HADA & Community Leaders Donate Custom Trucks to Houston Fire Department
August 13, 2019Transportation Leaders Organize Effort to Address Workforce Woes
December 17, 2019In my last column I wrote about the importance of making our voices heard at this year’s legislative session in Austin. Now I want to stress how important it is to carry our message to our lawmakers in Washington DC – call it “Making our Voices Heard, Chapter II.”
Every September HADA teams up with TADA officials and a strong contingent of Texas dealers for NADA’s annual two-day Washington Conference. There we join nearly 500 new-car dealers and dealer association executives from across the country to hear from key speakers about legislative priorities for dealers. Then we head to Capitol Hill for face-to-face meetings with our Senators and Representatives to express our opinions on these issues. It is the perfect example of a participatory democracy.
This year’s Texas posse included NADA Chairman Charlie Gilchrist, TADA Chairman Donnie Buckalew, Kate McGrath and Rob Braziel from TADA, Dallas Fort Worth Metro Association President Brent Franks, HADA President Wyatt Wainwright and myself. Stacey Gillman Wimbish, Jason Gillman, and Roger Elswick, in town for a national Honda meeting, also joined the group.
We were able to meet with Texas Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, as well as Representatives Brian Babin, Dan Crenshaw and Silvia Garcia’s chief of staff – not a letdown because the chief of staff is very influential in how the boss votes. In every case, the lawmakers we visited were supportive of issues specific to Houston as well as NADA’s national legislative priorities.
For the second year, the primary issue was strong opposition to any potential new auto tariffs. NADA made it clear that, “Automobile dealers support President Trump’s goals of modernizing U.S. trade agreements and moving toward freer and fairer trade, but certain policies, such as steep new tariffs of up to 25% on imported autos and auto parts, would hurt the auto industry and consumers.”
Although the Commerce Department has ruled that the President has the authority to impose new tariffs, NADA pointed out that, “New auto tariffs would adversely impact all dealers, since no vehicle in the U.S. is 100% domestically made, and the average vehicle assembled in the U.S has an international parts content of 40%.
Citing a recent study by the Center for Automotive Research that found tariffs on auto and auto parts would increase vehicle prices by $2,750 on average, and cause a decline of up to 1.3 million vehicle sales, and result in a loss of 367,000 American jobs. NADA said, “Congress must ensure that any new trade initiatives do not unduly increase vehicle prices, stifle demand for new vehicles or jeopardize American jobs.”
Dovetailing the tariff issue is NADA’s support for modernizing America’s trade agreements, such as replacing NAFTA with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). This agreement, currently in negotiation, would continue the tariff-free exchange of vehicles within North America, the largest source of vehicles sold by U.S. dealers. NADA urges Congress to expedite these negotiations and bring it to a vote this year.
Other NADA legislative priorities included opposition to an overbroad recall bill (S. 1971) that would cripple the used-vehicle market by halting a dealer’s sale, lease, wholesale or loan of used vehicles under any open recall. The bill would also create a “trade-in tax” that would instantly devalue a car buyer’s trade-in by grounding recalled vehicles for minor matters such as a peeling sticker.
NADA also supports modernizing the truck fleet by repealing the federal excise tax on heavy duty trucks (H.R. 2381/S. 1839), an effort backed by an industry coalition, Modernize the Truck Fleet (MTF). “During consideration of an infrastructure bill, Congress should revisit the 12% federal excise tax (FET) imposed on most new heavy-duty trucks,” said NADA. “On top of the nearly $40,000 in recent federal emissions and fuel-economy mandates, this tax routinely adds as much as $22,000 or more to the price of a new heavy-duty truck.”
Sales Report: Above water and looking for a strong finish.
Although Houston Region total and retail new vehicle sales dipped slightly from July to August (down 5.9% and 4.9%, respectfully), August 2019 sales were up 12.6% total and 9.5% retail over August 2018, according to sales numbers provided by the TexAuto Facts Report published by InfoNation, Inc. for HADA.
To me that spells momentum. With a strong regional economy and the national SAR still in the 17 million range for 2019, I see no reason not to be optimistic about a strong finish this year. This coming January, I will be 40 years in this business, and so when I look back over the good times and bad, this is a good year. I’m not unhappy at all.
Of course, no one can predict the outcome of negative events, such as burdensome auto tariffs, Middle East crises, or the second 100-year flood in two years. But like we did after Hurricane Harvey, Houston new car dealers will weather the storm, soldier on and look for the silver lining.
I also urge all dealers to stay informed and involved in trade, tariff and other issues that affect our businesses. As we have seen time and again, we can still impact public policy at all levels through our support of HADA, TADA and NADA.
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