State and federal regulatory activity and concerns over what the results of the 2020 presidential election might mean for the auto industry were hot topics at the American Financial Services Association conference this week in Las Vegas.
Auto lender and dealer eyes are on Washington regarding topics such as stagnation on changes to the Military Lending Act, the rise of state-level consumer financial protection bureaus and who will occupy the White House next year.
Danielle Fagre Arlowe, senior vice president at AFSA, said concern about the Military Lending Act dominates dealer discussions, while state-level consumer protection bureaus could also cause trouble for auto retailers.
California’s so-called “mini-CFPB” plans to partially fund its actions through enforcement activities, Arlowe said, which AFSA finds troubling.
“There’s a built-in incentive to have enforcement actions regardless of what’s going on in the industry,” Arlowe told Automotive News.
“You have to have sustained enforcement actions to sustain yourself, regardless of whether it’s something that merits enforcement, right?”
Priorities in the White House and for those who seek the office is also on the minds of auto lenders and business leaders across industries.
Frank Luntz, political consultant at Pollster, discussed in a keynote speech how polarized this election cycle is compared with 2016, and what businesses should keep in mind about the fallout of the dysfunction.
“The most important question that’s going to determine whether Donald Trump is reelected or not: How many of you are better off today than you were four years ago? Raise your hands,” Luntz said.
“Who here is worse off today than four years ago? It’s the No. 1 question. It’s the question that determines how people vote more than any other.”
AFSA ran repeated polls during the conference asking attendees to disclose who they plan to vote for in November. In several instances, Trump garnered at least half of the vote.
“What we find with Trump is three out of four Trump voters support him for who he is, and only one-fourth of Trump voters support him because they dislike the Democrats,” Luntz said.