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| P.O. Box 431 6 Mulberry Lane Mt. Arlington, N.J. 07856 973-398-2774 Telephone 973-398-2731 Facsimile |
September 30 , 2005 |
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| Letter from IARA's Executive Director July Roundtable Meeting — Atlanta IARA Committee Activities Other News |
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Letter from IARA's Executive Director
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| Matthew Marks IARA Executive Director |
Greetings:
We all hope this newsletter finds everyone well and safe. Many events both wonderful and tragic (Katrina), have taken place since the last newsletter. The devastation caused by Katrina has affected of all us and will continue to have an impact for some time. All of us should do what we can for as long as we can. Please let us know if you are aware of a member or remarketer who needs assistance.
The Alliance continues to grow both in members and activities. The Officers, Directors, and Committee members volunteer their time to help improve the remarketing industry and those contributions are greatly appreciated and acknowledged. The member’s continued support is also greatly appreciated. Please contact me any time with suggestions and comments. We welcome your input. I look forward to seeing everyone at our March meeting. Have a safe and healthy Winter and Holiday Season.
Best regards,
Matthew Marks
Executive Director
International Automotive Remarketers Alliance
July Roundtable Meeting -- Atlanta
The IARA held its Summer Roundtable Series in Atlanta at the DriveCenter courtesy of Manheim Auctions. Close to 130 attendees participated in the two Roundtable Sessions and the two panel discussions. The Session on Technology and Best Selling Practices, moderated by Scott Kolb and Chuck Parker, focused on the utilization of certain technologies. There was consensus that the rapid pace of recent remarketing technologies is causing some overload. Almost all attendees stated that there is no easy way to keep abreast of the developments. All agreed that they have to do their own research in order to learn about any new remarketing technologies.
Vehicle Values
Ricky Beggs, Black Book, and Virgil Matzcak, ABC Auctions, moderated the Roundtable Session on vehicle values. The session focused on what factors affect values and what do the various guidebooks do to accurately reflect current market values. Almost all attendees agreed that the industry needs more accurate, up to date, vehicle price information.
Benchmarking
Steve Houston of WFS Financial moderated this panel discussion. Steve reported that as a member of the NAAA Task Force on Benchmarking, the task force has decided to use the term performance measures instead of the term benchmarking. Performance measurement information is a way for remarketers to measure their own internal benchmarks with industry wide data. It will be an ongoing data gathering effort. The IARA would like to thank the following panel members for their time and participation: Tom Kontos, ADESA; Stuart Angert, RSA; Bob Graham, ARI; Steve Greenfield, Manheim; Carl Scandura, Toyota/Lexus Financial Services.
Auto Dealers Panel
Layne Weber, Donlen Corporation, moderated the local Auto Dealers Panel. The panel was a follow up to last year’s highly rated session. Once again this proved to be a very popular part of the program. The dealers provided some very interesting insights into the factors they use when purchasing vehicles. For example, if all four tires match they will pay a little more for the vehicle than if they do not. A ready to "retail vehicle" is the preferred choice. They also stated that a "certification" while a vehicle is still under factory warranty is of no value.
The IARA wishes to thank all those attendees who filled out the meeting feedback forms. Your time and support is greatly appreciated. This will greatly assist the Alliance in planning future sessions.
IARA Special Achievement Award
The IARA awarded their "Special Achievement Award" to Scott Kolb, President of the SKI Group. Scott was recognized for both his strong contributions to the remarketing industry and his numerous charity activities in raising donations for various children’s charities. Scott was presented the Award by Dave Alfonso, Chair of the IARA Awards and Recognition Committee.
Keynote Speaker
Long time remarketing industry leader Tony Moorby, President of Flying Lion Services, provided the keynote luncheon address at the DriveCenter hosted by Manheim. Tony spoke about the various turning points in the history of the auto auction business and provided many interesting personal anecdotes.
IARA Committee Activities
Best Practices Committee: This new committee, composed of consignors, began meeting last month. We discussed the standardized vehicle grading scale, the Atlanta meeting, and the changing of vehicle condition grades at auctions after reconditioning. The committee plans to meet at NAAA Conference in September.
Standards: The committee continues its work with Emercent Solutions in the surveys of the remarketing industry. The focus now will be gathering performance measurement information and reporting back to the industry. The committee has developed a matrix of measurement items by industry segment.
Education and Conference Management: A feedback survey, which will be sent to all persons who have taken the IARA Online Remarketing Orientation Courses will be sent shortly. The feedback form was supplied by Layne Weber, of Donlen. A Remarketers Certification initiative is underway with the due diligence process. The committee also developed the feedback forms used at the July Roundtable Meeting. Planning is underway for the March and July 2006 meetings.
Awards: The committee is now receiving nominations for the 2006 Circle of Excellence Award. This award is presented to an outstanding individual in the remarketing industry that has also made major contributions to the community. Nominations can be made via the IARA website at www.iaraonline.org or by calling Matt Marks at 973-398-2774.
Other News
- The UK IARA Chapter initiative continues with meetings in the UK planned for this fall with interested parties.
- Layne Weber and Matt Marks were invited to make remarketing presentations at the AFLA Conference in Scottsdale. Remarketing was one of the key themes of the meeting.
- The IARA Winter meeting will be held March 8th 2006 in Las Vegas at Caesars Palace in conjunction with CAR 2006.
- The IARA has endorsed the NAAA Standardized Vehicle Grading Scale. The IARA worked with the NAAA to help develop the scale and held two prior Roundtable Sessions on this issue.
- The IARA reappointed five Directors to new three year terms; Dave Langley, Honda Financial Services; Charlie Vogelheim, JD Power & Associates; Stuart Angert, RSA-Fiserv; Don Fowler, VIS; Chuck Nix, Grand Rapids Auto Auction.
- The 2004 Emercent/IARA Executive Summary of the upstream remarketing survey is now available upon request at no charge. Please send email request to matthew@iaraonline.org with 2004 Executive Summary in the subject line.