MADA can boast another successful golf outing and crab feast. Mother Nature was kind yesterday and treated us all to beautiful blue skies, a cool breeze, and not a drop of humidity in the air.

 

We had two teams who won first place this year, one for the River Course and one team on the Lakes Course. A team representing Kelly Benefit Strategies took first place on the River Course; players on this team were Jim Crowley, Quinn Hanna, Brian Hubbard, and Steve Pyzik.   On the Lakes Course, a team from Wells Fargo Dealer Services came in first; players were Randy Miranda, Phaedra Andre-Brown, Doug Mummere, and Brian Talley. Chris Goodwin, Bob Bell Automotive Group, won longest drive for the men. Doug Thompson from Thompson Automotive and Susan Imber from Comcast Spotlight won closest to the pin for men and women, respectively.

 

Winning Foursome on the River Course from Kelly Benefit Strategies.

The winning foursome on the Lakes Course from Wells Fargo.

Sponsors from bgr CPA's enjoying their day on the course.

Members from Chevy Chase Acura Nissan and sponsor, CBM, comprised a foursome.

Thanks to Susan Lounsberry and John Alviggi, both from CVR, for their sponsorship of the event.

We would like to thank all of the sponsors who helped make this a wonderful event and encourage our dealer members to please consider those who support your Association when making your business decisions.

 

Adstrategies, Inc.

American Fidelity Assurance Company

Armada Dealer Solutions

Bel Air Auto Auction

BG Products & Services

bgr CPA's

Charapp & Weiss, LLP

Chesapeake Employers Insurance

Chesapeake Petroleum

Councilor, Buchanan & Mitchell, CPA's

CVR

Enterprise Rent-A-Car

Federated Insurance

Helion Automotive Technologies

JM&A Group

M&T Bank

Motor Trend Auto Shows, LLC

PDP Group, Inc.

Redcom Design & Construction, LLC

SunTrust Bank

Wells Fargo Dealer Services

Workforce Tactix-Steve Salamon

Zurich

Please save the date and make your plans to join us at our annual Maryland Automobile Dealers Association Foundation gala on Saturday, November 8, 2014.  This year's event will be held again at the Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, MD!

When a title service agent applies for an original or renewal license in Maryland, dealers engaging these persons must provide the Motor Vehicle Administration with the names of dealer staff and agents employed by the dealership.

 

The MVA will issue each employee or agent an identification card that authorizes the person to act on behalf of the dealer's title service. The card should be available upon request of a customer, investigator, auditor or MVA employee. A photocopy of the identification must accompany transactions brought into the MVA for processing.  When an employee or agent is terminated, the dealer must immediately surrender the ID card to the MVA. Any questions should be directed to mvablcsd@mva.maryland.gov.

National Drive Electric Week, a nationwide event to heighten awareness of today's widespread availability of plug-in vehicles, is currently scheduled to take place September 15-21. Started in 2011 as National Plug-In Day with the idea to hold simultaneous events across the country on the same day, the organizers are expanding the event to cover an entire week. Event organizers are currently seeking E/V owners or dealers with an E/V currently on hand to participate in the event as a member of the ride-and-drive.

 

Local events will include the following, please click on the city location to access further information:

• Annapolis, MD - Annapolis City Dock, Sunday, September 21st, 11am - 5pm
• Baltimore, MD - Maryland Science Center, Saturday, September 20th, 11am - 4pm
• Bethesda, MD - Bethesda Systems, Saturday, September 20th, 9am - 4pm
• Frederick, MD - MOM's Organic Market, Friday, September 19th, 3pm - 8pm  
• Poolesville, MD - Poolesville Elementary School, Saturday, September 20th, 11:30am - 4pm  

New Webinars Announced from DealersEdge 

With service lane traffic projected to significantly shrink in the near future, re-thinking the Service Lane Process is a must.  Researchers have found that customers make two immediate judgments about individuals and businesses upon first contact...are you "warm"...are you "competent?" Failure to get a high enough grade on either and you will fail to win repeat business.

In order to win the battle for service business, dealerships need to re-think just what is happening on their service drives. Many, if not most, dealerships are allowing their service advisors to drive customers and profits away, the good news is you can fix it!  This webinar will cover the following:

• How to identify gaps in your workflow and what to do about it
• How to educate service advisors and customers on the true value of proper maintenance
• The single best improvement in customer retention that your advisors can make and how to make it happen 
• 5 key elements that determine whether a customer will want to return to your service department and recommend you to friends