Virginia dealer board imposes fines, reinspections and mandatory training in a series of enforcement actions

The Motor Vehicle Dealer Board on Wednesday accepted hearing-officer recommendations and approved a set of sanctions against multiple independent dealerships for inspection, recordkeeping and licensing violations.

Staff told the board that field representatives documented problems ranging from vehicles displayed at a separate supplemental location without matching dealer records to missing Virginia safety inspections and instances where sales activity appeared to involve unlicensed salespersons. At a hearing on one case, staff recommended a $1,500 civil penalty that the committee reduced to $1,000 with a requirement for a satisfactory reinspection and for the dealer operator to retake the required two-day dealer operator course.

Other adopted actions included a $750 civil penalty, a satisfactory inspection and required course completion for All Stars Automotive; a written warning and a follow-up inspection demand for Street Action Discount Auto Sales after repeated closed-inspection visits; and a $10,000 civil penalty with reinspection and two-day training for CarZone after the committee expanded a hearing-officer recommendation. For several dealers the board suspended final discipline pending satisfactory reinspections; failure to comply will prompt license suspension or collection action, staff said.

Board members framed the enforcement package as a mix of education and escalation. "We want dealers doing it the right way," a board member said when moving to accept the hearing officer's recommendations. Several board members emphasized reeducation: the two-day dealer-operator course and ongoing field-audits were cited repeatedly as preferred remedies for recurring compliance problems.

The board also deferred one high-dollar case (an $18,250 hearing-officer recommendation) to January at the respondent’s request for medical reasons. Several cases involved no in-person representative; in those matters the board voted on staff recommendations.

The board’s resolutions direct staff to set deadlines for reinspections and course completion; the orders state for each dealer that failure to comply by the required dates will result in suspension of licenses and certificates issued by the board until compliance is achieved. The board’s enforcement votes were unanimous where called, with motions seconded on the record and "aye" recorded by voice vote.

What happens next: each affected dealer was ordered to complete the steps set in the board’s resolution (pay assessed civil penalty where required, pass a reinspection by a field representative and complete the two-day dealer operator course) by the dates the board recorded; the board’s staff will return the items to the full board if requirements are not met or if appeals are filed.