LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y.  ─ To help dealers more effectively demonstrate their compliance with state and federal regulations, DealerTrack has included a unique program — Audit Protect — into its sales and F&I compliance solution.

The program, which delivers a combination of online system functionality and offline call support, is available exclusively to DealerTrack Compliance subscribers at no extra charge.

With Audit Protect, a DealerTrack user can generate real-time electronic audit reports, which may be necessary should a dealership be audited or sued. The reports include historical compliance-related sales and F&I activity transacted on dealertrack.com for as long as the dealership has been subscribed to DealerTrack Compliance. Through an easy-to-use and intuitive interface, dealers also can easily access specific documents within their DealerTrack electronic deal jackets, according to the company.

Dealers also can take advantage of one-on-one call support from the DealerTrack Compliance Services Team. If a dealership is audited or they simply need documentation for tracking purposes, a DealerTrack Compliance specialist can assist them with their reporting needs.

“2012 will be a year of compliance enforcement in the automotive retail industry, and dealers need to be prepared for audits. We’ve already seen increased dealership enforcement activity this year,” said Randy Henrick, associate general counsel at DealerTrack.  “Government agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission, Department of Justice, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and state attorneys general are taking a hard look at auto dealer financing practices across the board this year.”

Henrick will be hosting a free compliance webinar, “Compliance Best Practices: 2012 – The Year of Enforcement,” on April 19. To register for the webinar, click here.