Successful Convention

Following the post-pandemic world, we were finally able to get back to some normalcy this year with WVADA’s 87th Annual Dealer Family Convention last month at the Greenbrier. It was evident that everyone was eager to get together as we experienced a record turnout in attendance. I want to begin by thanking our dealers and their families for attending and making our convention successful. I would also like to thank our sponsors and their families for participating and demonstrating their commitment and support to WV dealers. Our convention would not be possible without your attendance and support.

We had several special guests and informative speakers this year address our members on relevant industry topics as well as legislative issues. Congresswoman Carol Miller kicked off our Welcome Reception on Sunday night, along with Senate President Craig Blair and Speaker of the House of Delegates Roger Hanshaw. During our Block Party on Monday, we were fortunate to receive a visit from the Honorable Governor Justice.

While our convention was full of fun activities from Casino Night to our Golf and Clay Shoot Tournaments, to Wine and Design, and our final night Chairman’s Dinner, we also delved into multiple business sessions where we discussed the automotive world and how dealers are pivoting and adapting to the ever changing landscape. In addition, we held our annual Board Meeting where we welcomed three new faces to the Board: JR Toothman, Toothman Ford in Grafton, as the Secretary/Treasurer, Louis Thomas, Louis Thomas Subaru in Parkersburg, representing District 4, and Lee-Anne Cole Greene, Cole Chevrolet Buick GMC Cadillac of Bluefield, representing At-large. Those positions were previously held by Chris Miller, Paul Astorg and Matt Jenkins. On behalf of WVADA and its members, I greatly appreciate the participation of our past and current Board Members, your willingness to serve the WV dealer body is extremely important and does not go unnoticed.

Again, I truly appreciate all the support and attendance from our dealers, sponsors and their families. Our convention would not have been successful without each one of you. I look forward to welcoming everyone back next year at Nemacolin, be sure to mark your calendar June 12-15, 2022.

E-Titling

This past year has been extremely challenging to say the least, and WV dealers are continuing to overcome the difficulties that COVID-19 has caused. Over the last year, I have witnessed dealers throughout the state step up to the plate to adjust and adapt to a time where technology has become a key component in selling vehicles. As we move forward, we are currently in the process of switching over to Electronic Titling (E-titling). As with any change the initial transition may be difficult and take some getting use to. However, we are not reinventing the wheel with this concept, and we will be joining 36 other states that have already adopted e-titling methods.

To help prepare for this transition we have 10 pilot stores who are willing to test this new process. We recently had our first conference call with the pilot stores to discuss the new process and gathered feedback to address possible issues and challenges in implementing. The pilot stores will be pivotal in crafting a system that works for dealers and their customers. We will begin training in early October with the 10 pilot stores and will schedule seminars in six different locations throughout WV in early November for all other title clerks.