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To: Colorado Motor Vehicle DealersFrom: Matthew Groves, VP – Legal/Regulatory, CADADate: May 1, 2020Re: Motor Vehicle Dealer Board Emergency RegulationDealer Board amends emergency rule paving way for retail salesIf you have called CADA in the past week or read the April 25 memorandum that strongly advised against opening showrooms on April 27, there is good news to report. CADA’s rationale for keeping showrooms closed this week was based on the view of the Auto Industry Division, due to the limitation put in place by emergency regulation 44-20-102(22)-E. This directly prohibited open showrooms and in-person retail sales. Following an emergency rulemaking today, that rule has now been stricken and supplanted with a new emergency rule that provides dealers a blueprint for opening showrooms during the Safer at Home Executive Order and accompanying Public Health Order 20-28.The new version of the regulation makes only two requirements of dealers, regardless of whether they sell motor vehicles, powersports or recreational vehicles. You must comply with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) Public Health Order 20-28, and you must comply with any relevant local public health orders (for a full list, see or CADA’s website: colorado.auto/COVID-19). There is an exception to the state order for dealers in Weld and Mesa counties, where they have applied for, and received, a variance from the CDPHE. Weld and Mesa counties must only comply with local public health orders.This creates a multi-tiered opening for Colorado dealers, based on location. So long as a dealer is compliant with the Enforcement Division’s Best Practices document, those under the State’s jurisdiction are free to open Saturday morning May 2. Those with a more restrictive county public health order (Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Jefferson and the San Juan Public Health Office [La Plata and Archuleta]) must wait until those county orders expire. In most every case, those orders expire at the end of Friday, May 8.Responsible reopeningAs conditions on a gradual reopening and bringing sales and business office staff back to the dealership, a dealer must continue to ensure that virus mitigation and sanitization protocols are met. That has not changed from the original stay-at-home order. Face coverings are required for all employees who come face to face with customers or other employees. Contactless payment systems, sanitized pens and physical barriers, where possible, should be implemented. A six-foot distance from other employees is still required, with the understanding that at the first signs of symptoms or illness, an employee must be sent home.The Enforcement Division also recommends posting signs and a daily screening process for reporting employees. During this phase, a dealership is expected to have no more than 50 percent of its “normal” staffing in the dealership. In addition to the personnel policies, those vehicle cleaning and sanitization policies that were in place during Stay at Home should remain in place during Safer at Home. Despite the transition to Level 2, nothing has changed with the intent and purpose to stop the transition of the virus that may live on a surface within the vehicle.Sales activityAppendix A to Public Health Order 20-28 states that non-critical retailers (including auto sales) are encouraged to continue curbside pickup or delivery to customers whenever possible. However, “[E]ffective May 1, 2020, non-critical retail may return to 50 percent capacity for in-person services if the business can demonstrate compliance with all of the [Best Practice] requirements.” The Best Practice Document is attached to the end of this memo.While by appointment, “taking a number” or other population-limiting sales control methods are recommended, the order encourages dealers to provide visible lines of demarcation (tape) to demonstrate what a safe distance is within the establishment. If dealers have children areas with shared toys, or waiting areas with shared periodicals, it is recommended those areas either be closed or the items removed, with chairs repositioned to respect spacing requirements.Test drivesTest drives is one area that will not change under the new rule. Since social distancing is still the gold standard of the limited open, it holds that a dealership employee cannot properly distance inside the same vehicle as a customer. Therefore, the protocols that a dealer had in place to conduct test drives during Stay at Home should continue during Safer at Home. This likely includes verifying identity and insurance and providing a car to the consumer or follow them in a chase car.If you have any questions on the order, feel free to reach out to Tim Jackson at or Matthew Groves. ................
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