Legal

Collections Compliance, Much Like Winning, Is a Habit

By Steve Levine, Chief Legal and Compliance Officer, AutoStar Solutions, Inc.

Vince Lombardi, one of our greatest football coaches and motivators, made a famous speech in which he said: “Winning is not a sometime thing. You don't win once-in-a-while. You don't do things right once-in-a-while. You do them right all the time. Winning is a habit”. So powerful is this message that almost fifty years later, coaches in all sports routinely use it, it’s been quoted in political speeches and motivational seminars, and large companies play audio or video of the great Lombardi as a call to arms to begin meetings.

Speed Kills!

Be Cautious with Tax Refunds

Steve Levine | Chief Legal Officer, AutoStar Solutions, Inc.

The saying “Speed Kills” takes on a special meaning during tax season, which is probably the busiest time of year for a lot of you. Your dealership will be crowded with potential buyers, many of whom either have their actual tax refund or the promise of one burning a hole in their pocket. Let’s face it, we’ve sped up the process so much that now we don’t even wait for the customer to get the actual refund. We’re comfortable with the reasonable assurance of a refund. In such a frenzied environment, it’s easy for a dealer to cut corners here and there in an effort to stretch on a few more sales. The vigilant dealer, though, knows that this treacherous legal and compliance climate we live in knows no holiday.

Compliance: Execute…or be Executed

by Steve Levine, Chief Legal Officer | AutoStar Solutions

As I write this, we at AutoStar we are breathing a collective sigh of relief after hosting our Innovate user’s conference last week. Close to 400 clients, vendors and speakers attended this year’s event, and I’m pleased to say we surpassed even our own grandiose expectations. We packed an incredible amount of information into two and a half days and I’m confident that every attendee returned to his or her dealerships with information that made a positive impact. Our curriculum included over 40 distinct classes across a wide spectrum of both AutoStar user-specific and critical industry topics. The compliance track alone had ten classes led by our own Auto-Stars and consumer finance industry experts in the legal and compliance areas.

Training: Avoiding Lawsuits One Customer at a Time

Nicole Frush Munro | Hudson Cook, LLP

Published in A*QUA Issue 03, October 2010

Tom Hudson always says dealers avoid lawsuits in the customer service aisle. What he means is that most lawsuits start with a bad transmission, faulty brakes, or a blown head gasket. A customer comes in with a car that doesn’t work, and complains to your salesman, your billing person, or the admin in the back office. What your employee does next can either avoid a lawsuit or instigate one.

Year-End Reflections

By Steve Hall | Implementation Manager

Included in this edition of our A*QUA newsletter, you will find a variety of checklists of things to do, warnings, important reminders and important year-end advice. I will attempt to avoid repeating that which you have already been reminded of, and instead offer a few additional insights and year-end reflections.

Ironically, this time of year comes around every year, and every year we find ourselves less prepared for it than we had planned. Inevitably, every year we vow to do better next year. Well it’s not too late, yet. You may have just enough time to take care of those last-minute transactions and adjustment to your finances to put yourself in the best position for income tax purposes. There are many creative, smart strategies that can be used to save you money now and in the future.