CONCORD, N.H. -

The New Hampshire Automobile Dealers Association cheered the state’s Dealer Bill of Rights amendment becoming law this week.

The association highlighted the Dealer Bill of Rights will prevent what it deemed to be costly mandates that have driven up costs for New Hampshire vehicle and equipment dealers.

Pete McNamara, president of NHADA, contended that some of those mandates put local owners out of business.

McNamara emphasized this new law is designed to have clear rules to ensure both sides have rights. For example, the law includes:

1. A “buy local” provision, ending mandates by vehicle makers to use out-of-state contractors to do work.

2. Limits manufacturer required facility upgrades to 15 years, instead of the typical cycle of five to seven years that cost an average $3.6 million.

3. Ensures proper reimbursement for warranty work done by local dealers, ending a long-standing practice by many manufacturers to refuse to pay for their own mistakes.

4. Provides dealers access to their manufacturer held “dealer files.”

McNamara said, “This law will keep dealers competitive in the region, and it will better ensure that decisions made by manufacturers don’t do harm to local businesses or consumers.

“This law is a result of bipartisan cooperation and I want to thank lawmakers for recognizing a problem that needed to be corrected,” he continued.

Andy Crews is president and chief executive officer of Autofair, which operates a total of eight stores, seven of which are in New Hampshire.

Crews asked, “How would it feel if you were told that you had to spend millions on a remodeled showroom, when you aren’t finished paying for the last facility upgrade a few years ago?”

“This law will hopefully stop the unreasonable and unexpected mandates that come from vehicle manufacturers,” Crews responded. “They need to know this has to be a mutually beneficial relationship in order to be successful. I want to thank the governor and lawmakers for their support.”

Gov. Maggie Hassan signed the measure into law on Tuesday after it received strong support from New Hampshire’s House and Senate.

“I greatly appreciate the important role that New Hampshire’s vehicle and equipment dealers play in our state’s economy,” Hassan said. “This updated law provides a more level playing field between national manufacturers and the men and women of New Hampshire who work so hard in our vehicle and equipment sales industry

“Local control is a hallmark of New Hampshire, and this law will bring an end to unfair practices in the industry,” she went on to say.

Showroom revamps has been a subject researched extensively by National Automobile Dealers Association. The association presented its latest findings back in February during its annual convention.

Industry consultant Glenn Mercer highlighted the findings of the Phase 2 study commissioned by NADA that took a deeper look into two key areas of factory-mandated dealership renovation, also known as facility image programs.

The Phase 2 study analyzed the return on investment of image investments in the short term, and examined whether these investments might be right in the longer term, for dealerships of the future. The first phase of the study was completed more than a year ago.

“The facility image program issue is not as painful for dealers as it was in 2010 and 2011, in part, because business conditions have improved,” Mercer said. “However, there is still significant room for improvement, because new-car dealers overall still give facility image programs only lukewarm support.”

NADA indicated the Phase 2 study essentially reconfirmed the findings from the first phase, which include:

—Expansion of the dealership (especially service departments) can pay off well.

—Modernization of the store is somewhat harder to justify.

—Standardization, which is the replication of features from store to store far above and beyond logos and signage, seems to be of no benefit at all.

The Phase 2 study also determined that some spending provides lucrative returns, typically through the refurbishment of a totally run-down store, and that, conversely, some maintenance spending should not be expected to yield a significant return at all, because it represents “table stakes,” the minimum spending required just to stay in business.

The association went on to note its latest study, as before, added insights from other retailing industries, pointing out in particular some that have been better at developing solid, quantified business cases for facility upgrades that are lacking among some — but not all — manufacturers.

“We’re requesting that auto manufacturers redouble their efforts to provide dealers with better business cases before investing in facility upgrades, and especially, to ease off on standardization demands that seem very hard to justify,” Mercer said.

With the new law now in place in New Hampshire, McNamara is upbeat about how franchised stores in the Granite State can succeed.

“We appreciate that our state’s leaders have stood up to demand basic fairness in our industry and for consumers,” McNamara said.. “We can only be successful if we maintain a good relationship and reputation with our customers and with the community.

“With this law, there is a common sense approach to everyday business dealings that will help us keep one of the state’s biggest economic engines running smoothly for many years to come,” he went on to say.

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