Why Maryland and Pennsylvania Need Basic Dealership Training

Maryland’s and Pennsylvania’s current systems for licensing car dealers and their staff lack formal, statewide basic dealership training, even though dealers are responsible for complex legal processes, motor vehicle transactions, recordkeeping, compliance, and regulatory reporting. This gap can contribute to errors, compliance issues, and costly penalties during inspections or audits — particularly when it comes to paperwork completion and retention. With many former CFPB staffers now employed by the Attorneys General in Connecticut, Maryland, New Hampshire, New York & Pennsylvania, enforcement actions are climbing – especially against small, independent dealerships.

Current Maryland Landscape

• Maryland does not have a formal required dealer education or training course that applicants must complete to obtain a used or new car dealer license.
• While the Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) encourages familiarity with vehicle sales laws and offers optional orientation sessions and resources, these are not mandatory requirements for licensing.
• Dealer orientation sessions, provided by Maryland’s Business Licensing and Consumer Services Division, are available but attendance is optional. These sessions serve to help prospective dealers understand compliance and licensing rules but are not a licensing prerequisite.

Current Pennsylvania Landscape

• Pennsylvania’s licensing for vehicle salespersons does not include any mandatory education as part of the licensing process. There are no exams, experience, initial, or continuing education requirements for vehicle salespersons in PA.
• Similarly, there is no explicit statewide requirement for basic dealership training tied to initial dealer licensing covering compliance fundamentals such as state law, document management, and customer transaction handling.
• Where training does currently exist, it tends to be topic specific and offered through industry associations or PennDOT-approved courses (e.g., title and registration training for full agents), but attendance is driven primarily by contract requirements or agency guidance, rather than a uniform statutory mandate for all dealers.

Why Structured Training Matters
Automotive dealerships operate in a highly regulated environment involving complex state and federal rules:

• Proper documentation and retention.
• Consumer protection statutes governing contracts, disclosures, and financing (OFAC, Red Flag, etc).
• Compliance with PennDOT/MDOT, Attorneys General and Department of State inspections.

Without structured, mandatory training, employees — from dealers themselves, to sales staff, to title clerks — may lack consistent baseline knowledge. This increases the risk of errors that can lead to fines, audits, or worse. Mandatory training would help ensure uniform understanding of dealer obligations and reduce compliance risks statewide.

Training Requirements in Surrounding States
While Maryland & Pennsylvania do not mandate basic dealer training, several nearby states do require formal training or certification as part of their licensing process:

MidAtlantic IADA is working with NIADA to advocate for common-sense education and training to ensure our members have access to the vital information they need to remain profitable in this compliance heavy, over-regulated environment.

In the coming months, we will explore the best options to offer our members the most comprehensive and current information from industry leading experts and the departments responsible within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and State of Maryland.