WASHINGTON (March 12, 2010) - Joined by commercial lending executives from four major national banks, the National Automobile Dealers Association met with the Small Business Administration on Thursday to discuss ways to make the SBA's dealer floorplan pilot program work more effectively.

“The SBA clearly recognizes the importance of helping the retail auto industry. But significant changes need to be made to the agency's dealer floorplan program to make it work,” said NADA Chairman Ed Tonkin, who participated in the meeting with other NADA representatives.

“We appreciate the opportunity to meet with the SBA to discuss potential modifications to this program, which could lead to improvements that will benefit both lenders and borrowers,” Tonkin added.

NADA and the bankers urged the SBA to make the pilot program permanent, to simplify the program so it's more user friendly and to allow loan advances of up to 100 percent of inventory value with the maximum SBA guarantee.

“We appreciate the valuable input provided by the banking representatives and the receptiveness to their ideas on the part of the SBA,” Tonkin said.

In order to enhance the eligibility of dealerships for SBA programs, NADA also stressed the importance of shifting from a gross receipts-based dealership size standard to one based on the number of dealership employees.

“We are pleased to learn that the SBA is working diligently on a new size standard rule,” Tonkin added. “We expect the agency to render a decision later this year.”