September 2017 - Greater Cincinnati Automobile Dealers Association

St. Aloysius Orphange Recieves CPR Manikin From Superior Honda

On Thursday, September 26, Chris Heck, General Manager at Superior Honda, presented the staff of St. Aloysius Orphanage with a Laerdal CPR Training Manikin. The manikin will be used to train staff who work with children all over Hamilton and Butler Counties in this lifesaving procedure.

GCADA’s CPR Manikin Donation Program has been active since 2013, pairing dealer members with local nonprofits who provide CPR training. The manikins are themselves are provided by the National Automobile Dealers Association Foundation.

St. Aloysius’ mission is to help children in the community to overcome trauma and mental health challenges by providing the education, behavioral health care, and resources they need to heal and grow. For over 180 years, St. Aloysius has opened its doors to those who need it most.

Each staff member at St. Aloysius who works directly with clients is required to be certified in Adult/Child CPR/First Aid. To that end, every year approximately 125 employees are trained and maintain their CPR/First Aid certifications through in-house training. St. Aloysius offers initial certification and re-certification classes to our employees so they are equipped to be first responders should an emergency arise.

Cardiac arrest claims thousands of lives each year, and victim’s often die before reaching the hospital. Combined use of CPR and AED can increase a victim’s chance of survival by up to 80%.

Across the country, automobile dealerships have provided an estimated 4,600 manikins worth approximately $3 million, for training of over 2 million people, potentially saving thousands of lives.

Great Turnout For Car Seat Check in Green Township

Car Seat Check at Green Township Fire Department

On Saturday, instructors from Cincinnati Children’s trained a new batch of certified child passenger safety technicians at Green Township Fire Department. The trainees included first responders, child care providers and teachers from around the region, who spent four days learning the ins and outs of proper car seat safety. The class wrapped up with a free car sat check to help parents and caregivers make sure they were using the right seat for their child, and that it was installed correctly.

As anyone who has used a car seat can tell you, making sure every buckle, belt, tether and latch is properly positioned and fastened with a child in the car is no easy task. Added to that, each seat might have a different an be used differently depending on the age, weight, and height of the child. The certification process ensures that each tech understands all these factors, as well as who they interact with the safety features of the vehicles such as seat belts, air bags, and the LATCH system.

Saturday’s car seat check was a big success. 16 cars came in, and 23 car seats in total were checked by technicians. Car seats were checked for any open manufacturer recalls, made sure that they were the right fit for their passengers, and technicians instructed caregivers to make sure they understood how to install  them properly each time.

In addition, parents who stopped in for the car seat check were able to sign up for our annual car sat giveaway! With the drawing only a week away, there is still time to get your name in.

The Equifax Data Breach – What Dealers Should Know

Equifax is one of three nationwide credit-reporting agencies that track and rate the financial history of consumers.  Equifax recently announced a major breach of the data it stores and news coverage of the breach has been widespread.  Equifax has stated that information from as many as 143 million people in the United States were compromised.   Given the number of people affected and the sensitive type of information exposed, dealers should understand the basics of the breach and what it means for their customers.  In particular, dealership employees should recognize they are likely to: (a) get questions from customers about the breach, and (b) see a potential increase in “credit freezes” and fraud alerts on credit applicants’ credit reports.   As a result, dealership personnel should review the FTC guidance below and understand what they may encounter, what they should look for, and what steps they should take when facing a fraud alert or “frozen” credit report.

If dealership personnel do get questions, it is important to first explain that the reported breach occurred at Equifax, and does not involve the dealership, data stored at the dealership, or dealership processes.  Dealership personnel can also point consumers to the FTC’s consumer guidance “The Equifax Data Breach: What to Do?”  That guidance: (a) provides a link to the Equifax website where consumers can determine if their information is at risk and how to sign up for the free credit monitoring service provided by Equifax, and (b) provides information about steps consumers can take to protect their credit, including how to place a fraud alert, or a credit “freeze” on their account.

What if dealership personnel do see a fraud alert  or encounter a “frozen” credit report?   Dealership personnel should review the FTC document entitled Fraud alerts vs. credit freezes: FTC FAQs that provides further information about fraud alerts and credit freezes.  Basically, if a customer’s credit is “frozen” then that customer’s credit report generally cannot be viewed until the customer takes steps to “unfreeze” their credit.  They will be assigned a PIN they must use (and may forget), and it may include a fee that the customer must pay (both to place, and to temporarily “lift” the freeze), and could include a lead time that could affect a financing transaction.   If there is a fraud alert on the credit report, then the dealership must take certain additional steps to verify the identity of the applicant (generally calling a phone number that the consumer provided at the time they placed the fraud alert and speaking with the consumer) before the credit process can be finalized.

Dealers should also be aware that there are already scammers trying to take further advantage of the Equifax breach by calling consumers and trying to obtain personal information through false pretenses.  See the FTC warning here for more.

Lastly, this is a good reminder for dealers to revisit their Red Flags program to ensure that they are taking the required steps to detect and prevent scammers from opening a line of credit using someone else’s information.

Mark Scarpelli
NADA Chairman

Target’s Car Seat Trade-In Program Returns

Target is offering 20% a new car seat if you drop off your old one!

Here at GCADA, we’re in full swing celebrating Nation Child Passenger Safety Month, and already have hundreds of entrants in our annual Car Seat Giveaway courtesy of Evenflo! If you haven’t already, make sure you sign up now either for yourself or a friend who you know needs at seat!

But for some, our drawing on October 2 may not come soon enough. Maybe your car seat has already expired, or your child has outgrown their current seat. If that is the case, then Target’s news will come as a pleasant surprise. As reported today in Good Housekeeping, Target has brought back it’s popular car seat trade-in program! This program allows parents and caregivers to exchange an old seat for a coupon for 20% off their next car seat purchase.

Eligible car seats include belt-positioning boosters, forward-facing five-point harnesses, rear-facing infant seats, and more. Shoppers can take advantage of the offer at most stores nationwide from September 10 – 23, and have until October 7 to redeem their coupons.

This program is part of a partnership between Target and recycling company TerraCycle, which focuses its efforts on “recycling hard-to-recycle waste.” Since most used car seats cannot be resold due to concerns about the seat’s history, this is a great way to reduce waste and Target is expecting to recycle over 700,000 pounds of materials during this event.

For anyone who needs a new car seat, this is the perfect opportunity to make sure your child’s seat aligns with their height, weight and development level!