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Business View Magazine
Car dealers drive the florida economy in a big way
Since 1920, when a small group of car dealers met in
Jacksonville, Florida to talk about mutually important
issues, the Florida Automobile Dealers Association
(FADA) has represented the needs and objectives of
the Sunshine State’s new car and truck dealerships.
Today, Florida has 1,012 franchised, new car dealers,
who employ over 67,000 workers with average annual
earnings of $53,356. Together, Florida’s auto dealer-
ships are responsible for total yearly sales of $51.5
billion. The industry sends $3.11 billion in sales taxes
to Tallahassee every year – 18.3 percent of the state’s
total sales tax revenue.
Ted Smith, the President of the FADA, talks about the
most important roles the FADA plays as the only state-
wide trade association representing Florida’s new car
and truck dealers: “Government affairs, advocacy,
working with the media, the legislature, regulatory
agencies – that’s got to be our largest and most im-
portant ‘silo’ of operations for our members, because
we really are in the business of steering a $50 billion
retail automotive business. It’s a very large industry
in Florida. Government has grown, so the priority of
advocacy has grown. In Florida there are five different
state regulatory agencies that govern the conduct of
