HADA History

Building on a legacy of dealer involvement

The first automobile in Hawaii arrived October 8, 1899. Its owner, Henry P. Baldwin, was the great grandfather of HADA member Charlie King, and was co-founder of Alexander & Baldwin, the parent company of longtime HADA associate member Matson Navigation Co.

A new car created excitement back then, just as one does today. Many, in Hawaii, referred to the new contraption by the commonly used name "horseless carriage."

The new car dealers association wasn't formed until 60 years later, in the statehood year of 1959. The official filing of the bylaws of the Hawaii Automobile Dealers Association took place on February 17, 1959, during territorial times, since statehood wasn't declared until August of that year.

The early Association had about 20 members, many with colorful names like Dutch, Speed, and Axel.

The auto industry leaders in the 60's included Robert Maxey, G.E. "Dutch" Schuman, James Zukerkorn, "Speed" Reynolds and Axel Silen.

A key figure who made generous contributions was Servco Pacific's Thomas Fukunaga, who made available his staff to provide valuable accounting services to HADA, something the company provides to this day.

In 1972, the Association hired Hardy Hutchinson, a former radio announcer and newspaper journalist to serve as executive secretary. Hardy, a Hilo boy, preferred to use the old sugar mill title of "manager."

In 1974, HADA initiated efforts toward the establishment of an auto safety inspection system in all counties.

In 1977, under the guidance of legislative chair Ken Matsumoto, HADA was successful in getting ACT 73 enacted.   The law made liability under the No Fault law secondary to the dealer who loans a vehicle, free of charge, to a customer whose vehicle is in the shop for repairs. In 1976, there were 483,000 cars, trucks and buses on the roadways in Hawaii.

In 1978, Association members provided 63 vehicles for the State's driver education program. The vehicles were leased to the state at a dollar a year per vehicle. In that year the Association worked to help pass the state's odometer roll-back law which was modeled after similar laws being enacted across the nation at the time.

Twelve years ago, HADA president Gerald Cutter wrote, "this has been a particularly active year for our Association, with Industry Relations, headed by Joe Nicolai, Advertising and Ethics headed by Dave Chun, Long Range Planning, chaired by Andy Nakano, and Health Insurance lead by Nick Cutter.

In that year the Association made a determined effort to become more involved in the communities, making contributions to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and Hawaii's Youth at Risk.

In 1992, HADA legislative chair Joe Nicolai was instrumental in crafting Hawaii's used car lemon law which provided customers state-mandated warranty protections on qualifying used cars sold in the Hawaii market. This law was modeled after many other used car lemon laws being passed in the other 49 states.

Owen Phillips chaired the Scholarship Golf Tournament, which by 1993 had raised $18,000 for auto tech training scholarships through two golf tournaments.

Also in 1993, after Hurricane Iniki, the Association contributed more than $40,000 to assist employees of Kauai members who sustained heavy personal losses.

Hardy retired in May of 1999 and the Association contracted Rolf Advertising to assist with managing the association. The following year, HADA introduced and successfully worked for passage of a bill that allowed auto dealers to provide free loaner cars to customers who had purchased extended service contracts. Hawaii was the only state in the country to prevent dealers from providing such. Associate member, Cavanah and Associates initially crafted the legislation. HADA's bill was known as the "7 Magic Words" bill.   It added seven words to the law to allow dealers to provide "for substitute transportation, towing, and roadside assistance." Hawaii drivers were able to enjoy benefits previously denied under Hawaii law.

In 2000, HADA, along with title sponsor First Hawaii Bank, helped move the First Hawaiian Auto Show to Hawaii's new convention center, and with the assistance from Motor Trend magazine, helped create an auto manufacturer "international" trade show that introduced Hawaii car enthusiasts to the latest in domestic and international new vehicles. Revenues from the show helped provide 7 Cars for 7 Teachers (use for a year), and create an 84-foot "wall of words" curriculum display that later provided the foundation for dealer-sponsored education legislation to create annual SAT 9/10 testing in grades 3 through 8 and one year in high school.

The following year, a HADA trip to Washington D.C., with NADA director Damien Farias assisting, HADA helped introduce congressman Neil Abercrombie to the issues relating to NADA's efforts to eliminate the estate tax. Hawaii's congressman led many of his colleagues on to the bill, and for the first time in 90 years, legislation passed the Congress initiating a phase-out of the death tax. Efforts for permanent repeal continue.

In 2001, there was plenty of confusion about a customer's right to cancel a contract. HADA's bill provided clarity. The following year, HADA was successful in obtaining a 2-year early sunset of the tire tax, because the scrap tire cleanup had been completed; it was the first time in legislative history that a tax had been eliminated early.

In 2002, HADA obtained passage of legislation requiring purchasers of out-of-state vehicles brought to Hawaii, to pay their fair share of taxes by requiring that 4% be paid before the vehicle could be registered. The state will receive almost $1 million more in previously uncollected tax revenues as a result of the HADA bill.

The year 2003 marked HADA's successful authorship and passage of the state's auto dealer/distributor franchise bill. Hawaii thus became the 50 th state to have comprehensive statutes regulating the licensing of dealers, distributors, and manufacturers.   Also in this year, the Honolulu City Council, at HADA's request, and with the urging of Councilmember Nestor Garcia, authorized $175,000 to help streamline the DMV's auto registration system. The efforts are underway. DMV has already launched its on-line motor vehicle information system.

During the 2003 HADA convention, the Manheim-sponsored Hawaii Autotech Training auction netted $15,000 for tech scholarships.

HADA remains vigilant in serving our community and fulfilling our mission, which has been summarized: "To help auto dealers comply with the laws, so as to make car buying, for the general public, trouble-free."

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