TMDA celebrates doc fee increase at annual conference
By Dave McMahon, executive director of NPDA.
The Texas Motorcycle Dealers Association Annual Conference at the Lone Star Court hotel in Austin brought with it a celebratory mood thanks to the efforts of the NPDA and its full-time lobbyist at the nearby Capitol, Royce Poinsett.

Poinsett and the TMDA Board of Directors worked with the legislature to increase the maximum documentation of up to $200 per contract, supplanting the previous maximum of $125. The new fee was enacted in September 2024. The passage took years to complete, according to TMDA President Trey Sralla of Eddie Hill’s Fun Cycle in Wichita Falls. As a benchmark, the new doc fee would equate to an additional $7,500 in revenue per 100 units sold.
“With the title work that’s required by the state, all the paperwork, we wanted to get the doc fee raised to where it’s a reasonable price, so that dealers are not losing money on the time they were spending doing the paperwork,” Sralla said. “So that was one of our huge wins for 2024. It took a lot of phone calls and a lot of talking to people, and showing them why this was a good piece of leglistation or a good rule change. We worked on it for over two years.”
Dealers who gathered for the conference noted that the passage of the doc fee increase was a testament to all dealers being in lockstep with their support of the TMDA and of their strength in numbers.

With that idea of similar support nationwide, the National Powersports Dealer Association was formed in 2021. Texas has more NPDA Dealer Members than any other state.
For those states that don’t have their own nonprofit state dealer association already set up, Sralla encourages participation in the NPDA’s recently launched State Dealer Council meetings. In fact, Sralla is so supportive of the idea that he has attended the Zoom calls and offered insight and perspective on various NPDA State Dealer Council calls.
“It’s massive for us as dealership owners to have the TMDA,” Sralla says. “Our businesses are worth more because they are in the State of Texas than in almost any other state. Let that sink in. That’s a serious thing. And it’s because of the dealer protections, many of which have been generated through the works of the Texas Motorcycle Dealer Association over the years. The Texas Motorcycle Dealer Association has been existence since the late 1960s and has continuously operated. If you don’t have a state organization and you’re in the business of owning a powersports dealership, get connected with the NPDA and get one started.”
The long-running annual TMDA event included a heavy turnout by dealership owners who are TMDA and NPDA members. Several NPDA partners also had representation at the conference. Fellow TMDA board executives Wade Hoak, vice president (Family Powersports, San Angelo), Kip Niles, treasurer (Arlington Motorsports, Arlington) and Preston Douglas (Corpus Christi Harley-Davidson, Corpus Christi) joined Sralla in ensuring the meeting was a worthy investment.
On Saturday, Jan. 12, early arrivals gathered for an informal Meet and Greet. The Sunday conference started with breakfast, followed by introductions from Sralla.

Several highly informative educational seminars followed. The morning got started with a session on cybersecurity. Mark Sheffield (Woods Cycle Country), who sits on the Boards of both the TMDA and NPDA, followed with an engaging session titled “You Only Have to Be Bad in Order to Be Better Than 90% of Your Competition” that pulled insight and data from his role as moderator for 20 groups at NCM Associates.
“I enjoyed Mark Sheffield talking about following up on leads and the lack of professionalism or quality that can come with those if you don’t focus on it,” adds Jeff Rowan, owner of Action Sports in College Station, who described being “very happy” with his store’s 2024 performance. “The TMDA meeting is always just a good place to come to get caught up on legislation and other things you just might miss while you’re running your dealership.”
Speaking of which, keynote speaker Curtis Dubay, chief economist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, presented a somewhat rosy outlook for 2025 growth, pending a host of potential outliers.
Company culture was next on the lineup, with HR specialist Diana Gwin.
The afternoon sessions included news from Texas Department of Motor Vehicles Assistant Chief Investigator Dara Benoit that beginning on July 1, 2025, powersports dealers in Texas will receive an inventory of metal license plates for units that require them. Dealership customers will later return to the store to pick up their tabs.
Representatives from the State Comptroller’s office provided sales and use tax updates.
Sralla once again thanked the sponsors and speakers.
“We had a great turnout — we basically outgrew our room,” Sralla concludes. “I don’t remember having this good of a speaker lineup like we had this year. Just a great diversity of topics that are very important to us as powersports dealership owners.”