Used Car News is sponsoring a special dealer seminar track at the upcoming Conference of Automotive Remarketing (CAR 2003), the nation’s premier automotive remarketing conference, to be held Feb. 23-25, 2003 at the Las Vegas Hilton in Las Vegas.

In its alliance with Bobit Publishing, which produces the CAR conference, Used Car News is creating the first-ever seminar track specifically designed to meet the remarketing needs of franchised and independent dealers. This seminar track will include sessions on how to strengthen a dealership’s used-vehicle department and a discussion of alternate forms of financing options available to franchised and independent dealers. In addition, a special bonus presentation on a forecast of used-vehicle market conditions and the results of a study on dealer customer satisfaction with auctions will be given by Tom Kontos, vice president of ADESA, a nationwide auction chain.

The panel discussion on "Alternate Financing for Used Car Dealers" will feature five automotive finance experts, each representing a specific area of financing. The panelists are: Dwight Cope, president, Western Funding; Tarry Shebesta, president, Automobile Consumer Services; Steve Hall, president, Easterns Automotive Group; and Gary Sneed, director of marketing, Dealer Retail Lending, Bank One. Nick Stanutz, executive vice president of the Dealer Sales Group, Huntington National Bank and president of the Automotive Finance Committee of the Consumer Bankers Association, will moderate the discussion.

The third session will be moderated by Tim Deese, president of Progressive Basics, one of the nation’s top dealer trainers, who has organized a panel discussion on how a dealership can strengthen its used-vehicle department. Panelists include Howard Hakes, vice president of the Hitchcock Automotive Group in Los Angeles; John Holtz, owner of Holtz House of Vehicles in Rochester, NY; Bobby Thigpen, owner of Lloyd Buick Cadillac in Daytona Beach, FL; and Frank Greene, owner of Quality Ford in Des Moines, IA. Progressive Basics, which was founded by Deese, has been in the dealer training business for the past 19 years. The company trains dealership personnel on professional used-vehicle management techniques for trading, purchasing, reconditioning, and retailing used vehicles. In the past 19 years, Progressive Basics has worked with over 25,000 dealers and managers worldwide.

One of the two keynote speakers at CAR 2003 will be Charley Smith, the incoming president pro tem of the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), who will speak on “What Dealers Want from Auctions.” The other keynoter will be General Motors’ John Smith, recently appointed group vice president for vehicle sales, service, and marketing. All General Motors remarketing functions report to him. Smith’s keynote address will be on the future of certified used-vehicle sales. This will be the first time that Smith has addressed the remarketing industry in his new position.

For a complete list of CAR 2003 educational sessions and speakers, visit www.bobitexpos.com/car.