Business View Magazine | April/May 2022

71 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 4 HOUSTON AUTOMOB I LE DEALERS ASSOC I AT ION timely manner. Also with price competitiveness at different dealerships – you get that flexibility when you have a franchised system. Other things we work on are localized to Texas, as far as our inspection process along with state registration, insurance – those are the top things we advocate for in our state legislature.” BVM: How has COVID impacted the industry? Salinas: “Auto dealers are a very adaptive group of business people. They’ve made some fast changes with things that consumers have been asking for such as home delivery and a more streamlined buying process. That’s been a great thing for us. Right now, we’re facing the challenges of supply and demand, and the shortcomings in microchips – supply chain issues that have trickled down through the post-COVID effect. Production is picking back up and that’s a good sign but it’s definitely delayed we provide the Sheriff’s Department with free trucks for part of their organization that does free roadside assistance to the Houston area. So, we have a lot of things that keep us involved in the community, representing the dealer network, and of course the legislative side too, where we lobby for franchised rights for our car dealers.” BVM: What are some of the key advocacy issues you’re addressing? Salinas: “We work very close with the Texas Automobile Dealers Association (TADA) at the state level and our biggest issue is maintaining the franchise law and avoiding direct sales. That’s a big fight across the country for all of the automotive industry to make sure that the franchised dealership stays in practice. While there are some benefits to the direct sale, there are also downfalls such as less opportunity for service departments and getting service in a