CARY, N.C. -

As part of our association leadership series in the January edition of Auto Remarketing, we connect with the American International Automobile Dealers Association for a Q&A with its 2021 chairman, Steve Gates, who will formally begin that role in February. Gates is the owner of Gates Auto Family, with locations in Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee.

The emailed Q&A with Gates, covering a wide range of topics, can be found below. 

Auto Remarketing: What are your top priorities for AIADA in 2021?
Steve Gates: For 51 years, AIADA has been focused on automotive trade policy in Washington, D.C. We will continue that mission into 2021 and beyond. 
The last few years showed us plainly how trade wars can impact the day-to-day operations of international nameplate auto dealers. The national security tariffs we fought against on imported vehicles and parts would have devastated our stores, caused massive unemployment and put safe and reliable vehicles out of reach of regular American families. 

As I told the Senate Finance Committee in my 2018 testimony on auto tariffs, “American auto dealers strongly support a pro-growth economic agenda, and believe it can be accomplished with a positive trade message, not the threat of tariffs and taxes. We don’t need more tariffs. We need more trade agreements. Trade keeps our economy open, dynamic, and competitive, and helps ensure that America continues to be the best place in the world to do business.”

AR: What are some of the most pressing legislative/political issues in Washington, D.C., that you believe are most pertinent to new-car franchise dealers, overall?
SG: While we know we will have our hands full in 2021 with a new administration and a new Congress, the main issue on dealers’ minds this new year will be the COVID recovery. Dealers are still handling PPP loans and supply chain issues, and working night and day to keep their employees and customers safe. That’s going to be the focus for at least the first quarter of 2021.

That said, the wheels of government continue to turn. The rollout of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trilateral agreement is going to be one of our most pressing challenges in 2021. While USMCA has been ratified, it still needs to be implemented. AIADA will be front and center in helping our members navigate that process. 

We have an agile and well-rounded advocacy team on the ground in D.C., which allows us to focus on issues like regulatory policy and taxes in addition to trade. We will be watching closely to see how the Biden administration uses the CFPB, approaches emissions rules and handles small business tax policy. 

AR: Specific to international nameplate dealers, what are some legislative/political issues unique to them versus a Big 3 brand dealership?
SG: AIADA was founded as a trade organization for international nameplate dealers, but the truth is ALL dealers need to care about global trade in 2021. There isn’t a car on the road today that is built with 100% American parts. Any tariff on imported parts, therefore, impacts the entire industry. 

It’s also notable that international brands were responsible for 47 percent of all U.S. vehicle production in 2019, and not a single automaker outside of Tesla assembles all of their vehicles in the U.S. So, while AIADA’s members may be more exposed to the impact of trade wars and tariffs, they are hardly the only sector of the industry that is vulnerable. In that sense, our members are doing a lot of heavy lifting for the industry as a whole!

AR: The association leadership in the auto industry is quite active. What are some ways you partner with fellow auto industry trade associations like NADA, NIADA, NAMAD on the dealer side, NAAA on the vendor side, as well as manufacturer associations? 
SG: AIADA believes strongly in working together with other auto organizations inside and outside the D.C. beltway. The coalitions we join amplify all of our voices, and force legislators to sit up and take notice of our members’ concerns. 

One of the best examples of these partnerships is the annual economic impact report we produce in conjunction with Autos Drive America, the international brand manufacturer association. The report has proved invaluable when working to illustrate the scope of our influence on the U.S. economy before members of Congress.

Another great example is the Driving American Jobs coalition, an organization we are active in, along with the American Automotive Policy Council, the Auto Care Association, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association, the National Automobile Dealers Association, and the Specialty Equipment Market Association. When we all speak with one voice, we are impossible to ignore.

AR: From an outsider’s perspective, dealer education appears to be of great importance to AIADA. What are some ways the association works to educate dealers, and what are some messages you aim to get across?
SG: We’ve realized over the years that everyone wants to receive information differently, so we have developed a variety of channels to reach and educate our members. They include our daily e-newsletter FirstUp, our print magazine AutoDealer, our Beltway Talk podcast, our social media feeds, our YouTube channel, and of course, AIADA.org. Basically, we never want our members to wonder what we’re up to; we want them to see it every day!

In the summer of 2020, AIADA’s AutoTalk webinars were a vital resource for dealers as we worked with some of our partners to share information on COVID-19, with topics like: "What if my employee tests positive for COVID-19?" and sanitization and decontamination processes to reduce virus risk. We were able to quickly adjust our programming to answer the questions our members were asking, and the positive response was overwhelming.

AR: Like most industries, automotive has been heavily impacted by COVID-19 this year. What are some ways that AIADA has served as a resource for dealers during these times? 
SG: In addition to serving as an information resource for dealers, we have also been active on the COVID-19 policy front, working to ensure dealers were at the table when decisions were made determining who was eligible for PPP loans and what types of businesses were considered essential during lockdowns.

AR: How has the pandemic impacted the in-person meetings, events side of AIADA?
SG: Jason Courter, our 2020 chairman, has done an incredible job of leading our organization in a pivot from in-person meetings to virtual advocacy. Because of him, AIADA hasn’t missed a step. He established something we’re calling “virtual dealer visits” in which we take a member of Congress, via Zoom or FaceTime, through a dealership, allowing him or her to meet with dealers and dealership employees and see their work firsthand. He’s also taken our 51st annual meeting in February virtual; something I’m very much looking forward to and in which Toyota’s Bob Carter will be participating. The content is going to be invaluable for dealers, and available at their fingertips.

In 2021, we will continue these virtual offerings as long as necessary and beyond. One thing this crisis has allowed us to see is how much we can accomplish through our digital connections.