April 2013 Newsletter

Dear Ford MDA members,

I hope this newsletter finds you and your families in good health and experiencing great success in vehicle sales. Depending on the source similarities resonate claiming 2013 to be another banner year in the industry with Ford dealers leading the way. Collectively we all should commit and recommit and embrace the opportunities that lie in front of us. We need to make sure we continue with the business practices that kept us going through the tough times as we look for growth in all areas and markets.

This newsletter covers important topics for all of us. First, we have included an outline of our upcoming Membership Meeting to be held in conjunction with the 2013 NAMAD Convention. We have secured Mr. Ken Czubay and other Ford and Ford Credit executives. Therefore, it goes without saying that we must have a good turnout from our Ford MDA members.

Secondly, whether you are in a Hispanic Market or not, it is important for all members to recognize that this market is where the majority of growth will come from for all types of goods. Whether selling cars or apples, it’s important to understand and have your staff engaged with the Hispanic consumer. We have compiled a few bullet points for you to review with your staff/management to show that you are doing your part in gaining Hispanic consumers.

I look forward to seeing you all in Miami this July.

Sincerely,

Eddie Corley, Jr.
Chairman
Ford Minority Dealers Association

Ford MDA Business Plan – Five (5) Strategies

We continue to use the Ford MDA BPR process to discuss issues affecting our members. The process being used is similar to the way the National Ford Dealer Council approach issues affecting dealers. Five committees were formed to discuss the following strategies:

1. Improve Dealer Membership and Communications
2. Sustain and Strengthen Existing Dealers
3. Develop Dealer Investment Program
4. Develop a Candidate Awareness Process
5. Improve Marketing to Minorities

While all committees and their strategies are important, the board’s concentration is on Strategy #2. The main issue identified in Strategy # 2 is the creation of a “Capital Loan Program” to help members and future members purchase a Ford/Lincoln dealership. While the program still has some concerns, we need to try this program out with real dealership data. Ford Motor Company has committed to “taking a case by case approach” using the new purchase program.

If you or a fellow dealer/candidate is working on purchasing a Ford/Lincoln dealership, please let us know. Please feel free to contact the Executive Directors or any board member for assistance.

Ford MDA Board of Directors

OFFICERS

Chairman
Eddie Corley, Jr.,
Albuquerque Lincoln Volvo
Secretary
Michael Martin,
Vision Ford Lincoln
Treasurer
Fernando Varela,
All Star Ford

BOARD MEMBERS
Mark Douglas, Avis Ford
Gus Palmar, Superior Ford Lincoln
Jose Pozos, Wichita Falls Ford Lincoln
Nathaniel Sutton, Sutton Ford Superstore

DEALER COUNCIL
Randy Henderson, Henderson Family Ford

EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS
Dr. AV Fleming
Osvaldo Garcia, Jr.

Ford MDA – Membership Meeting

Ford MDA will host its first Annual Conference/Membership Meeting which will be held in conjunction with the 2013 NAMAD Convention in Miami Beach, FL.

Ford MDA will have its own Membership meeting, Reception and Town Hall meeting that will be held separately from the NAMAD activities. We have planned Ford MDA events so that they won’t conflict with any of the NAMAD events.

As you know, Mr. Ken Czubay has confirmed his attendance at Reception and Town Hall Meeting. Below is the tentative agenda:

Ford MDA Annual Conference/Membership Meeting
Fontainebleau Hotel – Miami Beach, FL
Tentative Agenda

Thursday, July 11, 2013

3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Ford MDA General Membership Meeting
7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Ford MDA Reception from

Friday, July 12, 2013

7:30 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. Ford MDA Member Breakfast from
9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Ford MDA Town Hall Meeting with Ford Executives
11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Ford MDA Workshop
12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Lunch

If you have not registered, please do so. It is extremely important for Ford MDA members to be in attendance at our first Ford MDA Annual Conference. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or visit www.namad.org to register.

Hispanic Marketing 101

Creating a Hispanic-Friendly Dealership from Univision’s 2013 NADA Presentation

  • First and foremost, ensure that your staff is aware of and embraces the sales and service potential of this viable market
  • Tap into your current staff. Count on your Spanish speaking personnel to meet the needs of your Hispanic customers in every department. If you need to recruit, consider the following ideas:
    • Incentivize employees and customer referrals
    • Host a career night and invite the community to learn about opportunities in your dealership
    • Contact your local Spanish-language media representative to leverage their existing resources such as on-air job listing, job fairs, etc.
  • Utilize Spanish language signage, point of purchase and brochures
    • “Se Habla Espanol” signage on entrances
    • “Yo Hablo Espanol” on employee name tags
    • Consult Ford for Spanish language brochures and other sales-support materials.
  • Set up a negotiation area to accommodate families – remember Hispanics seldom shop alone
  • Provide a children’s section with small desks, chairs and coloring materials allowing the parents to focus on the purchase process
  • Celebrate the purchase. It is more than a business transaction – it is an accomplishment for the entire family.

Winning the Hispanic consumer will require more than just the points listed above, it will require a total commitment to make the Hispanic consumer feel welcomed in your dealership. It also requires an evaluation of your current advertising strategy and determining where to place your advertising dollars. Consider these statistics:

  • There are 52 million Hispanics in the U.S. representing 16.5% of the population
  • According to Polk, 2012 new car sales increased to Hispanics by 27%
  • According to Polk, Hispanics accounted for 11% of new vehicle registrations
  • In major markets, Spanish language stations rank #1 regardless of language
  • 78% of Hispanics are online vs 86% of total market
  • 85% of online Hispanic adults 18+ are social media users
  • 33 million Hispanics age 13+ are mobile subscribers

Source: Univision Automotive/Automotive News

Compliance Regulations

Ford Credit provides the AFIP-NADA-RouteOne Dealership Compliance Awareness Webinar both in audio and hard copy versions on FMCDealer for dealers to review compliance regulations information. These may be found under the “Training and Certification” link of the “Finance” tab. In addition, FMCC Ford Credit Business Development Managers and Financial Services Specialists have been trained to facilitate self-identification of potential compliance issues. FMCC Ford Credit encourages the dealers to take advantage of these resources. Visit FMC Dealer and review this important information.

Paul Trulock
Manager, Ford & Lincoln Brand
Ford Motor Credit Company
Minority Dealer Relations

SELECTED POINTS FOR DEALERS ON THE AMERICAN TAXPAYER RELIEF ACT OF 2012 – UHY Advisors

The following information was provided by our accounting firm and sponsor: For more information contact UHY directly @ www.uhyadvisors-us.com

Individual Income Tax Rates
The Act maintains the lower tax brackets for all taxpayers and adds a 39.6% bracket for the following:

  • Married filing jointly (and surviving spouses) with taxable income in excess of $450,000,
  • Single filers with taxable income in excess of $400,000,
  • Head of household filers with taxable income in excess of $425,000, and
  • Married filing separately filers with taxable income in excess of $225,000.

Expanding/Improving your Facility?
The 50% bonus depreciation option on all new asset purchases with a recovery period of 20 years or less for 2012 and 2013 remains in place under the new act. Also, the 15 year preferential recovery period for Qualified Leasehold Improvements was retroactively restored to 2012 and remains in effect throughout 2013.

Buying New Equipment?
In addition to the 50% bonus depreciation, small business expensing (Section 179) of new or used equipment up to $500,000 was reinstated for 2012 & 2013. Remember: Total purchases of qualifying equipment must be less than $2,000,000 in order to receive the full deduction.

Capital Gain & Qualifying Dividend Income
The Act maintained the 15% income tax rate on L.T. Capital Gains and Qualified Dividends and added a 20% maximum tax rate for taxpayers in the 39.6% tax bracket.

New Medicare 3.8% Tax Planning (Investment Income)
There were no changes to the new tax established by Health Care Reform in 2011. 3.8% additional tax in 2013 and later years on the lesser of Net Investment Income tax (NIIT) or $250,000 if married filing jointly. This tax may affect dealers operating dealerships in an S-Corp. or LLC/Partnership environment. If the dealer is active, the “flow-through” income from the dealership would not be considered investment income and would not subject to the tax. If the dealer is a “passive” owner then the income will be subject to the 3.8% tax (if income above the income threshold). Careful review of the dealer’s position as active vs. passive in each business should be done during 2013.

Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) for Individuals
With a 28% AMT tax rate for individuals and the new higher regular income tax rates, we expect fewer people to be paying AMT in 2013 and beyond. The Act made permanent the income exemption on a joint return of $78,750 (indexed for inflation) with the exemption phased out on income above $150,000 (not indexed for inflation). This is a better situation than the constant “patching” program Congress has been doing that made tax planning a guessing game.

Estate and Gift Taxes
The Act extends the $5,120,000 of unified gift & estate tax exemption (adjusted for inflation) per person & portability option between spouses. However it adds three additional tax brackets topping off at a maximum 40% rate. Now that we have some permanent estate tax rules in place, let’s dust off that estate plan and see if any changes are necessary.

Lifo
No change in this act, but remain vigilant to protect this valuable tax deferral.

UHY LLP is a licensed independent CPA firm that performs attest services in an alternative practice structure with UHY Advisors, Inc. and its subsidiary entities. UHY Advisors, Inc. provides tax and business consulting services through wholly owned subsidiary entities that operate under the name of “UHY Advisors.” UHY Advisors, Inc. and its subsidiary entities are not licensed CPA firms.

ADP – Tony Valdivia

Ford MDA Dealers Take a Scientific Approach to Your Used Car Inventory (This tool can be used by any dealer regardless of DMS)

The next generation of Used Car inventory solutions is here–ADP’s Front Office Edge Lot Management. This inventory solution takes the best of two distinct types of inventory tools, combines them, and then takes it all to the next level.

Until recently, Used Car inventory managers had two types of inventory tools available:
1) historical solutions that display a given dealership’s DMS data;
2) pricing tools that tell dealers how to price vehicles based on market data.

Today, however, dealers can take advantage of Front Office Edge Lot Management, a unique solution that analyzes both DMS historical data and market pricing data, as well as regional transaction data. The result? Recommendations on whether or not to stock certain vehicles based on:

  • Whether or not similar vehicles have traditionally sold well in your dealership, using make, model, mileage, and trim level analysis
  • How similar vehicles are selling among consumers today–and at what price  Regional statistics like market supply, retail price, and retail time in your geographic area The best part is that salespeople can scan VINs using their handheld mobile devices and receive recommendations in seconds! If interested call Tony Valdivia at (630) 776-1566 or email at tony.valdivia@adp.com.

Tony Valdivia, ADP
Manager, Minority Dealer Business

DealerTrack – Ernest Lattimer

DID YOU KNOW?

Ford dealers have seen their website leads DOUBLE after adding Managed SmartChat from DealerTrack. Call (888) 485-9757 to get started for as much as $500/mo.

PaymentDriver and FinanceDriver from DealerTrack help you dirive more sales. Call (888) 485-9757 before April 30th to learn how you can save $2,400/yr. when you add these exciting new features.

How’s your online reputation? DealerTrack now offers reputation monitoring and can help manage your online reviews. Call (888) 485-9757 to find out how to give your reputation a boost.

If you are interested in any of the above, you can also reach me at (410) 977-2515 or email me at ernest.lattimer@dealertrack.com.

A Word from the Executive Directors

Greetings Ford MDA members and supporters,

We want to take this time to thank the members that have been faithfully participating in our conference calls, surveys, and other communications. Getting the word out to our members and getting your feedback will add to our strategy of being the premier minority dealer association in the United States.

We are getting great feedback on the information provided by our representative Mr. Randy Henderson on the Ford National Dealer Council. Mr. Luis Somoano has committed that he will keep our members informed on what has taken place at the Lincoln National Dealer Council. The Board and Staff are still engaged with Ford management and Sr. management looking at strategies and tactics that will make our dealerships more profitable. Further, the Board will continue to share with our members an overview of what occurred at the meetings in Detroit via our quarterly conference call.

Currently, our website is under construction, but we hope to have the website up and running soon. The website will have up to date and archived information on what the association has done in the past, the present and the future. Our membership meeting is scheduled for July 11 and 12 in Miami Beach, FL at the Fontainebleau Hotel.

We will continue to keep you informed and if you have any questions or issues that need to be discussed, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Dr. AV Fleming Osvaldo Garcia Jr.
248- 557-2500 956-565-0522
260-417-3043 956-227-0212
avfleming@aol.com ogarciajr@msn.com