Commitments and Contingent Liabilities

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2024

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingent Liabilities

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 December 31, 2024, 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 lease land and facilities, including certain dealerships and office space. 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. Refer to the disclosures provided in Note 3 for further description of our leases. Rent expense for land and facilities for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023, and 2022 amounted to $263.1 million, $247.9 million, and $243.3 million, respectively.

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 believe we have made appropriate reserves relating to these locations. We currently guarantee or are otherwise liable for approximately $130.8 million of these lease payments, including lease payments during available renewal periods.

Our floor plan credit agreements with Daimler Truck Financial Services Australia and Mercedes-Benz Financial Services New Zealand ("MBA") provide us revolving loans for the acquisition of commercial vehicles for distribution to our retail network. These facilities include a commitment to repurchase dealer vehicles in the event the dealer's floor plan agreement with MBA is terminated.

We have $14.0 million of letters of credit outstanding and $18.3 million of bank guarantees as of December 31, 2024, and have posted $24.7 million of surety bonds in the ordinary course of business.