Review buyer’s order / purchase agreement

An attorney or outside consultant should ensure general legal compliance. And verify that nothing can be construed as unfair or deceptive trade practice.

Review the dealership’s practices, procedures and forms

This includes the four - square or other selling document, the rate used on first and subsequent quotes, word tracks and how credit applications are filled out.

Provide legal compliance training

All salespeople, F&I managers and accounting office employees should receive in – house or outsourced training. This ensures that the key personnel are aware of current compliance issues and the departments can act as a check and balance on one another.

Review the deal recap/commission report

Ensure that the categories within the forms are consistent with actual practices, that product pricing and finance reserves are being accurately reported and that employee’s are not manipulating the system to receive unearned commission.

Review a set number of deals against your checklist

Bonuses or raises should be provided to high performers, while salary adjustments, probation or termination should be considered for those who do not meet the dealership expectations.

Verify that the accounting office is using a checklist

Every deal should be checked for overpayments, customer and dealership signatures, prices an product forms ect.

Encourage employee suggestions

Have small roundtable “brown bag” or pizza lunches and implement a process to provide feedback to employees on decisions or changes made as a result of their suggestions.

Complete legal compliance training

New sales, F&I and accounting office personnel should receive training within the first 2-3 months of employment, then join the yearly compliance training cycle.

Sign a dealership non-negotiable list

This sets out all prohibited practices at the dealership, such as making inaccurate statements to customers or failing to disclose the price of a product or service.

Designate a compliance committee or officer

This group or individual should be responsible for regularly reviewing industry periodicals to stay up-to-date on pertinent legal issues. Other duties include representing the dealership at dealer  association meetings, coordinating in-house training, recommending outside training and keeping  records of training attendance.

  Designate a safeguards compliance officer

This individual is responsible for working in-house or with outside consultants on assessing the safeguarding information at the dealership. He should prepare a written plan, train dealership employees on safeguarding information, regularly update the safeguard plan and  conduct periodic  reviews of the dealership’s safeguard program.