In This Issue
- Howard Kurtz to Keynote WANADA’s Virtual Annual Meeting on Nov. 5
- WANADA’s ADEI Program is Training the New Era of Auto Technicians
- Va. MVDB Adds More Sales License Background Check Providers
- Registration Open for Virtual NADA Show in 2021
- In Memoriam: Guy Thomas Steuart, II
- Learn How to Optimize Your Marketing Budget on a Nov. 4 Webinar
|
|
 |
WANADA’s Annual Meeting will be held virtually this year, from 11 a.m. to noon next Thursday, November 5. In addition to receiving the annual report from the association’s CEO and board chairman, attendees will get unique insight into the aftermath of the 2020 election from Fox News media reporter Howard Kurtz.
To view more information on the event, including the link to register, please click here. Please note that the annual meeting is open only to members (dealers and Kindred-Line) and pre-approved guests. Details on how to access the virtual meeting will be sent to registrants via email the day before the event.
As the event’s keynote speaker, Howard Kurtz will provide attendees with informative analysis of the 2020 election, which will be held two days prior to the meeting. Kurtz is a well-regarded political analyst, with a specialty in analyzing political news coverage and trends.
Kurtz currently hosts Media Buzz, cable news’ top-rated show in its time slot on Sunday afternoons. Prior to joining Fox News in 2013, Kurtz was a media reporter for CNN. He also was a writer and columnist for The Washington Post for multiple decades, covering political media for the paper’s Style section. Prior to that, he covered Congress for the paper, and also served for a time as chief of its New York bureau.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Even in the midst of a pandemic that has swallowed up the better part of a full year, WANADA’s Automobile Dealer Education Institute continues to educate and train the next generation of auto technicians in a safe, socially-distant, and protected way.
Thanks to the great support from Montgomery College and Northern Virginia Community College, ADEI students have still been able to receive in-person training at the auto technician centers on both campuses. With public transit ridership down and more people than ever being reliant on personal vehicles to get around, there remains a big need for auto techs.
Furthermore, since the program arranges for the students to be employed at local dealerships, young men and women who would otherwise be out of work during an unprecedented health crisis are instead able to earn a living wage. ADEI, then, is providing a valuable service to both auto dealers by training the next generation of technicians and to local communities by being a stable source of income for dozens of people all around the Beltway.
WANADA would like to thank Erik Falk and Billy Painter, WANADA’s in-house recruitment advisors in Maryland and Northern Virginia, along with Steve Boden from the Montgomery County ATF, for helping the program continue even as many in-person activities have remained shuttered across the region.
ADEI students are being trained in smaller groups, with more spacing in the garages than in pre-pandemic times, with a greater emphasis on virtual learning in their non-automotive academic studies. But importantly for their vocational training, and for the students’ ability to have the necessary education to be able to establish a full-time career at a dealership, they are still getting the same amount of in-person technician training that students received prior to the pandemic, just with a far greater emphasis on social distancing, mask-wearing, and surface cleaning.
Dealership demand for ADEI students continues to be strong, and there is actually a waitlist for participants heading into the spring semester. To that end, some dealerships that were not sponsoring students previously have since joined or re-joined the program in prior months. None of this would have been possible without the great support of our dealership members, our supporting educational institutions and, of course, the participating students themselves, who continue to work hard even in highly challenging circumstances.
For more information on ADEI, please visit adei-programs.org. You may also contact Joe Koch, WANADA’s Vice President of Operations, at jk@wanada.org for more information on ADEI and the various ways you can support this immensely valuable program. For information on Northern Virginia programs, you can contact Erik Falk at efalk@wanada.org, or contact Billy Painter for Maryland information at bp@wanada.org.
|
|
|
The Virginia Motor Vehicle Dealer Board now has nine providers who are authorized to conduct the necessary background checks for those seeking initial salesperson licenses in the commonwealth. As of August 1, dealers are required to source the background checks when completing an MVDB 61 application form on behalf of a would-be salesperson.
Please note that you are required to include the unique background check code on each application prior to submitting it to the MVDB. The MVDB also notes that some background check providers may “require exclusive use agreements or minimum service agreements to utilize their services.
|
|
|
NADA has reduced the registration fee for the upcoming year’s event, while still providing the robust educational and informative content you have come to expect, just in a virtual format. Member dealers can register for all three days of the 2021 show for just $199.
|
|
|
Guy Thomas Steuart, II, a fourth-generation Washingtonian who managed one of the region’s best-known dealership chains, passed away earlier this month at the age of 89.
After serving in the Coast Guard on active duty in the 1950s, he returned to his hometown to take a leadership position in the family auto dealership business. Under his leadership, Steuart Motors, which began in the 1910s after Henry Ford approached Guy’s grandfather and great-uncle about selling horseless carriages in the District, became one of the area’s “mega-dealers,” selling a wide range of domestic and import brands across the city.
Steuart Motor Company eventually became Steuart-Martens Cars, and the Martens name famously remained on the District’s last remaining new automobile dealership – Martens Volvo, which was located in Tenleytown until Ourisman bought the Martens chain in 2014.
Over time, Guy’s focus shifted towards other investments in the family’s portfolio, including the famous Half Moon luxury resort in Montego Bay, Jamaica, of which the Steuart family was an original investor. Today, Steuart Investment Company is one of the region’s premier commercial and residential real-estate businesses, opening some of Washington’s largest new condominium and apartment complexes, along with several high-volume suburban retail outlets. Read More
|
|
|
As automotive retailers continue operating in a highly uncertain and volatile economic climate, it is more important than ever that dealers and suppliers of all sizes spend their marketing dollars as wisely as possible. On November 4, leaders from Effectv, Bloomberg Intelligence, and the Automotive Advertising Group will host a webinar to provide valuable insight on the ways businesses can use data to get the best value out of their marketing dollars, and even drive sales growth.
In addition, Effectv leaders will discuss the auto industry’s prospects for the upcoming year, and will use their subject-matter expertise to help dealers identify effective data-driven opportunities to make the most out of the ongoing economic recovery. Webinar participants will also gain insight as to how to learn from other dealerships’ best practices, and apply them to their own businesses.
The webinar, titled “Accelerating Automotive Results,” will be held at 10 a.m. ET on November 4. To register, please click here.
Effectv is a paid promotional sponsor of the WANADA Bulletin.
|
|
|
The WANADA Bulletin is Sponsored by the Following Kindred-Line Members:
|
|
|
The WANADA Bulletin would like to welcome two charter sponsors this week, Effectv and JM&A Group. Any WANADA Kindred-Line member is invited to be a featured sponsor of the Bulletin; for more information on sponsorships, please contact Bob Storin at rs@wanada.org, or by calling 301-335-8289.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
