The International Automotive Remarketers Alliance has made strong advances in the legal and regulatory realm in recent years with the hiring of attorney Jim Demetry.

The IARA board retained Demetry in October 2018 from the Atlanta-based Demetry, DeCarlo & Coffman LLC law firm in Chamblee, Ga., to represent the IARA as a business association. Over the last three years, Demetry has worked with executive director Tony Long, the executive committee, and the Board of Directors to ensure the alliance is complying with legal requirements and to provide corporate representation.

The role also includes working with the alliance on updating bylaws, reviewing legal requirements, making sure the alliance complies with all applicable laws on a day-to-day basis, and provide advice to IARA leaders as needed, Demetry said.

Underscoring the IARA’s growing clout and professionalism, it has also consulted with Demetry on the following programs and initiatives during the last three years:

● Legally vetted the IARA’s existing education modules, such as the CAR certification program.

● Updated IARA bylaws and instituted them.

● Updated the auction audit checklist on the IARA website, with help from the Compliance Committee which came up with the outline of topics and requirements to develop the training.

● Long and the executive committee have worked in the IARA to complete educational compliance training for members to help them understand federal laws and audits, as well as create uniformity among consignors, auctions, and third-party vendors, so the process of audits could be aligned and streamlined particular to this industry, Demetry said.

Financial institution consignors such as banks, captive finance divisions, and fleet leasing companies are required to make sure their vendors, such as auctions and transporters, follow certain policies and procedures, so the consignors are complying with their legal requirements. “Those compliance requests and audits are regularly going out to auctions and other third parties,” Demetry said. “Completing those to make sure policies and procedures are in place is a big task for auctions and other vendors in the industry.”

Note: This article appeared in the IARA 20th Anniversary Commemorative Issue published in November 2021.

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