Please refer to Governing Statutes for more information. “Not specified” indicates that an issue is not addressed specifically in the particular statutes. Please send any updates to editors@dealernews.com
ALABAMA – The area within a radius of 20 miles around an existing dealer or the area of responsibility defined in the franchise, whichever is greater; except that, where a manufacturer is seeking to establish an additional new motor vehicle dealer and there are one or more existing new motor vehicle dealers of the same line make within a 10-mile radius of the proposed dealer site, the relevant market area shall in all instances be the area within a radius of 10 miles around an existing dealer. OEM may not “assign or change a dealer’s area of responsibility under the franchise or dealer agreement arbitrarily or without due regard to the present or projected future pattern of motor vehicle sales and registrations within the dealer’s market area and without first having provided the dealer with written notice of the change in the dealer’s area of responsibility and a detailed description of the change and reasons therefor.”
ALASKA – not specified
ARIZONA – 10 miles “by the shortest street route,” 20 miles in counties with fewer than 200,000 residents. “Area of responsibility” means the area surrounding an individual dealer that the factory designates as that dealer’s individual primary geographic territory for the purpose of marketing, promoting, selling and leasing new motor vehicles. In the absence of the factory designated area, the area of responsibility is that geographical area surrounding a dealer that lies closer to that dealer than to other dealers of the same line-make.
ARKANSAS – 10 mile radius; change of DAT requires 30 days’ notice.
CALIFORNIA – Generally, the RMA “is any area within a radius of 10 miles from the site of a potential new dealership.” For purposes of allotments, “a geographic area specified in a franchise that is used by the franchisor for the purpose of evaluating the franchisee’s performance of its sales and service obligations.”
COLORADO – RMA defined as the larger of area set in franchise agreement or a 10-mile radius; requires 90 days notice before “Modifying, replacing, or attempting to modify or replace the franchise or selling agreement of a powersports dealer, including a change in the dealer’s geographic area upon which sales or service performance is measured, if the modification would substantially and adversely alter the rights or obligations of the dealer under the current franchise or selling agreement or would substantially impair the sales or service obligations or the dealer’s investment.”
CONNECTICUT – not specified
DELAWARE – Area within a radius of 10 miles from the intended site of a proposed additional dealership.
FLORIDA – The manufacturer shall designate the area of sales responsibility exclusively assigned to a dealer in the manufacturer/dealer agreement and may not change such area or contract with another dealer for sale of the same line-make in the designated area during the duration of the agreement. The area of sales responsibility may not be reviewed or changed until one year after the execution of the manufacturer/dealer agreement.
GEORGIA – Area located within an eight-mile radius of an existing dealership.
HAWAII – In a county with a population of less than 500,000 persons (according to the most recent data of the United States Census Bureau or the data of the department of business, economic development, and tourism) the RMA shall be the county in which the dealer is located. In a county with a population of more than 500,000 persons (according to the same data parameters), the RMA shall be within a radius of six miles from the dealership location.
IDAHO – Within a radius of 10 miles from where the same line is represented.
ILLINOIS – Radius of 10 miles from the principal location of a franchise or dealership if said principal location is in a county with a population of more than 300,000; if the principal location of a franchise or dealership is in a county having a population of less than 300,000, then the RMA shall mean the area within a radius of 15 miles.
INDIANA – not specified
IOWA – not specified
KANSAS – “A radius of 10 miles around an existing new vehicle dealer in new motor vehicles, if the existing new vehicle dealer’s principal location is in a county having a population of 30,000 or more persons; (B) a radius of 15 miles around an existing new vehicle dealer in new motor vehicles, if the existing new vehicle dealer’s principal location is in a county having a population of less than 30,000 persons; or (C) the area of responsibility defined in the franchise agreement of the existing dealer, whichever is greater.”
KENTUCKY – A relevant market area is a radius of 10 miles around an existing franchise. In the case of a franchise located near a state border, that area does not extend over the state line.
LOUISIANA – State requires 60 days’ notice of dealer assigned territory change.
MAINE – The RMA is a radius of 15 miles around an existing dealership in the following cities: Augusta, Auburn, Bangor, Biddeford, Brewer, Falmouth, Lewiston, Portland, Saco, South Portland, Waterville and Westbrook. The RMA is a radius of 30 miles around all other existing dealerships.
MARYLAND – not specified
MASSACHUSETTS – RMA is a 20-mile radius
MICHIGAN – RMA is 9 miles in counties with population of 150,000 or more, 15 miles in less populated counties.
MINNESOTA – “Area of sales effectiveness” means a geographic area designated in a franchise agreement or related document where a new motor vehicle dealer is responsible for effectively selling, servicing, and otherwise representing the products of the manufacturer, distributor, or factory branch.
MISSISSIPPI – 10-mile radius in counties with population 60,000 or greater, 15-mile radius in less populated counties.
MISSOURI – 10-mile radius in counties with population of 100.000 or more; 20 miles in lower population counties; special rule for St. Louis area
MONTANA – The relevant market area of a franchise is the county or counties in which the franchisee is located.
NEBRASKA – The RMA is a 5-mile radius in metro areas and the home county in non-metro areas.
NEVADA – RMA means any area within a radius of 10 miles of an existing dealer who sells vehicles of the same line and make.
NEW HAMPSHIRE – OEM may not “change the [RMA] set forth in the franchise agreement without good cause. For purposes of the subparagraph, good cause shall include, but not be limited to, changes in the dealer’s registration pattern, demographics, customer convenience, and geographic barriers.”
NEW JERSEY – RMA is a 20-mile radius.
NEW MEXICO – RMA is (1) seven miles, if the population of the county in which the dealership is located is 250,000 or more; (2) 15 miles, if the population of the county in which the dealership is located is less than 250,000 but is 35,000 or more; or (3) 20 miles in all other cases.
NEW YORK – Six-mile radius where the county population is 100,000 or more; 10-mile radius in less populated counties.
NORTH CAROLINA – RMA is “the area within a radius of 20 miles around an existing dealer or the area of responsibility defined in the franchise, whichever is greater.” State provides more specific definitions when adding a new franchise within the state.
NORTH DAKOTA – not specified
OHIO – RMA is any area within a radius of 10 miles from the site of a potential new dealership, 25 miles for manufactured home or recreational vehicle dealerships. The 10-mile radius is measured from the dealer’s established place of business that is used exclusively for the purpose of selling, displaying, offering for sale, or dealing in motor vehicles.
OKLAHOMA – “Area of responsibility” means the geographical area, as designated by the manufacturer, factory branch, factory representative, distributor, distributor branch or distributor representative, in which the new motor vehicle dealer is held responsible for the promotion and development of sales and rendering of service for the make of motor vehicle for which the motor vehicle dealer holds a franchise or selling agreement.
OREGON – RMA means, for a dealer primarily of motor vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating of less than 8,500 lbs., a circular area around an existing dealership of (a) not less than a 10-mile radius from the dealership site; (b) not less than a 15-mile radius from the dealership site if the population is less than 250,000 within a 10-mile radius from the existing dealership and 150,000 or more within a 15-mile radius from the existing dealership; (c) not less than a 20-mile radius from the dealership site if the population is less than 150,000 within a 15-mile radius from the existing dealership; or (d) the area of sales and service responsibility determined under the franchise agreement if the area is larger than the areas provided for in this paragraph.
PENNSYLVANIA – Dealer may protest changes to RMA. If a new vehicle dealer’s area of responsibility is altered, the manufacturer shall allow 18 months for the dealer to penetrate the market and to become sales-effective prior to taking negative legal action claiming a breach or nonperformance of the dealer’s sales performance responsibilities against the dealer. RMA is the area within a radius of 20 miles around an existing dealer or the area of responsibility defined in the franchise, whichever is greater, except (1) where a manufacturer is seeking to establish an additional new vehicle dealer, the RMA shall be in all instances the area within a radius of 10 miles around the proposed site of the additional new vehicle dealer, except for cities of the first and second class which will be the area within a five-mile radius around the proposed site of the additional new vehicle dealer; and (2) where a manufacturer is seeking to relocate an existing dealer, the RMA is the area within a radius of 20 miles around the proposed site of the relocating dealer or the area of responsibility defined in the franchise of the relocating dealer, whichever is greater.
RHODE ISLAND – RMA means the area within a radius of 20 miles around an existing dealer or the area of responsibility defined in the franchise, whichever is greater.
SOUTH CAROLINA – not specified
SOUTH DAKOTA – not specified
TENNESSEE – not specified
TEXAS – RMA is a 15-mile radius.
UTAH – RMA means, for a powersports dealership in a county with a population of less than 225,000: (i) the county in which the powersport dealership exists or is to be established or relocated; and (ii) in addition to the county described in Subsection (13)(a)(i), the area within a 15-mile radius from the site of the existing, new, or relocated dealership; or for a powersport dealership in a county that has a population of 225,000 or more, the area within a 10-mile radius from the site of the existing, new, or relocated dealership.
VERMONT – not specified
VIRGINIA – For motorcycle dealers, the RMA is specified as a circular area within a radius of 20 miles around an existing franchised dealer location with a population of 1 million or more. If the population within a 20-mile radius is less than 1 million but greater than 750,000, the RMA is a circular area within a radius of 30 miles. If the population within a 30-mile radius is less than 750,000, the RMA is a circular area within a radius of 40 miles.
WASHINGTON – RMA is defined as follows: (a) If the population in the county in which the existing, proposed new, or relocated dealership is located or is to be located is 400,000 or more, the RMA is the geographic area within the radius of 10 miles around the existing, proposed new, or relocated place of business for the dealership; (b) If the population in the county in which the existing, proposed new, or relocated dealership is to be located is 200,000 or more and less than 400,000, the RMA is the geographic area within a radius of 12 miles around the existing, proposed new, or relocated place of business for the dealership; (c) If the population in the county in which the existing, proposed new, or relocated dealership is to be located is less than 200,000, the RMA is the geographic area within a radius of 20 miles around the existing, proposed new, or relocated place of business for the dealership.
WEST VIRGINIA – RMA means the area located within a 20-air-mile radius around an existing same line-make new motor vehicle dealership, provided, that a 15-mile RMA as it existed prior to the effective date of this statute shall apply to any proposed new motor vehicle dealership as to which a manufacturer or distributor and the proposed new motor vehicle dealer have executed on or before the effective date of this statute a written agreement, including a letter of intent, performance agreement or commitment letter, concerning the establishment of the proposed new motor vehicle dealership.
WISCONSIN – RMA means any of the following: (a) All of the area within a 10-mile radius of the site of an existing enfranchised motor vehicle dealership; (b) The area of sales responsibility assigned to the existing enfranchised dealership by the manufacturer, importer, or distributor.
WYOMING – RMA means that marketing area as defined by the sales and service agreement granted by the manufacturer, distributor or wholesaler and held by a new vehicle dealer.