Dealership Protects Reputation and Saves Thousands with KPA

Client Profile  

Family-owned Business is a Fixture on the L.A. Automotive Scene 

The LAcarGUY family of dealerships has been a Los Angeles-area fixture since its first location opened in Santa Monica in 1964. Today, the third-generation family business includes 13 award-winning dealerships throughout Los Angeles, with more locations on the horizon. 

Challenge  

A Heavily Regulated State Requires Top-Notch Compliance Management 

A 15-year veteran at LAcarGUY, Chris Simpson oversees 36 finance managers across the dealership’s 13 locations. When Simpson took over the VP of Finance Operations position five years ago, he inherited responsibility for the business’s compliance management within the Finance Department. 

To meet the challenging demands of California State’s Automotive Finance & Insurance regulations, Simpson knew getting a compliance management and training software solution into place was crucial. 

Among his top concerns was the 8300 IRS form. “That one can be very tricky. I wanted my managers and business office personnel to train on that at least once a year,” said Simpson. 

“Other important focuses for training were making sure all the right information, such as Buyer’s Guides, were being properly displayed–and ensuring no sensitive customer info was being left out,” Simpson said. 

“Of course, big issues for regulators are deceptive practices, payment packing, and all that,” he continued. “We don’t do those things, but we needed a system with accountability to show that we regularly train our people on those topics.” 

“We want to make sure we’re compliant from the get-go,” said Simpson. 

Solution  

“Living” in KPA software to Manage Training across 60 managers, 13 Locations 

Simpson moved forward to implement KPA’s Vera Suite all-in-one EHS and Workforce Compliance software in 2020. “It combined compliance, HR, and emergency response into one platform. It made sense to me to mesh it all together and be transparent across the board,” Simpson said. 

A key to kickstarting the project was his working relationship with KPA Client Success Manager Matt Romanini to review KPA’s training modules and develop course curriculum for each of Simpson’s management roles. 

“In all, we developed a 23-course curriculum,” Simpson explained. “I handle training for all the managers across the group, which equals about 60 people, plus our office personnel.” 

“The capabilities to build the training plus the partnership with Matt…no other vendors we tried offered that value.” 

“I’ve been monitoring the training program weekly. I pretty much live in KPA…doing training along with the on-site biannual auditing visits from KPA, sending out reports from the audits, and managing any open items. And that’s dispersed across 13 stores and those 60 managers. Luckily, now, everything is all in a one-stop-shop through Vera Suite,” he said. 

Result  

Simpson estimates significant savings directly resulting from KPA’s software, training, and audit services. 

The company has also seen its overall compliance status improve.  

“We moved from about 90% to 95% and are now totally in the green. That’s a big difference.” 

“The discipline of having all the managers certified means the accountability has been put on them to do the right thing,” he continues. “And in a year to adopt that mentality across all the groups, we’ve really come a long way.” 

“Now, GMs and office personnel ask me, ‘Hey, what’s the KPA hotline number again?’ We may not know all the rules out there, but now we all know where to find out.” 

Simpson also cites KPA’s top-notch on-site auditing team and the value of on-site audits. 

“It’s even as simple as the pictures they take to illustrate the open issues. I’ll print one out, and I’ll walk over to my facilities director and say, ‘Hey, this sign is missing at Volkswagen Santa Monica, and this is where it needs to go.’ He’ll give that to his team to remedy, then we can close the issue.” 

“Having a structured and reputable compliance partner like KPA takes away all the guesswork.” 

“You know what the rules and regulations are, and you have clear direction about what you need to do,” Simpson concludes.