MADA is steam rolling towards April 9th Sine Die with a close watch on Maryland financial landscape.  As this edition of On The Move hits the press, the Maryland Senate is discussing their version of the Maryland Budget.  The Senate Budget makes more cuts to State spending then either the Governor's budget proposal or the House of Delegates Proposal.  All three budget proposals shift the cost of teacher pensions to the counties.  However, the Governor, the Senate and the House of Delegates all differ in their budget balancing calculations so the General Assembly will be focused on finding one cohesive plan before any discussion on revenue increases for the Transportation Trust Fund get serious.

The House of Delegates and Senate held their public bill hearing on the Governor's gas tax increase proposal on Wednesday, March 14.  Proponents cited the need for additional revenue to fund disparate transportation projects.  Opponents cited the undue burden this tax would place on Maryland drivers and businesses looking to hire more people.  MADA is closely watching this issue as Legislators do not have the stomach to increase the gas tax.  We will strongly oppose any alternative revenue enhancements that impact the cost of a vehicle purchase.  Again, these high level negotiations will not take place until the Maryland State Budget is balanced.

Finally, the House of Delegates has introduced two tax bills that would burden the automobile dealer industry.  One bill levies a 6% sales tax on vehicle service and the second bill imposes a luxury tax on vehicles $35,000 and greater.  Both bills will be aggressively opposed by MADA.  More importantly, MADA does not see any momentum to move either of these two bills.

MADA is very proud to sponsor two Salisbury high school students, Ryan Murphy and Brent Horner, seniors of Parkside High School, who were selected this past summer to compete in the prestigious National Automotive Technology Competition. The competition will be held during the 2012 New York International Auto Show from April 9-12. Both boys have competed before; last year they represented Maryland at the 2011 Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills.

Ryan Murray and Brent Horner, 2012 NATC Students

At the upcoming competition, the students will compete on a 2012 Chevrolet Malibu. Courtesy Chevrolet, of Salisbury, has graciously provided a Malibu for practicing purposes until the competition. They will also host the students in their service department to practice using the specialized tools and computerized devices that they can expect to use in the competition.

Good luck Ryan and Brent! We hope to hear good news on April 12th!

The Maryland Automobile Dealers Association along with managers from the Motor Vehicle Administration will present a seminar that offers the opportunity to learn new procedures and review old procedures.

Due to the constant changes of regulations governing the sale of a vehicle, MADA strongly encourages individuals from the F&I, Sales, Business Management, and Title & Registration Departments to attend this seminar.

We will also address any titling and registration changes as a result of the 2012 Legislative Session.

LOCATION:  Turf Valley Resort Ellicott City 

DATE:  April 18, 2012 

TIME:  9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

COST:     $85 p/p member  $125 p/p non-member 

Click Here to Register!

As part of debate on the Senate highway bill currently underway on Capitol Hill, Senators Menendez (D-NJ) and Burr (R-NC) have offered an amendment to incentivize the purchase of natural gas-powered cars and medium- heavy-duty trucks. The amendment would provide consumers with a tax credit of $7,500 to $64,000, depending on the vehicle. This amendment also proposes to increase demand for natural gas vehicles by providing the tax rebate to customers as a point-of-sale discount by allowing the credit to be "transferred" to the dealer, who would then have to apply to the IRS to be reimbursed. NADA strongly opposes the creation of "transferable" vehicle tax credits. A vote is expected on the Menendez-Burr amendment this week.

NADA is calling upon all its dealer members across the country to call their senators through the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and urge them to oppose the Menendez-Burr natural gas amendment (#1782) to the highway bill because its tax transferability provisions are unworkable in the vehicle market.

NADA says the provision is especially problematic for dealers because:

• The amendment could have dealers funding the tax credit at the time of sale, and then waiting for payment from the IRS. The amount of the dealer's "float" on a specific transaction would always be far in excess of any profit on the individual sale. The severity of this cash flow problem would increase with every sale involving a transferable credit.
• Dealers would need to have sufficient tax liability to be reimbursed. For example, a dealer may provide cash for several transactions and learn months later that he does not have sufficient tax liability to realize the aggregate value of the credits transferred. The inability to claim a single transferred credit at tax time could destroy the profitability of several previous sales.

For more information, contact the NADA Legislative Office at 202-547-5500 or visit www.nada.org/legislativeaffairs.

MADA announces the next live webinars coming to you from DealersEdge...    

#1: How to Fine-Tune and Improve Performance of Your Parts Department

Date/Time: Thursday, March 15, 2012 at 1:00 p.m.

Presenter:  Richard Owen of ROI Consulting       

Cost: $149.00 Per Person

As dealership fixed operations expert Richard sees it all the time - dealership general managers who tend to know only two numbers about the parts department - the gross turn ratio and the month's supply.  And those two numbers are misleading and inadequate. 

Dealers, please be sure that your technicians are current on the latest ASE Certification courses. The 2012 calendar has been announced and dates for Spring testing are coming up soon...

April/May 2012 testing runs from April 1-May 31. Registration will open on March 1 and closes on May 21.

Future testing dates for the remainder of 2012 are as follows:

July/Aug 2012 testing will run from July 1-August 31. Registration will open on June 1 and will close on August 21.

Oct/Nov 2012 testing will run from October 1-November 30. Registration will open on September 1 and will close on November 21.

For more information, please visit the ASE website.    

We thank those members who have already paid their 2012 Membership Year dues. If you have not submitted your membership dues, please do so as soon as possible. We are currently compiling our 2012 membership information to be included in the yearly directory and if we do not have your dues payment, your business will not be included. If you need a 2nd copy of your dues statement, please contact Charlotte Rutkowski at 800.526.7423.