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Commitments and Contingent Liabilities | 9 Months Ended
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Sep. 30, 2017
Commitments and Contingent Liabilities |
Commitments and Contingent Liabilities | 9. Commitments and Contingent Liabilities We are involved in litigation which may relate to claims brought by governmental authorities, issues with customers, and employment related matters, including class action claims and purported class action claims. As of September 30, 2017, we were not party to any legal proceedings, including class action lawsuits that, individually or in the aggregate, are reasonably expected to have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition or cash flows. However, the results of these matters cannot be predicted with certainty, and an unfavorable resolution of one or more of these matters could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition or cash flows. We have historically structured our operations so as to minimize ownership of real property. As a result, we lease or sublease substantially all of our facilities. These leases are generally for a period between 5 and 20 years, and are typically structured to include renewal options at our election. Pursuant to the leases for some of our larger facilities, we are required to comply with specified financial ratios, including a “rent coverage” ratio and a debt to EBITDA ratio, each as defined. For these leases, non-compliance with the ratios may require us to post collateral in the form of a letter of credit. A breach of the other lease covenants gives rise to certain remedies by the landlord, the most severe of which include the termination of the applicable lease and acceleration of the total rent payments due under the lease. We have sold a number of dealerships to third parties and, as a condition to certain of those sales, remain liable for the lease payments relating to the properties on which those businesses operate in the event of non-payment by the buyer. We are also party to lease agreements on properties that we no longer use in our retail operations that we have sublet to third parties. We rely on subtenants to pay the rent and maintain the property at these locations. In the event the subtenant does not perform as expected, we may not be able to recover amounts owed to us and we could be required to fulfill these obligations. We currently hold a 28.9% ownership interest in PTL. Historically, affiliates of GE Capital (“GEC”) provided PTL with a majority of its financing, though PTL has refinanced all of its GEC indebtedness. As part of that refinancing, we and the other PTL partners created a new company (“Holdings”), which, together with GEC, co-issued $700.0 million of 3.8% senior unsecured notes due 2019 (the “Holdings Bonds”). GEC agreed to be a co-obligor of the Holdings Bonds in order to achieve lower interest rates on the Holdings Bonds. As part of Mitsui’s purchase of its 20.0% ownership interest in PTL in March 2015, the ownership interest of GEC in Holdings was redeemed, Holdings was relieved of its obligations under the indenture for the Holdings Bonds, and Holdings became obligated to pay to GEC 50.1% of all interest and principal due under, and 100% of the expenses related to, the Holdings Bonds to the extent Holdings has cash in excess of a certain level of permitted working capital, subject to certain limitations. We agreed to indemnify GEC for 9.0% of any principal or interest that GEC is required to pay on these bonds and pay GEC an annual fee of approximately $0.95 million for acting as obligor. The maximum amount of our contingent obligations to GEC under this agreement was 9.0% of the required principal repayment due in 2019 and 9.0% of interest payments under the Holdings Bonds, plus fees and default interest, if any. On October 2, 2017, we elected to make a payment in full of our obligations under this agreement of $63.8 million and have no further obligations to make payments under this agreement. Our floor plan credit agreement with Mercedes Benz Financial Services Australia (“MBA”) provides us revolving loans for the acquisition of commercial vehicles for distribution to our retail network. This facility includes a limited parent guarantee and a commitment to repurchase dealer vehicles in the event the dealer’s floor plan agreement with MBA is terminated. We have $33.0 million of letters of credit outstanding as of September 30, 2017, and have posted $26.1 million of surety bonds in the ordinary course of business.

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