MT. ARLINGTON, NEW JERSEY— The first courses of the International Automotive Remarketers Alliance (IARA) Certified Automotive Remarketer (CAR) Program will be available the first week of June. “These courses represent the culmination of many months of work by dedicated industry volunteers seeking to provide the industry’s premier educational and certification program”, said IARA President Steve Houston, National VP, Wachovia Dealer Services.

According to Matt Marks, IARA executive director, the first set of courses concentrate on the four primary channels of remarketing; Physical Auctions; Online Auctions; Sales to Auto Dealerships; and Sales to Drivers/Lessees/Employees. A remarketing terminology course will also be included with the first set.

“IARA board members have agreed to participate in the certification program, including Steve Houston, Layne Weber, Mike Antich, and regular IARA members Jill Tarallo and Ricky Beggs.” said Marks. “In addition, Jay Hinchman, Bob Graham, and Jim Chapman also indicated to me that other members of their organizations will sign up for the courses and testing."

All 29 Car Program courses are now in final stages of the review process and will become available, in the coming weeks, said Marks. A summary description of the courses and the Certification Program can be viewed by logging onto the IARA Web site at www.iaraonline.org.

The courses will be available for education purposes only, without testing, or as part of the CAR Certification Program with scheduled onsite testing sessions for each course. When courses are released, a separate application for the CAR Certification Program can be found on the IARA Web site. The first testing session will be held, July 26 after the IARA Summer Roundtable meeting in Cincinnati.

The course fee is $50 each for IARA members and $100 each for nonmembers. A fee of $195 will apply for each test session. Fees for the July 26 certification testing session will be waived for Summer Roundtable attendees.

More information is available at www.iaraonline.org or email Marks at matthew@iaraonline.org, or call the IARA at (973) 398-2774.