Pub. 7 2017 Issue 3

8 AUTOMOBILE DEALER NEWS ILLINOIS www.illinoisdealers.com COUNSELOR’SCORNER NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE TRANSACTIONS— LEGAL AND CONTRACTUAL REQUIREMENTS “Language is a city to the building of which every human being brought a stone.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson A s the people of our nation and state evolve to speak and conduct business in multiple languages, passing their words back and forth like a culturally diverse game of catch, it is becoming increasing typical that business transactions of all types, including vehicle sales, are being conducted in different languages. Illinois and federal consumer protection authorities have promulgated certain laws and regula- tions to ensure consumers are afforded the same protections not- withstanding the languages they speak. It is incumbent on dealers to understand their legal and contractual obligations regarding non-English vehicle transactions to ensure their compliance.