Pub. 60 2019-2020 Issue 5

16 T ADA chair Nancy Harper ap- pointed Bryan Case Sr. as the TADA legislative chair for the 2021-2022 session. He has already served as the chair for the 2020-2021 session. Bryan lives in Beaumont and is the dealer for Classic Southeast Texas. He received the 2019 Key Director Award fromRichard Karr at the 103rd Annual TADAConference.The award recognizes the member of the TADA board of directors who has contributed the most to the organization’s success. Tell us about becoming TADA’s legislative chair. How did you become interested in politics? I became interested in the TADA, if you can call my involvement there as politics, because I felt strongly that the TADA was the first and best line of defense against the encroachment on the franchise system in Texas by manufacturers. Why are you interested in the TADA legislative committee? I felt the committee was the tip of the spear, so to speak, in its mission to protect the dealer body. What are your goals while serving in this position? Although we initially had a list of goals in February, we have adopted a mindset of flexibility due to the uncertainty associated with the COVID situa- tion. There’s still a lot of unanswered questions about the upcoming session at the state capitol. At this point, I’m waiting to see what we can accomplish effectively while dealing with this un- usual set of circumstances. What are the current dominant trends in the automotive industry, and where do you th ink the automobile industry is going? The transition to digital marketing has become accelerated during the COVID-19 crisis. Going forward, that is going to continue to be a key trend. The rollout of electric vehicles during the next five years is also going to be one of the dominant topics both at the dealer level and at the state level as we all figure out how they will fit into our current business model. Although I also believe autonomous cars are going to be an issue, in my opinion, it’s not part of the short-term outlook. What is one of the most important issues you’ve cont r ibuted to? Is there a par t icu lar lega l or legislative win you’ve seen? One of the things I’m most proud to have participated with the board on was in the last session, when we resolved the loaner-agreement is- sue between dealers and insurance companies. Insurance companies had tried to shift insurance liability to dealerships any time our customers were in loaner vehicles. We were able to put that back where it belonged. T h e s e a r e u n d o u b t e d l y unprecedented times. What are you doing, as a dea lership, to weather the storm? We are putting more emphasis on preowned sales as well as fixed opera- tions. New sales have slowed due to the lack of available inventory. There has been a definite uptick in folks who have put off a purchase and repaired their vehicles instead. What are you doing to support your employees? We’ve tried to be flexible to avoid lay- offs and to be understanding with work schedules that center around child care and school issues. We’ve also had to be flexible with our team members who have had to act as caretakers. At the end of the day, we want to treat everyone the same way we would want to be treated. These are unusual times, people are doing their best, and we need to do the same. TADA Bryan Case Sr. Q&A