DALLAS (WBAP/KLIF News) — If you’re aching to take a test drive in a new car you can. Car dealerships in North Texas are reopening showrooms after federal COVID-19 restrictions were amended to include car sales as an essential service.
The Dallas Morning News reports the National Automobile Dealers Association lobbied Washington for the designation. Spokeswoman Juliet Guerra explained, “These types of sales are not optional. They are essential to ensure folks have access to transportation, and goods and supplies keep moving.”
Under regulations by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security the definition of essential transportation and logistics businesses already included auto makers, car rentals, repair and maintenance but not sales. Plano dealer Bruce Thompson said car dealers can’t survive with online sales.
Thompson told the Dallas Morning News, “It’s the second largest purchasing decision that a consumer will make outside of their home. So a lot of consumers want to go in and touch and feel. And that’s why we have showrooms today.”