us: 1818 Library Street, Suite 500 Reston, VA 20190

As dealers prepare for the busy holiday season, we cannot stress enough the importance of advertising. 💥 The price advertised MUST BE available to everyone. A disclaimer cannot be used to negate a price, only to explain it. Negating the price is only proof to the FTC that the vehicle was not intended to be sold at that price. 🚨 No Bait Advertising:  If there is a specified vehicle being advertised, the dealer should have a reasonable amount in stock available at that specific price. If there is a limited supply available, the stock numbers should be listed on the advertisement. 🚨 MSRP: If dealers only list the MSRP on the advertisement, they must be prepared to sell the vehicle at that price or lower. For dealers who want to charge over MSRP, the "Dealer's Price" must state the price you want to sell the vehicle at. Providing in the disclaimer that you will charge $10,000 over MSRP is evidence that you advertised a price you never intended to sell the vehicle at. 🚨 Manufacturer Incentives that Require Specific Qualifications: Let's say the Manufacturer has a $2,000 loyalty rebate promotion going on, for which not every consumer is going to qualify. For best practices, the advertised price should only include those incentives that are available to everyone. For those incentives available based on specific criteria (e.g., military rebate), list and disclose them, but they should not be part of the advertised price so that consumers at the dealership are not told the advertised price is not available to them.

⚡ Here's what you need to know about the $7,500 EV tax credit! ⚡ Not every buyer qualifies, so it shouldn't be included in the advertised price of the vehicle! Remember dealers, you must be registered with the IRS portal. Keep in mind: The credit isn't a price discount on the vehicle, it's more like a manufacturer rebate or down payment assistance! To qualify for the EV credit, the buyer and the vehicle must qualify. 🚨 DEALERS: The advertised price must be available to every buyer!

We are honored to have represented the Beyer Automotive Group in its sale to Keffer Auto Group.

ATTENTION DEALERS 🚨 Following up on our previous post, below is how to be aware of and protect against buying and selling flood-damaged vehicles to consumers in the aftermath of the recent hurricanes. 💧 Check high-value vehicles coming from hurricane-impacted states that are priced in a way that is too low for the model and mileage. 💧 Run various VIN reports to see the history and status of the vehicle. 💧 If a flood-damaged vehicle is rehabilitated and properly branded, then make proper disclosures to consumers. 💧 These vehicles will not have warranties due to the damage. 💧 Be careful selling service agreements on such vehicles.

💡 Hurricane Helene & Flood-Damaged Vehicles Hurricane Helene brought significant flooding to Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, and other states. Every day, tow trucks are seen towing flood-damaged vehicles. Many of the vehicles will be declared a total on the cost to repair damage to electronics and  engines or batteries for EVs. So you may be wondering, where do flood-damaged vehicles go after being totaled? 💧 Some vehicles may have wet rugs without damage to electronic components or engines. 💧 Electric and hybrid vehicles with water damage to the battery and electric components may or may not be repairable. 💧 Flood-damaged vehicles are often owned by the insurance company upon determining vehicles are totaled. 💧 The vehicles can be used for parts or rehabilitated and are usually sent to salvage auctions. 💧 Vehicles sold at salvage auctions can be used for parts, or they may be rehabilitated, which means the vehicles are repaired. Salvaged vehicles are required to be branded on the title in many states and identified as rehabilitated. 💧 Unfortunately, there are auction buyers who will rehabilitate vehicles without proper parts and disclosure. There are states where vehicles can be run through and titled without disclosure. To the average person and even dealers, the vehicles may look fine and seem like they are priced well. 💧 AutoCheck, CARFAX, and other services may or may not be able to pick up the correct status. 💧 The vehicles can end up on dealer lots or on independent lots. 

REMINDER 🔔 Our very own Barrie Charapp Beaty and Brad Weiss will be speaking at the National Association of Dealer Counsel in Nashville October 13-15! They will be covering the topic, "Buy-Sells and the Post-Closing Perils." Make sure you have your questions ready! If you're not attending, please comment below any questions you may have regarding this topic!

October 13-15, our partners Barrie Charapp Beaty and Brad Weiss will be speaking at the 2024 NADC Fall Conference in Nashville, TN! They will be covering the topic, "Buy-Sells and the Post-Closing Perils." Get your questions ready! If you're not able to attend, please comment below any questions you may have regarding this topic!

💡 This week, we asked our partner, Brad Weiss, "To pay plan or not to pay plan?" Here’s what insight he had to give.

It's National School Picture Day! 📸 Check out our partner Barrie, and her late father, Michael, when they graduated from law school! 🎓