CADA President, CEO Tim Reuss
The Canadian Automobile Dealers Association hopes its adoption of five data sharing principles developed by the National Automobile Dealers Association will collectively help dealers and manufacturers in Canada deal with what is considered one of the most complex issues in the global automotive space.
CADA issued a news release last week titled Automotive Ecosystem Data Sharing Principles that was provided to its dealer members. The principles stipulate:
- Data Is Only Shared Pursuant to Clear, Compliant, Written Data Agreements.
- Data Is Only Shared Securely.
- Data Is Only Shared with Clear Accountability and Protection.
- Data Is Only Shared with Third Parties in a Transparent and Compliant Manner.
- Dealers and OEMs Agree to Establish an Ongoing Structure to Continue Working Together.
“The (NADA) worked out those principles and published them and we looked at how that would translate into Canada, so we started working on that,” said CADA President, CEO Tim Reuss in an interview with Canadian auto dealer.
Reuss noted that in the U.S., Volkswagen and Audi have indicated their goals are to draft agreements with their dealers in alignment with the NADA’s data sharing principles.
“That is precisely what we expect and hope happens as well in Canada as well, which is why we also distributed these to the manufacturers and are talking to all of our dealers and dealer counsels that might be currently already in negotiations or discussions about data-sharing agreements with the manufacturer,” said Reuss. “This document, I think, gives a good first position and guard rails for those discussions.
“So what do we expect to happen on this? Well, for it to be taken to heart and seriously by dealers and manufacturers working on data sharing agreements.”
The CADA also stated that given the complexity of the individual circumstances at each dealership and differences in law depending on the location of the dealership and customer base, the data sharing principles are not intended as legal or other professional advice.
“Yes, they can’t be rules, but they are strong recommendations and we’ve already seen in the jurisdictions south of us that if taken seriously by dealers and manufacturers they can actually result in fairly positive outcomes,” said Reuss.
