Group 1 Automotive Achieves Red Flags Compliance

PORTLAND, Ore. — Compli, a provider of dealership compliance management software, said the use of its Dealership Compliance Management System (DCMS) by Group 1 Automotive in Houston, Texas, has helped the dealership group reach a 98 percent Red Flags compliance level in less than two weeks.

Cost-effective, efficient, and equipped with comprehensive reporting features, the Compli DCMS reduces the cost of paper-based compliance and business processes; a capability not only important during an economic slowdown, but one that can be leveraged when vehicle sales return.

Group 1 Automotive, a Fortune 500 automotive retailer and one of the top five dealership groups in the country, is faced with the challenge of managing best practices, risk and liabilities across 100 locations throughout the United States. With the most recent Red Flags requirements, Group 1 Automotive leveraged its investment in the Compli system to rapidly distribute its Red Flags Program, Policies, Trainings, and Incident Report Forms and centrally monitored compliance across their entire dealership in real-time, with clear dashboard reports.

“Within two weeks of the program rollout, we obtained 98 percent compliance with all mandatory Red Flags compliance material and were able to print a detailed report summarizing this activity for our Board of Director’s meeting,” said Brooks O’Hara, the dealer group’s vice president of human resources. “That is a level of efficiency and clarity we had never been able to accomplish with paper-based processes.”

Compli’s DCMS is an automated compliance solution that protects automotive dealers from claims, fines and litigation while lowering overhead costs. The system combines automotive legal content from subject matter experts like Hudson CookLLP (sales and F&I) and Fisher & Phillips LLP (employment practices), with automated best practices, to create turn-key “good-faith” compliance programs that reduce liabilities and keep an individual’s bad acts from harming the dealership. The Compli Red Flags Toolkit, prepared in conjunction with Michael Benoit of Hudson Cook LLP, is one of many compliance programs in the comprehensive Compli content library.

“Though critically important, Red Flags compliance simply signifies adherence to one more piece of a very expansive compliance puzzle. You don’t want to have to attack each regulation with separate systems, processes, paper and manual approaches. Compli clients use one platform and our extensive content library to address compliance and business requirements across their entire organization. Group 1 Automotive is a great example. They have completed their Red Flags requirements, and now they will leverage the Compli system to address other high-priority compliance and business process areas by employing different content over the same efficient platform,” said Lon Leneve, president of Compli.

“Our DCMS allows companies to demonstrate a ‘good-faith’ compliance effort. They can cover compliance needs across their entire organization with one process, and can document and report on their results at any point in time,” Leneve concluded.