As posted to the Bellavia Blatt YouTube Channel on 9/30/22, and the Fixed Ops Roundtable YouTube Channel on 10/8/22

(Run Time: 17 min, 52 sec)

With automakers speeding toward electrification, many are more than hinting at a new distribution model for those electrified vehicles involving customers ordering vehicles online.  Are dealers at risk of being cut out of the sales process?

In this clip, automotive attorney Len Bellavia sits down virtually with Ted Ings at the “Fixed Ops Roundtable” to discuss the future of the franchised dealership network model.

Len’s position is that the real risk is whether or not dealers are going to invoke their rights under their respective states’ franchise laws which have been on the books for decades, designed to protect against this very subject.

“State Dealer Associations are the most effective way to level the playing field”, says Bellavia.  “Dealer counsel is another example of how dealers can negotiate a resolution that is fair to everybody”.  “The happy medium is to devise a way to negotiate with manufacturers so that some of the good points that they’re putting forth, meaning an optimal customer experience, can be accomplished without taking away some of the dealers’ key rights”.

(This is Blog Post #1289)

Leonard Bellavia is Founding Partner of the law firm of Bellavia Blatt, PC,  Len has spent his life in the automotive industry, having represented thousands of dealerships across the country. He has also commenced mass legal action on behalf of hundreds of franchise dealers in the United States District Courts against Daimler Chrysler, Ford, GM, Snap-On Tools, and the Tribune Company.