Automotive Risk Management Partners ARMP

What Happens When a Dealership Switches Compliance Vendors to ARMP

Terry Dortch President, Automotive Risk Management Partners

Key takeaways

  • ARMP begins a new dealership relationship with an on-site presentation followed by a one-year contract that converts to month-to-month afterward.
  • A dealership only needs to provide a payroll list with employee titles pulled from its DMS provider to start the transition.
  • ARMP loads all employees into its dashboard and software package and sets up the account before the initial on-site audit.
  • During the initial audit, ARMP needs about five to ten minutes with each department manager to understand how paperwork and processes flow through sales, F&I, service, and parts.
  • If employees have already completed required compliance courses with a prior vendor, ARMP records that so they are not required to retake the course until the mandated renewal period, such as every three years for DOT certification or forklift safety.

Summary

Switching compliance vendors sounds disruptive, but the actual workload for a dealership is minimal. After signing on, the store's only real task is pulling a payroll list with employee titles from its DMS provider. From there, the new vendor loads every employee into the dashboard and software package, sets up the initial audit, and coordinates directly with department managers, who each need only five to ten minutes during the audit visit to walk through how paperwork flows in their area, whether sales, F&I, service, or parts.

A key benefit is that training already completed under a prior vendor doesn't have to be redone. The store simply shares records of who completed which courses, and the new provider builds those completion dates into the system so employees aren't retested until their specific renewal window, such as a three-year DOT certification or forklift safety cycle. The contract structure runs a year, then moves month to month. The overall message for owners and GMs is that a vendor change requires almost no internal effort and can be handled largely by the compliance provider.

Transcript

Introduction to vendor transition

Hi, Terry Dortch. I'm with Automotive Risk Management Partners. I'm here to talk to you today about transitioning from one compliance vendor to another. We make that transition so easy, it's nothing. So I want to walk you through the process.

Contract terms and structure

We come into your store on a Monday, sit down with you, give a presentation, you decide to do business with us, you sign a year contract. Um, yeah, it's just a year. We don't, and then after that it goes to a month to month. We're not, I mean, once you're with us and you see what we do, you're going to stick around anyway, so we're not concerned about it, but we do need that year to recoup a lot of our costs. Anyway, we sign a year contract with you. At the end of that contract, here's what happens, or once that contract's initiated, here's what happens.

Employee list and initial audit setup

We're going to come back and we're going to say, all right, give us a list of your employees. Yeah, it's a pain. You're going to have to go to your computer, go to your DMS provider, and run a payroll list with titles. Once you do that, there's really, really very little that you have to do after that. Because here's what happens: we're going to take that list, we're going to go back, we're going to set up your dashboard, we're going to set up the whole software package that we provide you. All the employees will be loaded in, everything's going to be set up for you. All you need to do is let your staff know that when we're in there a week from Monday to come in and do our initial audit, we're going to need about five to ten minutes from each one of the managers in each department. And that's why we're walking around and doing our audit and doing everything that we do. We're going to want to sit down and talk to them, because we want to know how the paper flows, how everything flows through their operation, through their specific department, whether it be service or parts, you know, sales, F&I. F&I and sales tend to go together, but we also tend to separate them a little bit because there's different nuances. We're going to go through and we want to just talk to those people for five or ten minutes when we're doing our audits. That's it, that's all you have to do.

Handling previously completed training courses

If you're with a compliance company today and you've taken a bunch of the courses that are required, we take that list, you give us that list, or let us download it, whatever, or let us know who took what, and then we go and we set it up so that they don't have to take it again for another year or two years, whatever the time frame is for the specific course. Um, if it's a DOT certification, it's every three. Forklift safety, every three, I believe, now. So it just depends on what it is, whatever the course is and whatever the mandate is for that course. If they've already taken it, they don't have to take it again until it's time. We set that up for you.

Closing pitch to switch vendors

So this transition is so easy and so simple, it's a no-brainer. So if we can come in and save you a ton of money and provide you with a better product, why wouldn't you want to move? You don't have to do anything anyway. Anyway, give us a call, information's here on the screen. We'll be more than happy to sit down and talk to you and explain to you how easy it is, really, to make that transition. Thanks a lot, take care.

Questions this video answers

What do we need to do to switch compliance vendors to ARMP?

You mainly need to provide a payroll list with employee titles from your DMS provider. ARMP then sets up your dashboard and software, and you just need to make department managers available for five to ten minutes each during the initial on-site audit.

Will our employees have to retake compliance courses they already completed?

No. If you give ARMP a list of courses employees already took with your previous vendor, ARMP sets things up so they do not have to retake them until the required renewal timeframe, such as every three years for DOT certification or forklift safety.

How long is the initial contract with ARMP?

ARMP signs a one-year contract initially, which then converts to month-to-month after that year. The one-year term is needed to recoup costs, though ARMP expects dealerships to stay on afterward.

What happens during ARMP's initial audit visit?

ARMP walks around the dealership and spends about five to ten minutes with each department manager, including sales, F&I, service, and parts, to learn how paperwork and processes flow through their specific department.

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Covered in this video

  • Dealership compliance vendor transition
  • Compliance training course renewal requirements
  • DOT certification renewal
  • Forklift safety certification