EVs, Tariffs and TollsEVs, Tariffs and Tolls

WASHINGTON– Car dealer Brian Benstock is a quintessential New Yorker who knows what he wants and says what he thinks. He’s also a thought leader in the dealership world.

Benstock is a great client but will not hesitate to frankly tell vendors if their products aren’t working to his utmost satisfaction, says David Boice, founder and CEO of Team Velocity, a marketing software provider to dealers and automakers.

Benstock is the general manager and vice president of Paragon Honda and Paragon Acura in Queens. The stores sell more than 1,000 cars a month.

WardsAuto spoke with him on topical issues, including potential tariffs under the new Trump Admin. and tax breaks for buying electric vehicles.

The interview took place at the inaugural Automotive Leadership Roundtable, an event Team Velocity put on in the nation’s capital.

Here’s an edited version of the conversation:     

WardsAuto: You said when we spoke earlier that you thought it was going to be a bumpy year for the industry.

Benstock: No, I didn’t say it would be a bumpy year. I said the market is bumpy right now. It has been since November when a couple of things happened.

We had a presidential election. There was some apprehension before that, and now there’s some concern about what will happen. Everyone wants market consistency and predictability. What we’ve seen over the last two-and-a-half months is no consistency. There’s a lot of volatility. That’s not a breeding ground for consumer optimism.      

WardsAuto: What is?

Benstock: A Ronald Reagan-type of approach would be good right now. As in, his saying “America is a shining city on a hill.”

It would help if the new administration took the position that we’ll all be OK. And be united – with all people. Not just the left or the right but everyone. That’s what the market needs: Everyone participating in the American dream, not just one group.

If the president can start on that footing, everything will be OK. Sure, there will be opposition, but who can be opposed to trying to bring people together and listening to opposing viewpoints?   

WardsAuto:  Do you think that if Donald Trump starts off on the wrong foot, he could correct himself should things start going to hell in a handbasket with tariffs and stuff like that?  

Benstock: The ability to admit making a mistake is not something President Trump is good at. But you’ve to be flexible and agile to be an effective president.

Tariffs can be properly used to bring rogue actors into line. America can compete with any country on earth with our goods and services, provided we are on a level playing field. And a lot of bad actors are not.

WardsAuto: There’s free trade but there’s also fair trade.

Benstock: If you are paying your workers 30 cents an hour with no health benefits, then you’re not going to have fair trade. Because America is unwilling to compete on that level. We’re not going to take away the hard-fought rights of our workers just so we can deliver lower-priced goods.

So, we have a right to say if you are going to compete in this market, you need to treat your workers better. Those countries can say, “We’ll treat our workers however we want.” But the response to that is: “You’re not going to be able to sell your goods in our country without tariffs being imposed on you.”

WardsAuto: Talk about the New York market specifically. What’s it like right now?

Benstock: I was just talking to a real estate colleague who has had his property insurance premiums go up 80% in three years. Insurance is one of those things a lot of us in the car business are not paying attention to as far as affordability.

A hundred percent of our customers are required to purchase vehicle insurance. But premiums are going up at unprecedented levels. I’m hearing that if you have a moving violation or accident, your premiums can go up as much as 50%. That’s unsustainable for our consumers. That impacts the products we sell and our ability to sell them.

We need to take a look at insurance companies and make sure they are not over-zealous in raising prices the way they’ve been doing.   

WardsAuto: What about electric vehicles? Are you a proponent of them replacing vehicles with internal-combustion engines?

Benstock: Let the free market decide!

I love my smartphone. No one had to mandate me getting it. It quite simply was a better alternative than what it replaced.

With EVs, infrastructure needs to continue to be developed. Range anxiety issues need to be further addressed. And we need to be mindful of customer preferences.

WardsAuto: What are your customers’ preferences?

Benstock: We’ve seen good consumer adaptability and receptibility regarding EVs. And we’re selling them. Fifteen percent of our sales are EVs. Paragon is the No.1 EV seller of Hondas in the nation.

So, we are responding but what would it be like without the current tax credits (of up to $7,500 a vehicle)?   

WardsAuto: Those aren’t going to stick around long-term, are they?

Benstock: I don’t know. But who’s paying for those subsidies? The American taxpayers, including blue-collar workers who shouldn’t be expected to help millionaires buy expensive automobiles.   

WardsAuto: When we spoke last night, you mentioned the congestion toll that is now being charged for driving into certain points of Manhattan. It’s a novel approach to reduce traffic and raise revenue for mass transit improvements. But you’re not a fan of the entry toll system.  

Benstock: Who asked for that? Nobody. Who voted for it? Nobody. Again, it’s the heavy hand of the government trying to force people to give up their cars in exchange for mass transit.

It sounds altruistic, but we should make it so that people naturally want to use mass transit as a transportation alternative, not because they are being taxed to death for using an automobile in New York City.