Message from President and CEO, Don Hall

Pub. 2 2020 Issue 1

Published December 10, 2020

By Don Hall, President and CEO

If you feel the same way we do, you want to retire the word “unprecedented” and all the unexpected events of 2020. The year 2021 may still give us more opportunities to deal with unpleasant realities, but at the end of 2020, we are doing our best to find a new normal that keeps us safe from the coronavirus pandemic. Our dealerships are open and selling, online and in person, and we are taking every opportunity we have to provide for our families and strengthen our communities.

Some people talk about life sometimes changing on a dime. That poor dime got dizzy this year. We had our hands full implementing the mandates that keep our employees and our customers safe. What didn’t change was the importance of serving our communities, so we continue to look for ways to help our neighbors and friends.

Throughout Virginia, I have seen our dealers do the seemingly impossible. The work hasn’t been easy, but our safety record is admirable. We are still selling cars, and we are doing it without people getting sick. That is an accomplishment.

We have been impressed by our employees’ leadership, and we know they will continue to do great work. Now that we know the basics of preventing the coronavirus from spreading, it’s time to look for the opportunities we have to solve the challenges facing us. That means using the fundamentals that always sell cars. But it also means relying on longstanding relationships and working with the most sophisticated and effective technology we can find.

VADA is committed to protecting dealer members, but the not-so-secret path to success is our need for all of you to be involved. Without that, we would not be able to accomplish much. We are always doing what we can to protect your businesses and foster strong relationships so that when you have a problem to solve, you also have good friends to support and advise you.

VADA has an impressive national reputation of working successfully with state legislators to influence the General Assembly to act in pro-dealer and pro-business ways. We do this for you, and we can’t do it without you.

We believe that every dealer should support our Virginia Automobile and Truck Dealers Political Action Committee. No one likes to talk about money and politics, but candidates need money to fund their campaigns and pay their staff while running for office. Members of the General Assembly make less than $20,000 per year for their service, which in our contemporary era now requires about six months of their time.

Election results matter. Elected officials will ultimately vote on laws that dictate how you operate your business. Visit our PAC page at VADA.com/pac to learn more about making our political voice heard, and while you are there, make a financial commitment. Whether you choose to enter your credit card information on the spot or send a check, it’s an easy process.

Looking back over my more than 30 years leading VADA, I’m concerned about a growing trend of dealers doing less on the legislative front. Fewer of our members are proactively reaching out to our elected leaders to engage on important matters .concerning how our industry operates in Virginia. In fact, I’m very concerned by the number of individuals who own or hold senior positions in dealerships who can’t name their House of Delegates member or Senator.

That’s not a good state of affairs. As an association, we want to remind you that your previous generation knew their local legislators and invested time to develop relationships. Why? These are the people who are impacting your life and livelihood. They have the potential to harm your business if we don’t advocate for ourselves.

As I’ve shared repeatedly in recent years, the General Assembly today is very different from what I have historically worked with. Still, many legislators on both sides of the aisle — Republicans and Democrats alike — will go out of their way to protect you and your right to grow your business and serve your customers. We need to make sure that you know who they are.

Being involved has never mattered more.