If you feel the same way we do, you want to retire the word “unprecedented” and all the unexpected events of 2020. The year 2021 may still give us more opportunities to deal with unpleasant realities, but at the end of 2020, we are doing our best to find a new normal that keeps us safe from the coronavirus pandemic. Our dealerships are open and selling. We are taking every opportunity to provide for our families and employees and strengthen our communities.

Some people talk about life sometimes changing on a dime. That poor dime got dizzy this year. We had our hands full implementing the mandates that keep our employees and our customers safe. What didn’t change was the importance of serving our communities, so we continue to look for ways to help our neighbors and friends.

Throughout Utah, I have seen our dealers do the seemingly impossible. The work hasn’t been easy, but our safety record is admirable. We are still selling cars, and we are doing it without people getting sick. That is an accomplishment.

We have been impressed by our dealers’ leadership, and we know they will continue to do great work. Now that we know the basics of preventing the coronavirus from spreading, it’s time to look for the opportunities we have to solve our challenges. That means using the fundamentals that always sell cars. But it also means relying on longstanding relationships and working with the most sophisticated and effective technology we can find.

NCDU is committed to protecting dealer members, but the not-so-secret path to success is our need for all of you to be involved. Without that, we would not be able to accomplish much. We are always doing what we can to protect your businesses and foster strong relationships so that when you have a problem to solve, you also have good friends to support and advise you.

NCDU has an impressive national reputation of working successfully with state legislators to influence the legislature to act in pro-dealer and pro-business ways. We do this for you, and we can’t do it without you.

We believe that every dealer should support the dealership-friendly candidates of your choice. No one likes to talk about money and politics, but candidates need money to fund their campaigns and pay their staff while running for office. Members of the legislature make less than $300 per day for their service. That sounds generous, but the general session is only 45 days, and the average salary per year is around $18,530.

Election results matter. Elected officials will ultimately vote on laws that dictate how you operate your business.

Nationally, but not locally, we see a growing trend of dealers doing less on the legislative front. It is vitally important to proactively reach out to our elected leaders and engage with them on important matters that concern how our industry operates in Utah. If you don’t know who represents you, now is the time to introduce yourself.

As an association, we are grateful for those dealers, past and present, who know their local legislators and invest time to develop relationships. Why? These are the people who are impacting your life and livelihood. They have the potential to harm your business if we don’t advocate for ourselves.

The recent election has been informative, but we continue to live in a time of uncertainty. At the same time, medical experts tell us vaccine development is on the way and will probably start being available around February 2021, if not before.. They also say the pandemic itself will stop its domination of everyday life by the middle of 2021. Life is going to return to normal. It is good to know that many legislators on both sides of the aisle — Republicans and Democrats alike — will go out of their way to protect you and your right to grow your business and serve your customers. Make sure that you know who they are.

Being involved has never mattered more.