In our work with dealers over the last few months, the two biggest concerns they’ve had surrounding their cash flow challenges are, as one could imagine, their two largest expense categories: their people and their floor plan expenses.
With the stimulus package loan proceeds beginning to refill dealership bank accounts, it’s clear that the intent of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act and its aptly named Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) were designed to help keep people employed. But many dealers don’t realize that the proceeds can be used for other expenses, as well.
The biggest question on dealers’ minds is: Can the proceeds be used to cover floor plan expenses? And the answer, according to the experts we’ve spoken with, is “yes.”
Buried in the law itself where it describes the PPP, under Title I Section 1102(F)9i)(VII), the law outlines that the proceeds can be used for “interest obligation on any other debt obligations that were incurred before the coverage period.” Additionally, last Thursday, April 9th, the Small Business Administration (SBA) released their “Interim Final Rule” on the loans, outlining the intent of the statute, giving themselves the opportunity to clarify further. Section 2(r)(vi) of the rule answers the question of how PPP loans can be used related to interest on debt other than for real estate mortgages. As with the CARES Act, the rule broadly states that dealers can use the loan proceeds to pay for “interest payments on any other debt obligations that were incurred before February 15, 2020.” More info and analysis on the stimulus programs here.
“What that means is,” explains Kevin Timson, an Associate at Bellavia Blatt PC, a dealer-focused law firm and long-time partner of the MRAA, “if you signed an agreement for floor plan financing before February 15th and you continued to make interest payments on that obligation, you should be able to use the loan proceeds for the interest portion of those payments. Both the statute and the rule refer broadly to allowing payments on interest for ‘other debt obligations’ which should reasonably include floor plan financing. Also, there’s nothing in the statute or rules that state otherwise to excluding interest on floor plan financing from such a broad category of debt that could be incurred by dealers.”
In an MRAA Ask the Expert Webinar held yesterday, Timson outlined the same, noting that he has spoken with counsel at trade organizations for auto dealers, with lenders and with CPA firms, all of whom have taken similar positions in interpreting the CARES Act to allow PPP loan proceeds for payment of interest on floor plan loans, subject to the borrower’s obligations on such loans to have been incurred prior to February 15, 2020.
The thing that dealers should be aware of, however, is that the SBA has not provided any guidance on whether payment on floor plan interest can be forgiven under Section 1106 of the CARES Act. The Act states that interest on mortgages of real property or personal property can be forgiven. However, it is not clear whether the SBA considers floor plan financing a “mortgage of personal property” for the purposes of loan forgiveness under Section 1106. We expect the SBA to be providing further guidance on PPP loan forgiveness in the coming week and hope that such guidance will provide more clarity on this issue for dealers. Keep in mind that even if floor plan interest can be included in any forgiveness amount, dealers are limited in how much they can allocate such interest, or any non-payroll expense, for forgiveness. This is because the rules state that at least 75% of the total amount forgiven on any PPP loan must be for payroll expenses.