WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Automobile Dealers Association wants to rebrand Voluntary Protection Products (VPP) to change the way consumers view the product offering, according to a panel of automobile dealers at CBA Live on Tuesday.
To coincide with the panel, the NADA released a VPP policy template to its members the same day.
“These products have been attacked through a number of quarters over recent years,” said Paul Metrey, vice president of regulatory affairs at the NADA.
Metrey went on to outline how private litigation, state agencies, and federal enforcement agencies have acted against dealers and lenders for various violations on the highly regulated post-purchase product offering. “It really is quite hostile,” Metrey said. “And we think it is likely something that is going to continue.”
Read more: Massachusetts AG Probes Borrowers’ Ability to Repay Loans
The goals behind the rebranding include increasing transparency of VPPs for the consumer, ensuring dealers remain compliant with required regulations, and creating a uniform presentation among dealers across the association. “We’ve spent hundreds of hours researching this,” said Rhett Ricart, president and chief executive of Ricart Automotive Group. “This was drawn up from a common-sense aspect to make sure dealers could adapt it to their dealership.”
Lenders, too, have a hand in the rebranding effort, Ricart said. Specifically, lenders need to communicate the importance of these changes with NADA’s 16,500 dealer members.
“Most car dealers don’t make this decision,” Ricart said. “Most dealers will make this decision because either their service provider or their financier lets the dealer know that it’s important to them.”
For more content like this, check out our upcoming event Auto Finance Accelerate, May 13-16 at the Omni San Diego. Visit www.AutoFinanceAccelerate.com to register.
