Senator Bernie Moreno Shares Tips For Dealers To Navigate Tariffs

Paul J Daly  0:00  
All right, it's a special edition of the automotive State of the Union. I'm Paul Daly. Is Kyle Mountsier, and we're here with the one and only senator, Bernie Moreno, Senator, thank you for giving us a few minutes. Of course, you

Bernie Moreno  0:09  
guys are killing it out there. It's great. Thank you for spreading the word about the auto industry. It's an industry that I love. I love the industry you guys love, really wanting you're doing a great job. One of

Paul J Daly  0:17  
the things that has been has been very impactful, is hearing you throughout the day, talk about the people side of the business. Lot of conversation about tariffs and international trade. However, you have a lot of experience and insights on dealers who have to deal with these conversations with their own people and with consumers on the front line. So what would you say to dealers about those conversations, not necessarily the global ones look

Bernie Moreno  0:41  
focus on the things that you can control. I remember, during the oh eight recession, at a TV in my office, right in the middle of the showroom, I literally turned the TV off. I can't control anything that's on there. I can control what's in front of me, my people, my clients, make sure I give them a better experience than they've ever imagined, and make sure that I take care of my people who also had stress and so they're looking at the me like, if I'm the one freaking out, they're going to freak out even worse. So calm. Get everybody focused on cutting costs, making sure you do a great job with used cars. Make sure you're at the that you're focused on making sure you get the right inventory, making sure you're doing well in finance, make sure you're doing well in fixed operations, that you're running a clean organization. Those are the things you can control. You can't control international trade and tariffs and global politics, or what's China saying today. Stop reading so much news. Definitely. Turn off CNN, but turn on ASU, by the way, to get the real scoop. There you go. There you go. You know,

Kyle Mountsier  1:37  
one of the things that you also encourage is obviously getting involved in the local politics, especially at the state level, and lobbying those state representatives that may not that they may not be able to get in front of you or come to DC or anything like that. How can dealers be the best involved in some of the things that you're trying to pursue right now? Well,

Bernie Moreno  1:57  
you know, dealers are always involved in the local communities. I mean, I don't think there's a group of business people writ large of any industry that takes care of better care of the local communities and car dealers do So continue to do that. On the state side, those are where your franchise laws live. So make certain that you're in touch with your federal officials. In Ohio, we're blessed with an incredible auto dealer associations. I think a lot of states are. And then on a federal level, look advocate for candidates that are supporting the industry. Advocate for bills like the one I've introduced to transportation Freedom Act. So if you're represented by a Democrat congressman or Democrat Senator, lobby them, explain to them how important it is to give the industry certainty to stop allowing states like California to dictate national standards that raise the cost of automobiles. Those are the things that you can do. Recently,

Paul J Daly  2:43  
some data came out saying interest in EVs has been dropping. Now, what is your perspective on EVs and dealers, having them, selling them, consumer interest? Look,

Bernie Moreno  2:53  
there's a new Taylor Swift song that's going to be coming out. It's about the breakup between the Democrats and Elon. It's a tragic, tragic breakup as a result, as a result, EV sales have gone down a lot. You know, Tesla's two thirds of EV sales, yeah. So when you take down Tesla, you're taking down EVs and then we're going to eliminate the subsidies, the $7,500 the lease loophole, and the $4,000 that will also bring down demand. So look, at the end of the day, car companies should make cars that people want, not cars that politicians want. And we're to fix that. I think it's gonna allow car companies to be more profitable and lower the price of cars. Well,

Kyle Mountsier  3:29  
Bernie, as John said up there, thank you so much for being an advocate for the industry, also just challenging dealers to be better, not just rely on politics for everything to continue serving communities. And

Bernie Moreno  3:40  
look, they gotta get they gotta get engaged. Look, I'm the first auto dealer in the Senate. We've had a few in the house. Don't make me the last auto dealer. There you go, right? So, and by the way, if you remember the line from It's A Wonderful Life when George Bailey is gonna jump off the bridge, and the angel came and said, What can I do for you? He said, Do you have any money? And he goes, No, we don't use money in heaven, because, well, it comes in pretty handy down here. Bob. So that go on Team marino.org, thanks for spending some time. You.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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