Automotive Group Turns to KPA to Meet Stringent New FTC Requirements for Vendor Management

Client Profile 

High-Volume Automotive Group Aims for Its Seven Dealerships to Be “Most Loved” in the Southwestern United States. 

A community stronghold and 3-decade old dealer group has seven state-of-the-art dealership facilities in Southwestern United States. The group sells approximately 700 cars per month throughout its locations. The dealerships sell new and used inventory, and offer repair services.   

Challenge  

New FTC Regulations Push the Limits on Vendor Management Solution  

This dealer group is a long-time KPA customer, using the EHS software. However, when the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued new vendor vetting requirements in mid-2023, the dealership needed to tighten up its vendor management program to conduct regular risk assessments and provide continuous training for employees involved in vendor management.  

“We got out of the gate early; we jumped on with ComplyAuto,” said their Executive Director. 

Solution   

KPA Vera Suite Comes to the Rescue with Baked-In Privacy & Safeguards Features   

Knowing that ComplyAuto didn’t fit the bill as a stand-alone solution, the dealer group imported its data into the KPA platform.  

“KPA had the infrastructure set up to work with ComplyAuto to allow their modules to go through KPA,” he said. “That’s playing well with your competition.” 

“You hear the words in the auto industry: ‘integrate, integrate, integrate.’ Most of the time, everybody answers, ‘Yes, we integrate.’ But when you dive into a certain product, it doesn’t integrate the way they sold it to you. The perfect world is to have one solution.” 

Once the data was integrated, KPA’s Privacy & Safeguards—part of KPA’s Vera Suite, specifically designed for automotive dealerships—met their needs in navigating the new FTC regulations. The software’s vendor management library includes hundreds of completed GBLA contracts, risk assessments, and other tools to ensure vendors are compliant.   

“In my former solution, I had to get the vendors on board and sell their risk assessment and data agreement. I had to have the dialogue,” he said. “Vendor vetting from KPA, that was the winning thing. It took the legwork out of it.” 

Result 

KPA’s Vera Suite Brings Consolidated Reporting and Peace of Mind   

“It’s an all-in-one compliance solution with KPA; I would be interested to see who wouldn’t want something like that,” he said. “No one wants to jump from website to website, and tool to tool if they can have everything consolidated.” 

Now, with his data all under one platform, he notes the power of consolidated reporting made easy in KPA.  

“Our 2024 report is just the click of a button,” he enthused. “One page, one report, one site to get to it. The at-a-glance snapshots and comparisons are awesome. I send (the report) to leadership, and that’s all she wrote”  

Looking forward, he plans to dig even deeper into even more of KPA’s potential as he continues to manage protocols related to HR, Training, Environmental Health & Safety (EHS), Sales & Finance, and other functions. 

For instance, KPA’s HR capabilities have helped he develop consistent new-hire onboarding processes for all seven stores. But he wonders, “Am I using it to its full potential?” His plan is to contact his KPA representative to dig deeper.  

In closing, he noted the platform’s overall value.  

“KPA has been instrumental. It’s about functionality and facilities and making sure I’m protecting the dealer. It’s the peace of mind of having a track to run on.”