Over Seventy Years of Legislative Success
VADA is active each year at the Virginia General Assembly, working on behalf of new car and truck dealers on legislation and regulations that are pro-business and pro-dealer. VADA is considered one of the top lobbying organizations not only in Virginia, but in the country. Numerous states model their franchise laws, recall laws and other statutes on our successes.
Your Legislative Team is led By:
Don Hall
President & CEO
Anne Gambardella, Esq.
Legal & Legislative Affairs
Tim Pohanka
Legislative Chairman
Right of First Refusal: Protection for the value of dealership groups for sellers and the ability to purchase dealer groups for buyers.
Chargebacks: Limited to 6 months for warranty and sales incentive audits.
Retail Warranty Reimbursement with no surcharges: Prohibition on surcharges to offset retail reimbursement that are in place in other states.
Processing Fees: No caps and protection to charge on manufacturer purchase plan sales.
Limits on Consumer Litigation: Cure offers can limit costs of Consumer Protection Act claims. Processing fees and spot deliveries are explicitly permitted. How much have dealers in other states spent fighting on these two issues alone?
Safety Inspections: Various fees increases and important exemptions for new vehicles and dealer exchanges.
Electronic Titling Fee: Fee is passed through to the consumer.
Objective buy-sell transactions: Requires 60 days for an OEM to object to a transfer or sale and outlines clear criteria for objections.
Workers Comp: Fee schedule to control medical costs.
Transaction Recovery Fund: Restrictions on abuse by consumer attorneys so dealers are not assessed more by the Dealer Board.
Prevention of chargebacks until the dealer has had the opportunity to challenge them, reducing the manufacturer’s leverage in audits.
Protection against mandated facility upgrades, including automatic qualification for facility program requirements, for ten years following factory approved upgrades.
“Buy Virginia” protections allowing dealers to price shop other suppliers for many factory-required goods and services.
Protections against mandated sale of factory voluntary protection products.
Dealer rights to push data rather than being compelled by manufacturers to access the dealer’s computer system.
No class actions under state law, eliminating the costly lawsuits that have plagued dealers in other states.
The Virginia Automobile Dealers Association is pleased to work with the law firms of Charapp & Weiss LLP and Gentry Locke.
- Charapp & Weiss specializes in dealer franchise law. Our primary contact is attorney Barrett "Barrie" Charapp Beaty.
- Gentry Locke focuses on government and regulatory affairs in Virginia. Our point of contact is attorney and former House of Delegates member Greg Habeeb.