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Sign Up for Free Resources! 1 Tip of the Week The Ignite team stays on top of all changes & trends happening in the automotive industry. Ignite's "Tip of the Week" speaks to those advancements and provides you with a brief rundown on how to handle it all. 2 Webinars The Ignite team does monthly webinars in accordance with their goal to prepare dealers with the knowledge needed to identify issues and become a compliance leader. 3 Email Sign-Up Sign up to Ignite's mailing list to ensure that you're on top of all the latest industry news, receive tips of the week, and helpful webinars. Sign Up Joe Allen 2 days ago 2 min IS YOUR CREDIT REPORTING "FINE"? The CFPB's assault on credit reporting practices and abuses continues. Just last week, it ordered TD Bank to pay $7.75 MILLION... Joe Allen Sep 9 2 min DO YOU PROVIDE "LOANERS"? IF SO, YOU NEED TO KEEP READING Those of you that provide Loaner vehicles to your customers will want to know about this. We got a call from a dealer that was named as... Joe Allen Aug 30 3 min THIS CAN'T BE GOOD This isn't our usual Tip of the Week. It's more like a sounding of the alarm, or a venting, and a slightly long one at that, but bear...

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Like everyone else, I’m watching the horrible news coming out of North Carolina with a heavy heart. The devastation and suffering will impact that area and those people enduring Hurricane Helene’s aftermath for years to come. These catastrophic events have reminded me of a wonderful lesson in leadership that I witnessed closer to home many years ago, and I want to take this opportunity to share it with you. At the time, I lived in Arlington, Texas, and was just getting my feet under me as a young lawyer representing used-car dealers, many of which were in buy-here, pay-here. A horrible storm blew through town, one of those dramatic Texas out of nowhere storms that brings crazy winds, large amounts of rain and hail, and then quickly leaves. There were lots of knocked down trees, flooding, destroyed and damaged roofs, and lots of people were without electricity. This was the late 1990s, so the public wasn’t quite so technology dependent as it is today, not everyone even owned a cell phone and people still had home phone lines back then, but the effects were everywhere. Once a few days passed and people went back to work, I happened to be at a client’s car lot. We had a case that was set for trial in Justice of the Peace Court that had to be rescheduled, so I had just stopped by to let the owner know and see how his place was impacted by the storm. When I got there, I walked right into the middle of a team meeting. Not that I had much of a choice, the building wasn’t much larger than a single wide trailer, so if you took two steps in the door you were in the middle of things. I could immediately tell this was a serious meeting, I could see the frustration on the face of this usually upbeat owner. He stood in the center of the room, apologizing for not teaching his personnel well enough. He said that as he listened to them speaking on the phone with customers, he felt that they didn’t share his values, which was a reflection on him.  He shared that their calls sounded like the numbers on the collection reports were the most important thing to them, and he always wanted his team to remember that people are on the other end of those calls, and right now lots of them have serious problems. He continued on, saying that the storm had affected everyone in the room in one way or another. The business was closed for a few days, some people lost electricity, some cars had hail damage, and one manager had opened her home to some relatives whose roof had been damaged. He said that by comparison, they were all lucky and that many people, including some of their customers, had it worse. He asked everyone to remember this when they got back on the phones with people, and that instead of making collections calls, he wanted his people to take an interest in their customers and how they’d weathered the storm. He gave a short lesson in talking with insurance companies and instructed his personnel to help customers resolve insurance claims. He told them to be caring and to offer guidance even if it has nothing to do with their vehicle. He shared that his store had been in business for decades and people had come to depend on them, and there was a lot more to the business than selling cars and collecting money. He said he wasn’t naive, some people would use the storm as an excuse not to make payments, but he’d rather give everyone the benefit of the doubt than add to the problems of someone that was already suffering. Over the coming days, he led by example. He personally called customers to check on them, even bringing some groceries to a lady whose car was blocked in the driveway by a fallen tree, along with a chainsaw to remove the debris. Something tells me that he earned a loyal customer for life. I was fortunate to stumble into that meeting on that day. To a young lawyer that didn’t know much of anything about business, it made a big impression on me. I like to think that in the years since, I’ve emulated that important, beautiful lesson that people come first and that the actions of one person can have a tremendous impact on so many others. I hope that by sharing this, some of you will find inspiration and meaning during this difficult time.

When I worked at AutoStar Solutions, I led a quarterly exercise where I'd present a hypothetical disaster scenario  to the management team and we'd discuss how we'd respond  and continue our business .  Weather  related emergencies , war , cyber-security , and even negative publicity  were all subjects we covered. We didn't seek to find all the answers  during these sessions, but it gave us a good roadmap  to follow if such an incident were to occur. This type of planning  has crossed my mind lately as several  clients have reached out wanting to discuss their own disaster preparation . The scenario that has come up repeatedly  has been how to continue the business  if there were to be a cyber-security incident  or if a key service provider suffered  one and was taken offline. The two  most frequent  questions have involved either the DMS  or a payments provider  being incapacitated  for some length of time. Do You Have Any Sort of Disaster Plan? In conversations with people, there is a tendency  to refer to a disaster plan  that's been adopted for a weather related  emergency, since those are the most common  disasters that folks plan around. That's a start , but I don't think it fits very well with the scenario  we're discussing . In the case of weather , everyone's  life is being disrupted . Customers and employees alike may not  be able to make it to your store  and phones  and internet  may be down . In a more targeted scenario such as the one being presented here, life goes on.  Customers  are able to get to and from work, the lines of communication are still open, and on the surface it's "business as usual"  for everyone but you  and perhaps anyone else using the same service provider. Create A Specific Plan To maintain some basis  of business continuity in this type of crisis , it's important  to develop a plan  ahead of time. We've led clients through an exercise  where we gather the key  business leaders and discuss how to still sell cars , collect payments  and carry on  other functions. The goal  is to come out of that meeting with a short outline  (a few pages) of how continuity  would be achieved . For one client, it was printing off 100 blank deal files  and making sure the sales department knows how to complete forms and document  a sale if the  DMS  is down. For another, it was establishing a written process  for recording payments and keeping  records for later input. This is not "one size fits all" , the approach has to consider the size and complexity of the business as well as the talents and capabilities of staff.   A Call to Action Disaster  planning isn't   fun , and it certainly isn't as urgent  as the day to day emergencies  that take a lot of attention ; however, in the face of some catastrophe  it really is a "bet the business"  issue, as many dealers learned during the CDK cyber attack . We encourage everyone  to spend some time as a leadership team  and address your own  threatening scenarios. Once that's done, share  it with your entire team , so everyone  is following the same map if disaster  does strike .  Ignite is here to help identify complexities and create solutions that will keep  you in business  during these critical times. We have experts with decades of experience in identifying and reducing risk. Reach out today to  info@ignitecp.com

The CFPB's  assault on credit reporting  practices and abuses continues. Just last week, it ordered  TD Bank to pay  $7.75 MILLION DOLLARS  to tens of thousands of consumers  that were impacted by its practices. The CFPB  claims that for years the bank repeatedly shared   inaccurate , negative  information to credit reporting companies. The CFPB  also fined the bank TWENTY MILLION DOLLARS. The allegations include: Failing  to fix  credit card reporting errors  even after it knew  it was sending incorrect information; Sharing  fraudulent information  with credit reporting agencies; Failing to investigate  and correct  consumer disputes; Why YOU Should Care? We've called attention  to all of this before, but many still aren't getting the message . You don't think you'll be a CFPB target , and you're probably right, but you'd better believe that the plaintiffs' lawyers  see those million dollar  fine headlines  and take notice.  Lawsuits  for reporting incorrect  information and failing to correct  errors is the number one  claim brought against the credit industry. These cases are expensive  to defend and don't  settle fast and cheap. This is a real risk , yet so many creditors choose to "whistle through the graveyard". What to Do? You need to have a written policy  and process  for both reporting  and dispute  handling.   You need to train  your people  how to do these things and not leave it to chance .   You need to set up an audit schedule  to check your reporting and make sure it's accurate . If you don't  do or have each of these items, you need to take action . Don't just rely on your service providers  and think the job is done. It's YOUR  data, it's YOUR  liability.   We have experts with decades of experience in identifying and reducing risk. Ignite can do a mini audit of your reporting file. We can also teach your team how to conduct its own audits. We can also teach you how to identify and correct common errors and gaps in your system. Reach out today to  info@ignitecp.com

Schedule a free compliance consultation with Ignite Consulting and take the first step towards ensuring your business is compliant with all necessary regulations. During this call, we’ll discuss your business needs and provide guidance on how to stay on top of compliance requirements. Don't risk legal trouble down the road- let Ignite Consulting help you navigate the complex world of compliance.