COLUMBUS, Ohio — Jim Mitchell wanted to witness Ohio Gov.
John Kasich sign Senate Bill 245 into law earlier this week since the
legislation eight years in the making is aimed at assisting independent dealers
in becoming successful.

The executive director the Ohio Independent Auto Dealers
Association cheered the passage of the measure that mandates dealers must go
through at least six hours of training before obtaining a used-car dealer
license.

"For the used-car dealer very simply what it means is any
new dealer wishing to sell cars in Ohio now has the opportunity to learn what
the laws are and what the requirements are before they get their license,"
Mitchell told sister publication Auto Remarketing on Tuesday.

"Up until this point, no one has taught them a thing," he
continued. "They just took their money and gave them a license. There were no
seminars, no educational programs, nothing for all of these individuals in the
past who were issued a license. They were just given one, and that was it."

The law goes into effect on Sept. 4, and Mitchell
highlighted several elements for the measure to reach this point.

First off, the regulation does not involve Ohio franchised
dealers. Mitchell indicated that dealer principals have to undergo a large
amount of training through the parent automaker before ever obtaining a
franchise location, so they have been excluded from the scope of SB 245.

Furthermore, individuals who hold a salvage motor vehicle
auction license or a motor vehicle auction license are exempt from the training
required in this law. Mitchell explained to Auto Remarketing why this
stipulation was made.

"In the state of Ohio, all auto auctions have to have a
used-car license because there are times when the auctions will buy a car back
from a dealer who may have just purchased one and is not happy with it,"
Mitchell said. "So there are times when the auction must take ownership of that
vehicle and then turn around and sell it. In Ohio, if you have more than five
causal sales a year, you must have a license."

Mitchell admitted Ohio's auction community initially was
leery about SB 245 because these operations only conduct wholesale
transactions, not retail deals. But Mitchell said amendments were added so
auctions only had to abide by the "procedures and laws on that side of the
business."

Mitchell indicated that the measure passed unanimously
through Ohio's Senate and received strong majority support from both sides of
the aisle in the House.

Now that the law has been signed, it falls on Mitchell and
OIADA to craft the training program with the state's Department of Motor
Vehicles.

Mitchell indicated that his recommendation is going to be
for the association to hold mandated license training sessions biweekly at
OIADA's education center in Columbus. He contends an average of 13 to 15
individuals each week apply to be an independent dealer in Ohio.

"Given those figures, we want to be able to do it quickly so
we don't in any way cause a drag in the time it takes them to get a license,"
Mitchell stressed.

"Columbus, in our opinion, is centrally located. The
training center across the hall from our office and we've been doing seminars
there for the past two and half years. Whether they're coming from Toledo,
Cleveland, or what have you, they will all be traveling about the same
distance."

The current membership size of OIADA is a little less than
700, but Mitchell thinks about that many stores go out of business annually in
Ohio. He believes there are two primary reasons why: either the store runs
into legal trouble or it's undercapitalized.

Mitchell hopes this mandated training gives new independent
store owners a foundation of the legal regulations they must follow as well as
a glimpse to the financial elements necessary to have a successful dealership.

"There are a lot of laws that you must comply with and the
problem is very few of them know this," Mitchell continued. "It's going to
benefit everybody. It's going to benefit the consumer also because hopefully
these dealers will learn the right way of doing things so the consumer is not caught
holding the short end of the stick because the didn't know he wasn't allowed to
do something.

"Of course the dealers will be better business people and
that's what it's all about. As long as the dealers are successful, everybody
benefits," Mitchell concluded.

More details about Ohio's new law for used-car dealer
licenses can be found on the state's legislative webpage here.