F&I and Showroom, December 2015

Developments 10 F I and Showroom December 2015 Chip Perry who helped build Autotrader from a one person startup to a 15 billion online automotive marketplace will become TrueCars new president and CEO on Dec 15 He replaces TrueCar founder Scott Painter who will formally step down this month as CEO and vacate his positions as chairman and member of the firms board of directors In August Painter announced his retirement from the company he founded in 2006 after a tumultuous July for the car shopping site After parting ways with dealer giant AutoNation on July 9 over a data sharing dispute the firm reported a second quarter loss of 147 million Its also facing several lawsuits and has seen the departure of several key executives Cal Tex Protective Coatings Inc named Kerri Walker Lewis senior director of business development She joins the F I product provider after serving as a senior executive for Dent Zone where she developed and managed relationships with large public dealer groups thirdparty administrators and OEMs JM Family Enterprises has promoted Ron Coombs to senior vice president and CFO overseeing the companys financial operations Coombs joined JM Family in 1999 as vice president of World Omni Corp one of the companys business units In 2001 he was promoted to CFO of JM A Group For the past seven years Coombs has served as JM As COO a role in which he was responsible for all sales and operations functions He is also a 10 year member of JM Familys executive management team FTC Cracks Down on Abusive Debt Collectors AUTO FINANCE WASNT singled out but it was mentioned when the Federal Trade Commission FTC joined by officials with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau CFPB and state and local authorities announced on Nov 4 the first coordinated crackdown on deceptive and abusive debt collection practices The operation resulted in 30 new law enforcement actions brought against debt collectors bringing the total number of actions brought this year to 115 Included in the FTCs 21 page enforcement list was the CFPBs recent enforcement actions against Ohio based Security National Automobile Acceptance Co and Los Angeles based Westlake Financial Services Dealer com Becomes Coxs Primary Web Platform COX AUTOMOTIVE ANnounced last month that the Dealer com website product will serve as the primary solution for its customers Current users of VinSolutions will migrate to the Dealer com platform beginning in early 2015 During the migration which officials said should take 24 months all users of the VinSolutions website product will be fully supported under the terms of their existing contracts Dealer com joined the Cox Automotive family as part of the Dealertrack acquisition completed on Oct 1 APCO Stake to be Acquired by Ontario Teachers THE ONTARIO TEACHERS Pension Plan the largest single profession pension plan in Canada has entered into a definite agreement to acquire a majority stake in APCO Holdings Inc Following the transaction which is expected to be completed in December certain APCO shareholders including the companys senior management team and funds managed by Stone Point Capital LLC will remain shareholders of the business Calif DMV Puts Tesla on Notice IN A MEMO ISSUED IN OCTOBER THE CALIFORNIA Department of Motor Vehicles DMV warned electric vehicle makers that it will begin enforcing state and federal advertising laws and will refer cases it brings against marketers to local state and federal prosecutors The memo which doesnt name Tesla comes two years after the California New Car Dealers Association CNCDA requested that the DMV investigate the way Tesla marketed Model S leases on its website charging that the advertisements misled consumers because they included incentives gas savings and tax savings in the final payment quotes to customers It warns that advertising only a net price for the purchase of electric vehicles violated multiple California advertising laws and Regulation Z Moves and Hires