TUSTIN, Calif. — With legal regulations often changing and potential dealer pitfalls numerous, Auto Advisory Services announced the availability of a resource guide and subscription service meant to provide dealers and their advisors with access to comprehensive legal information.

Going well beyond compliance regulations, the attorneys who compiled Auto Dealer Law, the Definitive Legal Guide to the Purchase, Sale, and Operation of Vehicle Dealerships highlighted they delve into topics such as factory disputes, employment law, buy/sell agreements and general dealership operations in a fully indexed format.

Written by nationally recognized auto industry legal experts Mike Charapp and Rob Cohen, Auto Advisory Services believes the reference book is authoritative and easy to read. The guide includes a subscription service with quarterly updates and special notifications on pressing industry developments to keep users abreast of changes in the law.

Charapp and Cohen explained Auto Dealer Law is divided into three parts: buying and selling the dealership, running the dealership and compliance.

Part one focuses on buy/sells, including both buyer and seller perspectives, standard and essential contract terms, and factory approval issues.

Part two focuses on the myriad of legal issues involved with running dealerships, such as vendor and factory relations, litigation management and emergency preparedness, with a strong concentration on factory relations.

Part three of the book is devoted entirely to sales, finance and advertising legal compliance. Best practices, sample forms and sample policies round out the offering.

"Dealers continue to struggle with an ever-expanding array of laws and compliance regulations, while also juggling factory pressure, human resource technicalities, vendor contracting and numerous other legal issues," stated Cohen, co-author of Auto Dealer Law and president of Auto Advisory Services.

"For less than what many lawyers bill for an hour's worth of work, we're giving readers our combined 50 years of knowledge and experience in automotive law," Cohen insisted.

"Factories have legions of attorneys whose job it is to keep manufacturer oppression of dealers just short of coercion or intimidation. This book will give dealers the confidence they need when responding to unreasonable factory demands," added Charapp, co-author of Auto Dealer Law and partner with Charapp & Weiss.

Cohen started with Auto Advisory Services in 1994 and he became president in 2006. Prior to devoting his full-time effort to Auto Advisory Services, Cohen represented dealers in litigation for four years. He specialized in the defense of consumer claims and represented licensees before DMV administrative hearings.

Cohen developed what he believes is a strong background inside dealerships by working as a salesman and doing F&I during law school.

Charapp has spent his life in and around the auto business. The son of a Dodge dealer in western Pennsylvania, Charapp spent his teenage years working in all departments of the family dealership

As an associate and later a partner with the law firm of Stein, Mitchell & Mezines, Charapp did extensive business trial work and representation of businesses, including numerous dealerships. In 1984, Charapp joined the Rosenthal Automotive Organization, then one of the 10 largest dealer groups in the country where he later became executive vice president and general counsel.

Today, Charapp represents and advises numerous business clients, including more than 200 dealers and several dealer trade associations such as the Virginia Automobile Dealers Association, the Maryland Automobile Dealers Association, the Washington Area New Automobile Dealers Association, the Richmond Automobile Dealers Association, and the Hampton Roads Automobile Dealers Association.

The guide and subscription service from Cohen and Charapp can be purchased at www.autodealerlaw.com.