Automotive sales are now considered an essential service during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to updated guidance released Friday by the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
The new guidelines include “workers critical to the manufacturing, distribution, sales, rental, leasing, repair, and maintenance of vehicles and other transportation equipment, including electric vehicle charging stations, and the supply chains that enable these operations to facilitate continuity of travel-related operations for essential workers.”
“Based on feedback we received, we released version 3.0 of the Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers Guidance, which provides clarity around a range of positions needed to support the essential functions laid out in earlier versions,” said Christopher Krebs, the agency’s director. “As new or evolving challenges emerge, we are looking at what kind of access, personal protective equipment and other resources workers need to continue performing essential duties in a safe and healthy way. This guidance is not a federal mandate, and final decisions remain with state and local officials, who must determine how to balance public health and safety with the need to maintain critical infrastructure in their communities.”
The announcement follows intensive lobbying efforts from auto trade groups — including the National Automobile Dealers Association and American Truck Dealers, American International Automobile Dealers Association, National Independent Automobile Dealers Association and National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers, as well as the Alliance for Automotive Innovation — which sent letters to the White House asking President Donald Trump to clarify that certain sales and leasing activities at dealerships are considered essential services.
Initial guidelines from the agency released in mid-March listed vehicle manufacturing, supply manufacturing, maintenance and repair facilities as essential but made no reference to vehicle sales and leasing operations. Car rental and leasing employees were added on March 28.
Cars.com also had urged the government for further clarity and stated its case for keeping dealership sales open in a letter sent March 24 to the department.
“We believe that sales and leasing activity can take place in full compliance with social distancing and all the best practices designed to minimize the spread of the coronavirus,” CEO Alex Vetter said in the letter.
