Pub. 12 2014-2015 Issue 3

N E W J E R S E Y C O A L I T I O N O F A U T O M O T I V E R E T A I L E R S 5 new jersey auto retailer W W W . N J C A R . O R G President’s MESSAGE | BY JAMES B. APPLETON Sometimes It’s What You DON’T See That Matters Ever see a turtle on a fence post? One thing you know for sure: that turtle didn’t get there on his own. It’s like that at The State House in Trenton, too. Take Sunday sales and doc fees. The statutory prohibition on Sunday motor vehicles sales in New Jersey and the free market surrounding documentary preparation fees charged by new car dealers in the Garden State didn’t happen – and doesn’t continue – all on its own. Every few years some legislator gets the idea that they want to “help” new car dealers by repealing the prohibition on Sundaymotor vehicle sales. AndNJ CAR gets regular calls from legislators inquiring about documentary preparation fees and wondering if it makes sense to impose a cap on what a dealer can charge, like they do in New York and Pennsylvania. Actually, therewas a bill introduced in 2013 that would have repealed New Jersey’s prohibition on Sunday motor vehicle sales. But that bill died when the 215th Legislative Session adjourned in January of this year. And the proposal has not been reintroduced in the 216th Legislative Session. That’s because the bill sponsors now understand that repealing the ban on Sunday motor vehicle sales won’t help con- sumers, won’t help dealers, and certainly won’t help the state or local governments that relyon the economic activity related tonewcar sales. It’s been almost a decade since legislation has been introduced in New Jersey to regulate and cap documentary preparation fees, although it looks like there may be a bill soon. NJ CAR has recently been hearing from legislators who are, once again, asking why New Jersey doesn’t follow our neighboring states by imposing a cap on documentary preparation charges and why New Jersey new car dealers’ doc prep fees are all over the lot. Some dealers in South Jersey, for example, are charging less than $100 while some in North Jersey are charging $500 or more. NJ CARhas heard from legislators who think a standardized amount in line with what dealers charge in New York ($75) or Pennsylvania ($120) would be preferable to the open marketplace that exists in New Jersey today. But NJ CAR has worked hard to describe all the services that go into the documentary preparation function at a dealer- ship and we’ve argued that dealers should be free to decide what they will charge their customers for this — and any other — service they offer. After all, State consumer regulations already require dealers to disclose and itemize these charges, so that consumers know exactly what they are going to pay and they are free to shop around. There’s a lot happening behind the scenes in Trenton. And there’s a lot that’s not happening, at all. None of this is by accident. It happens (or doesn’t) becauseNJCAR is hard at work communicatingwith key government policy-makers.