TORONTO, Ontario -

 After what officials called successful spring advertising efforts, the Used Car Dealers Association of Ontario is rolling out a consumer campaign for fall on Monday designed to spread the word about the benefits of shopping with its member dealers.

The campaign will last five weeks and will include TV and online elements.

Through the TV ads that will air during CTV, CBC, Global, CH News and the 6 p.m. news hour on the A Channel, UCDA said it can reach as many as 10 million consumers a week. Furthermore, UCDA said “tens of thousands” of purchasing prospects can be reached online.

The TV ad can also been accessed via www.ucda.org.

“The message is clear, buying from a local UCDA member is a smart choice: ‘Look for the UCDA sign at your local dealership,’” UCDA noted.

Moving on to discuss the banner ad part of the campaign, UCDA is posting rotating online banner ads on carpages.ca and autotrader.ca that steer consumers to the organization’s site with the goal of educating them about the benefits of buying from a UCDA member and where they can find a nearby member dealer.

“Our banner promotions at carpages.ca and autotrader.ca have driven traffic to our website, and we’ve seen a marked increase in e-mails from buyers asking a wide range of questions … demonstrating an interest in learning more about UCDA member dealers,” officials noted.

These efforts follow strong TV and banner ad campaigns this past spring for UCDA. The spring campaign was meant to get consumers to check for the UCDA decal in dealers’ print and website listings, and to visit the UCDA website to learn more about the benefits.

“We have never had so many members take advantage of displaying the UCDA decal on their websites and in their online and print advertising,” officials noted.

“The consumer campaign prompted potential buyers to look for our decal in a dealer’s ad and for further information on the UCDA website,” they added.

This certainly has led to strong online traffic for UCDA members. Officials said UCDA websites are seeing monthly traffic of 25,000 unique visitors.

How Should Dealers Classify Themselves?

Continuing on, UCDA also offered some advice regarding the dealer classification under the new Motor Vehicle Dealers Act.

Explaining how this works, UCDA noted that the Ontario Motor Vehicle Industries Council had told dealers to note how they would classify their respective businesses “for MVDA purposes.”

This was in 2009, prior to the becoming effective.

Dealers who did not respond to OMVIC have to pick a classification upon getting their dealer license renewed.

“The answer for almost all UCDA members will be … General Dealer or Wholesaler,” officials explained. “Members who purchase, sell or lease
vehicles on a retail basis are General Dealers.”

They continued: “Franchise dealers are classified as General Dealer — New and Used. Independent dealers are General Dealer — Used. Members who only buy and sell vehicles on a wholesale basis (to and from other dealers) and do no retail selling or leasing at all should classify themselves as a Wholesaler.”

But a dealer will have to register as a General Dealer if he wants to buy from anyone besides a fellow registered dealer or sell or lease a vehicle to this person — “even occasionally.”

Say the member’s registration denoted them as a wholesale dealer before the new MVDA came into effect. If he leases vehicles but doesn’t sell to the public, he is required to become a General Dealer — Used.

UCDA also noted: “If your premises are not zoned to allow the display of vehicles, you will need to sign OMVIC’s Acknowledgment of Premises Restriction form when renewing your dealer registration. This form confirms that vehicles will not be displayed for sale and that you will comply with all municipal zoning requirements.”

Members are urged to contact UCDA’s legal department with questions.