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| P.O. Box 431 6 Mulberry Lane Mt. Arlington, N.J. 07856 973-398-2774 Telephone 973-398-2731 Facsimile |
April 24 , 2007 |
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Letter from IARA's Executive Director
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| Matthew Marks IARA Executive Director |
Greetings:
Hello again and best wishes for a strong spring and summer sales season.
The Alliance has been busier than ever with many accomplishments and new
initiatives since our last newsletter. Thanks are presented once again
to all the committee members and board members who contribute so much to
the programs of the alliance. Committee participation is always open to
members. We welcome anyone who wishes to join a committee.
1. First of all, a warm welcome to our newest board members; Bob Graham,
ARI Fleet; Jay Hinchman, Center One Financial; Nick Peluso, Manheim; and
Dave Sutton, VW Credit. We are pleased to have them on board and look
forward to their participation.
We also wish a hearty thank you to those board members leaving at the
end of their second terms in 2006. Both Stuart Angert and John Possumato
each served for a total of five years and the alliance is much stronger
thanks to their contributions. Well done.
2. The IARA has also recently approved filling a second vice- president
position. We are fortunate to have Carl Scandura, Toyota Financial
Services, come forward to assume the duties of this position.
Congratulations and thank you Carl. In addition, Don Fowler, Data Scan
Field Services, and IARA board member has become the IARA membership
committee chairperson. We wish both a great deal of success with their
new positions.
3. The IARA is proud to announce that effective February 23rd, 2007, the
IARA UK chapter was finalized and activated. Founder members are; Ontime
Automotive; Cap; Dent Wizard Int’l; Inchcape Automotive; Motability
Finance; Manheim; Lombard Vehicle Management; Lloyds TSB Autolease;
Honda Motor Europe; Peugeot; First Fleet; RAC; VW; Bobit Business Media,
and Auto Intelligence. We plan to have reciprocal meeting events in the
future to share best practices. Our thanks to David Tomes, Auto
Intelligence, for spearheading this initiative.
4. The winter roundtable meeting in conjunction with Car2007, in Las
Vegas, was one of the best according to attendees. We honored Warren
Young with the IARA Circle of Excellence award for his pioneering work
with the Manheim organization. Dave Alfonso, awards committee
chairperson, did his usual outstanding presentation.
Jim Hallet, industry leader, was our keynote speaker informing us why we
have to do a better job with the auto dealers of America. Jim challenged
all of us, as usual, to seek more meaningful and comprehensive customer
services for the dealer body.
The IARA afternoon roundtable topics presented were salvage vehicles,
and reconditioning. Chuck Nix, now with Columbus Fair Auto Auction, lead
the recon panel and Steve Houston, Wachovia Dealer Services, lead the
salvage panel discussion. It was interesting to hear how certain parts
of salvaged vehicles are worth more than the vehicle’s total salvaged
value. We plan to explore the salvage topic more in depth at our July
summer roundtable meeting.
Also at the car 2007 conference, Steve Houston, presented the results of
the IARA industry performance metrics survey. Thirty-two remarketing
consignors participated in the survey. The survey results can be
requested on the IARA website at
www.IARAonline.org.
5. Our summer roundtable series meeting will be held July 24-26th at the
Cincinnati Marriott Rivercenter hotel in Covington, KY. Mark your
calendar now. Registration will be on the IARA website soon at
www.IARAonline.org. The remarketing industry panels and roundtable
topics will include the following; salvage vehicles; dealer centric;
performance metrics; inspection and grading scales; data mining; and
specialty auctions with RVs, power boats, and power sports. A dinner
cruise on the Ohio River with music will set sail on Thursday evening.
In addition, a recognized industry speaker will keynote the opening day
luncheon.
6. The first part of the IARA certification program will be available
soon. We plan to have at least four courses focused on remarketing
channels ready by mid-June for candidates. The courses will be available
as education courses firstly, then, if candidates desire to also pursue
the car certification program, a separate application to be tested on
those courses will be available on the IARA website.
Testing will be arranged at various locations and dates so that
candidates will have the opportunity to be tested in-person on the
courses they select. The first testing session will take place
immediately after the summer roundtable meeting, July 26th, Thursday at
the Marriott Rivercenter hotel at 1:15 pm. Certification candidates will
have three years to complete all the tests on the courses once they
begin. The cost will be $50 per course for members and $100 for
nonmembers. A testing session will be $195. Information will be on the
IARA website soon.
We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in Cincinnati July
24-26th. Contact me any time for information and details.
Best regards,
Matthew Marks
Executive Director
International Automotive Remarketers Alliance