F&I and Showroom, July 2016

www fi magazine com 10 F I and Showroom July 2016 DEVELOPMENTS Arizona based Sands Chevrolet LLC and its subsidiaries agreed to pay a civil penalty of 40000 to settle the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration NHTSA s charges that it violated the Safety Act The dealership was ordered to transfer the 40000 in one lump sum payment to the U S Treasury In addition to the civil penalty Sands Chevrolet agreed to show that it has taken or will take steps to ensure it does not violate the Safety Act again Officials with the agency first began investigating the dealership more than two years ago after receiving a report that the dealership was selling and delivering new vehicles without fixing safetyrelated defects General Motors had notified its dealers about On May 2 2014 the agency opened an audit query to determine if the dealership had actually been violating the Safety Act a law that prohibits the sale and delivery of vehicles that contain a safety related defect or do not adhere to certain safety standards After the dealership received notice of the agencys audit query it began to improve its process for verifying that every vehicle is checked for open recalls before being delivered to customers according to agency The dealership also began checking for open recalls on every vehicle brought in for service as well as every trade in vehicle regardless of make or model Sands Chevrolet told the agency it has not delivered a vehicle with an open recall since June 2015 The number of instances the dealership was found to have been in violation of the Safety Act was not disclosed However before March 17 of this year the maximum penalty for each Safety Act violation was 7000 After March 17 that maximum was raised to 21000 for each violation The NHTSA also has in its authority the power to compromise the amount of civil penalties NHTSA Fines Arizona Dealership for Open Recall Sales TOYOTA VW PARTNER WITH RIDE HAILING SERVICES Toyota Motor Corp and Volkswagen have both announced partnerships with competing ride hailing services Toyota announced a partnership with ride hailing giant Uber while Volkswagen announced a partnership with lesser known but reportedly fast growing Gett While both manufacturers sought partnerships with ride hailing services their approach to the newly forged relationships differ slightly Toyota has entered a memorandum of understanding with Uber to explore collaboration beginning with trials in countries where ridesharing is expanding Toyota also announced that its financial services corporation and Mirai Creation Investment Limited Partnership will be making a strategic investment in Uber According to the announcement the companies will create new flexible leasing options to allow car purchasers to lease their vehicles from Toyota Financial Services and cover their payments through earnings generated as Uber drivers This new leasing option will reportedly build upon Ubers current Vehicle Solutions program which already offers an unlimited mileage lease program with flexible terms requires a small down payment and offers the ability to have payments subtracted from earnings Volkswagen will be making a 300 million strategic investment in Gett which is currently available in 60 cities worldwide including London Moscow and New York Its business model unlike Uber is based exclusively on licensed drivers who have a permit to carry passengers This partnership according to Volkswagens announcement is based on a joint growth strategy to expand on demand mobility services in Europe The OEMs goal is to generate a substantial share of its sales revenue from the ride hailing market by 2025 The completion of the transaction is still subject to merger control clearance by antitrust authorities