Dealers: do you have customers you would like to notify about their vehicle’s recall status, but you’re apprehensive to contact them due to being on the National Do Not Call Registry?

Rest assured: NADA Regulatory Affairs reminds dealers that the “do-not-call” rules do not prohibit dealers from calling consumers about vehicle recalls. As long as the defect repair work involves no cost to the customer, at least.

According to NADA, itself citing the Federal Communications Commission’s ruling from 2005, “calls that encourage the purchase of other goods and service ‘will be deemed a prohibited telephone solicitation.’”  

NADA noted that this specific clarification only applies to the National Do-Not-Call rules and is not applicable to the separate restrictions of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) for text messages, pre-recorded calls, calls made to cellphones, or calls made using auto-dialers.

The association urges dealers to consult their legal counsel before making a decision regarding a recall-notification telephone strategy for its affected customers.

Strong dealer-consumer relationships increase recall repair rates

Anita Lienert, a correspondent for Edmunds.com, also shared in a post on the Edmunds site the results of a recent survey conducted by Public Opinion Strategies, on behalf of Auto Alliance and the Association of Global Automakers, suggesting that consumers who have established a relationship with a dealer participate in recalls more often than those who have not established that type of relationship.

Even though time is the only cost to the consumer for most recall repairs, the research sought to find out why roughly 25 percent of owners of recalled vehicles never complete the free repair of their vehicles.

According to the Edmunds post, one key finding from the survey found that many consumers are doing their own “risk assessments” when they receive a recall notice, deciding whether or not it’s worth their time to take their vehicle in for the remedies.

A statement from the Auto Alliance last week said that, “Many survey respondents showed a reduced likelihood to repair a recalled vehicle if they perceived the recall to be ‘low’ or ‘moderate’ risk, saying it seemed to be ‘no big deal.’ Used vehicle owners are less likely to be motivated to respond to recall communications, even when they are aware of a recall on their vehicle.”

According to the survey, consumers are more likely to heed recall repair notifications if the severity of the recall is high, if they are especially reminded that it is free, or if a reminder of open recalls is provided in their insurance renewal notices.

Dealers: Have you found any particularly potent way to convince your customers to bring their vehicles in for recall repairs? Let us know in the comments below or gives us a shout via social media via the links on the left of this page.