VSA BULLETIN
November 26, 2009
Issue #19 - 2009

Registrar's hearing results: VSA compliance rulings 2004-09 on website

Most professional and industry regulatory agencies post all compliance and enforcement decisions on their websites.  The VSA is now doing the same, with all compliance and enforcement outcomes since it began operations on April 1, 2004.

First, click INDUSTRY on the home page. Then, on the menu on the left, click on COMPLIANCE.  You can go from there to the full records.

The rulings are "oral" on most routine matters. Brief summaries of these cases are provided. This is also true for "undertakings." These are cases where the outcome was a signed agreement by a dealer or salesperson to correct something, or to take a specific action.

In a few of the most serious matters each year, written rulings are made by the Registrar.  In some cases, industry Bulletins and/or news releases are also posted. These events were extremely serious or provided an unique opportunity to illustrate the law and regulations. Only the most important issues and serious cases were reported to industry in Bulletins and, occasionally, to the public with news releases.

You can also use the SEARCH feature on the site to see if a dealer or salesperson has been the subject of a hearing or a disciplinary proceeding. The search feature is on the right side of the bottom tool bar.  Entering the name of a motor dealer or salesperson will bring up all the documents containing that name.

A personal message from Ian Christman,
Deputy Registrar of Motor Dealers and VSA Director of Licensing

COMPLIANCE

We would urge everyone in the motor vehicle sales industry of B.C. to review the compliance rulings now on the VSA website to get a sense of what we are trying to do.

If you consider that there have been almost 2.5 million sales transactions since this Authority began in 2004, the total number of cases upon which we have ruled is small. There are several reasons for this:

• most issues discovered by VSA compliance officers during inspections get rectified on the spot;
• the majority of consumer complaints to our help line get resolved far short of a formal hearing;
• surveys indicate that the vast majority of consumers are satisfied that they received a fair deal in their last vehicle purchase;
• the VSA is not a police force, although we work closely with police, ICBC and the justice system in the most serious cases;
• we believe the consumer must take responsibility for their own negotiation, as long as they are not victimized by deceptive practices; and,
• most important, our first priority is to achieve compliance with statutes, regulations and industry best practices, and not to boost enforcement statistics.

This approach to compliance started from the VSA’s inception as highlighted by Registrar Ken Smith’s introduction to the VSA's 2008 Annual Report:

During the earliest days of this independent regulatory Authority, we became convinced that more consistent education of dealers and salespeople, a more uniform understanding of standards and an informed and confident consumer would have more impact on industry professionalism than would an army of investigators.

Our work with industry focuses on the establishment of standards, the best practices for all operations and the systematic professional development of everyone who holds a salesperson licence.

www.vehiclesalesauthority.com

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