TYSONS, Va. -

With the phone now being an even more crucial tool for dealerships when overcoming COVID-19 impact, the National Automobile Dealers Association offered assistance for another side effect of the coronavirus pandemic — an emerging call-blocking issue stemming from illegal robocalls.

NADA said it has recently received reports that dealers also are facing issues involving calls made from their dealership. To help, the association tapped the experts at the law firm of MacMurray & Shuster to compile a three-page document, covering six questions principals and general managers might have.

“As we all know, there have been far too many illegitimate scammers that have plagued American consumers with illegal ‘robocalls,’” NADA said. “One common method employed by such actors is to ‘spoof’ the number from which the call appears to originate, in an effort to entice the recipient to answer the call.

“There have long been demands for the telephone service providers to ‘do something’ to block these calls,” NADA continued. “There are several steps outlined in the document that you can take to prepare your dealership and to determine if the issue is presenting itself at your store.”

The document can be downloaded here.