DEALERS can do a lot to show governments the positive effects they are having on their local communities and the easiest, most effective way is to collect data to prove it.

Automotive publisher John Mellor said dealers and their staff should highlight the role of the business in the community.

“Politicians and bureaucrats are hopelessly unaware of the economic contribution dealers make nationally but, more importantly, they are clueless about the contribution dealers make in their local communities,” he said.

“I know that AADA and FCAI got dealers to analyse their economic contribution on a dealership-by-dealership basis.

“Martin Roller of BMW Brisbane set the ball rolling in laying out the economic and social contribution of BMW Brisbane to his local federal liberal member who said to him: ‘I had no idea’.

“She was stunned. But that was just one dealership business.

 

“A very effective additional set of numbers would be the economic contribution of all the dealers in each of your electorates.

“This would be a very powerful number politically and should attract the interest – not only of sitting members but also of their opponents.

“It is one thing to have a total national figure and to have a snapshot of one dealership, but bringing it down to electorates means you are talking a language that politicians understand.

“There are very few electorates in this country in which car dealerships are not a significant player in the commercial and social fabric of their communities.

“So by each electorate you need to assemble the right data – how many people do these dealerships employ?; What is the combined revenue generated in that electorate?; What is the combined payroll you generate in that MPs electorate?; How much PAYE, GST, land tax, payroll tax, stamp duty, rates and government fees do you generate?

“What about the number of families for which you put food on the table. How many people in those families are dependent on the payrolls dealers generate.

“Dealers might find they are the biggest employers in regional centres or at least in the top five.

“What is the aggregate annual bill of dealerships in the electorate for apprenticeships and staff training.

“How much media do dealers buy in that electorate?

“I think it is also very true that dealers are very committed to community service activities in these electorates.

“What about the donations of vehicles to community welfare organisations, donations to schools programs and sponsorships of footy teams, netball and right across the whole spectrum of sport from pony clubs to golf.

“This needs to be documented because it tells a story of what dealers’ contributions are across the electorate to social welfare and it also shows the degree of influence dealers have with very wide range of the people who vote local politicians into power.

“Once the number is established for the electorate, dealers in that electorate should collectively advertise the contribution of local franchised dealers in their local newspapers.

“That would be very powerful because it would additionally add to their clout with the politicians as well as educate people in that local area of the real contributions that are made by dealers in their communities.

“It could also be gathered to combine the economic contribution of dealers in each state for the attention of senators.”

By Neil Dowling