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NATIONAL HEADLINES

NADA & NIADA Object Again to Bill

Aimed to Stop Retail of Recalled Units

BY NICK ZULOVICH, STAFF WRITER, AUTO REMARKETING

necticut and Sen. Edward Markey of Mas-
sachusetts along with Rep. Jan Schakowsky
of Illinois, supporters of the Used Car Safety
Recall Repair Act fear any owner of vehicle
under recall will suffer the same tragic fate
as the dozen individuals fatally wounded by
faulty Takata airbags.

“This commonsense bill will protect used
car buyers from driving a ticking time bomb
off the lot and onto our roads,” Blumenthal
said.

Schakowsky added, “It’s already illegal to sell
a new car or offer for rent a car under recall.
Our bill will give used car buyers the sim-
ple assurance that known defects have been
fixed before you drive the car off the lot.”

Seven Democratic lawmakers are trying wrote in a message to Auto Remarketing. NADA spokesman Jared Allen confirmed
again to push legislation that would prohibit many of the points Petersen raised, includ-
the retailing of vehicles with an unfulfilled “This legislation treats all recalls the same ing how much trade-in values can suffer.
recall; a plan prompting the two largest deal- — whether safety related or not — and does
ership associations to reiterate their objec- nothing to manufacture the parts necessary “When recalled vehicles awaiting repair
tions and explain the potential unintended to repair recalled vehicles or entice owners parts — including vehicles that the engineer-
consequences. to take a recalled vehicle to a franchise deal- ing experts at the NHTSA and the automak-
ership for repair,” Petersen continued. “But ers have determined are acceptable for con-
Amid all the hubbub over healthcare and the most important, it harms consumers by di- sumers to drive — can't be sold, the market
revolving door at the White House, late last minishing the trade-in value of their recalled instantly devalues those vehicles, resulting in
week a proposal dubbed the Used Car Safety vehicles by an average of $1,210 — and often a massive trade-in tax of, on average, $1,210
Recall Repair Act surfaced on Capitol Hill as upward of $5,000 — and would likely force per vehicle, according to J.D. Power,” Allen
lawmakers leveraged reports over another dealerships to not take those vehicles in said in a message to Auto Remarketing.
potential fatality involving faulty Takata air- trade at all.
bags. While both the National Automobile “We’re not in favor of anything that would
Dealers Association and the National Inde- “Requiring dealers to ground vehicles for create a trade-in tax because it’s unfair to
pendent Automotive Dealers Association any recall does not justify that economic ask consumers to pay for a manufacturer’s
want to retail safe vehicles, the groups fear loss, particularly when the National High- mistake,” Allen went on to say. “Additional-
this measure would hamstring dealers and way Traffic Safety Administration admits ly, imposing a $1,210 trade-in tax could lead
impact owners significantly. not every vehicle with an open recall needs to fewer, not more, recalled vehicles getting
to be grounded immediately,” he went on repaired, and we don’t believe a reduction in
“NIADA shares the goal of 100 percent re- to say. “NIADA stands ready and willing the recall completion rate is a good policy
call completion rates and supports public to work with members of Congress to find outcome for consumers or anyone else.”
policies designed to achieve that goal. How- common-sense solutions to improve recall
ever, over-broad legislation prohibiting deal- completion rates. However, this legislation The legislation introduced in the House is
ers from selling any used motor vehicle with — which was rejected numerous times by also co-sponsored by Rep. Frank Pallone Jr.
any open recall does not move us toward the previous Congress — is not the answer.” of New Jersey, Rep. Bobby Rush of Illinois,
that goal,” NIADA senior vice president of Rep. G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina and
legal and government affairs Shaun Petersen Led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Con- Rep. Doris Matsui of California. n

58 | GIADA Independent Auto Dealer AUGUST 2017