Is Your Dealership Prepared for CCPA Compliance?
The recent California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) should have every dealership conducting an overall compliance audit to ensure their compliance management system is current and actively monitored and maintained.
While the CCPA only pertains to conducting business in, or with, California residents, its tentacles are certain to spread to most, if not all, other states soon.
The mandates contained within the CCPA are far-reaching in terms of setting up and maintaining compliance – and the potential penalties can be catastrophic, regardless of the size of the dealership.
The saying, “As California goes, so goes the nation” certainly holds true for the retail industry.
It is important to note that California was the first state to statutorily prohibit payment packing, a regulation that is being closely pored over and considered by attorneys general in other states. California also holds the distinction of being the first state to impose a ceiling on dealer participation.
The RV industry – along with the auto, power sports and marine industries – have witnessed a growing increase in regulatory investigations, with several resulting in alarming penalties and fines.
As a result, no longer can a dealership act like an ostrich and simply bury its head in the ground and pretend that it has no knowledge of compliance violations taking place within the confines of the dealership. Attorneys general across the U.S. – along with an alphabet soup of other regulatory agencies from state and federal entities – have ramped up their investigations into compliance violations that place consumers in harm’s way.
The push from consumer advocacy groups, along with an ever-growing demand from consumers, have legislators putting the heat onto these regulatory agencies to protect the consumers from bad actors in the business communities. And there certainly doesn’t appear to be anything on the horizon that points to a slowing down of these regulatory agencies being pushed to provide even more consumer protection. This includes more privacy laws, consumer credit laws and data breach laws.
Already New Jersey and at least 13 other states are working on legislation that appears to mirror the CCPA.
This certainly bears the dire warning to dealerships that they should revisit their dealership’s compliance management system and ensure it is updated on an annual basis and actively monitored.
There are a couple of reputable and reliable sources that provide this service. Utilizing the compliance management services of such an operation just might be the best insurance policy the dealership ever put into position.
