Categories
Business Growth

Now More Than Ever – Powersports Dealers Need WALKAWAY

Glenice Wilder Vice President EFG Companies
Contributing Author:
Glenice Wilder
Vice President
EFG Companies

Clearly, we are in the midst of challenging times. Due to shelter-in-place orders, many in the U.S. are either working from home or furloughed, and thousands have lost their jobs. And for those who perform essential functions that we rely on, it is business as usual with a whopping dose of added stress. Whatever the situation, everyone is burdened in some way.

In the powersports industry, we’ve been through hard times before. Most recently, the Great Recession taught the industry a lot about running a financially sound business through both economic ups and downs. Since then, the industry has drastically changed with the progression of online retailing. As dealers ramp up online retailing efforts to stay engaged with consumers stuck at home, EFG has once again brought to market its traffic-driving, market differentiator – WALKAWAY Vehicle Return Protection.

WALKAWAY allows consumers the option to return their motorcycle in the event any of these unforeseen life events occur:

  • Involuntary unemployment
  • Physical disability
  • Loss of driver’s license due to medical impairment
  • Self-employment personal bankruptcy
  • Accidental death
  • International employment transfer
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Categories
Compliance

DOD Decision Gives Powersports Dealers New Option for Military Buyers

Steve Roennau Vice President Compliance EFG Companies
Contributing Author:
Steve Roennau
Vice President
EFG Companies

Powersports products have long been popular among active military and their dependents who find owning a car to be problematic, given the cost and their transitory lifestyle while on duty. The affordability and easy financing of motorcycles have made dealers and lenders eager to support this demographic segment. However, some regulatory wrangling by the Department of Defense (DOD) regarding the Military Lending Act (MLA) had caused some confusion.

Let’s step back and start at the beginning. Congress passed the MLA in 2006 to protect active duty service members and their dependents from predatory lending. Since 2015, the DOD has amended portions of the final rule to expand the scope of the MLA to include the majority of closed and open-ended loans. These amendments impacted traditional lenders like banks, savings and loans, credit unions, and credit cards.

At the end of 2017, the DOD issued a new interpretation of the MLA. Based on the interpretation, creditors providing credit-related products and services, like GAP, credit life, credit disability or cash-out financing, were also required to comply with a full range of duties and restrictions imposed by the MLA.

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Categories
Uncategorized

Data Lockdown

Contributing Author:
Maurice Hamilton
Vice President
EFG Companies

According to their the 2019 MidYear QuickView Data Breach Report published by Cyber Risk Analytics, 3,800 publicly disclosed data breaches occurred in the first six months of 2019, exposing up to 4.1 billion records. This represented a 50% increase over the last four years.

Last week, Experian issued their Data Breach Industry Forecast for 2020, reflecting on the state of cyber security. Their primary takeaway – while a data breach is probably inevitable, companies must prioritize prevention as well as response.

Regardless of the industry, as companies increase their reliance on technology to house personal, confidential information, data breach attempts are expected to increase as well.

For the last 10 to 15 years, dealers have steadily increased the role technology plays in the dealership. Now, they not only use technology to preserve digital records of every piece of paperwork generated in the dealership, but dealers also rely on sophisticated platforms to submit and receive loan applications, rate products, process claims, and more.

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