CADA 360 celebrates 70 years of dealer support and innovation
February 8, 2021
CADA 360 Employee Benefits recently celebrated its 70th anniversary, with the milestone reflecting decades of support for dealer members and years of innovation and competitive rates.
Created by dealers for dealers, the program continues to function as it was originally intended: as a not-for-profit trust that ensures all program funds remain with the program, according to Karen O’Connell, Director, Governance & Plan Management, Benefits 360 Health & Welfare Trust, CADA.
“It's run by a dealer committee with members that are very conscious about ensuring that the money that comes in as premium contributions is there for the benefit of all the plan members,” said O’Connell in an interview with CADA Newsline. “They are always looking for opportunities to both improve the plan’s benefits and manage costs to keep premium rates affordable.”
It was for this reason that O’Connell said CADA 360 was able to remain in a solid financial position amid the COVID-19 pandemic and offer immediate relief to dealers. This meant the ability to offer premium credits for the months of April and May 2020, and to freeze rates until June 2021 to help dealers with their budgeting and planning.
“We wanted to ensure that dealers were not facing any unknowns in terms of premium rates, and we wanted to provide certainty in a very uncertain time,” said O’Connell. “Being a not-for-profit with a dealers-for-dealers philosophy truly makes a difference.”
CADA 360 introduced an employee assistance program in 2019, and a new telemedicine service through its plan administrator (Canada Life) that can be added to the program — both of which proved timely when the pandemic reached Canada in 2020 and impacted dealership activities across the country.
“Those two developments are new, and are part of our continuous goal to keep up with the advances that are being made in this field,” said O’Connell. “Increased support for mental health and new offers like telemedicine are two examples of how we’re responding to the challenges of COVID-19.”
The CADA 360 programs also provide an important source of funding for association activities, such as lobbying, industrial relations, and other advocacy initiatives that support dealers — all while offering competitive rates. This includes initiatives that helped inform dealers about a potential luxury tax, information around political party goals for the automotive industry prior to the last federal election, and lobbying efforts to ensure dealer voices were heard on topics such as the CUSMA (Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement) and to help increase the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS), to name a few.
O’Connell said the CADA 360 team is “very much looking forward to continuing to be relevant and sustainable for dealer principals and their employees moving forward.”