The inaugural Cox Automotive Training Fair, held March 18 at Manheim Pennsylvania, was designed to educate customers and share the benefits of each company, including Manheim, Autotrader, ExportTrader, Kelley Blue Book, NextGear Capital, Ready Auto Transport, and many more. The afternoon and evenings sessions, held in the sales lanes at Manheim Pennsylvania wholesale vehicle auction, were attended by over 220 Manheim Pennsylvania customers, who learned more about 14 companies from the Cox Automotive family and how these companies could help grow their business.

The afternoon and evenings sessions, held in the sales lanes at Manheim Pennsylvania wholesale vehicle auction, were attended by over 220 Manheim Pennsylvania customers, who learned more about 14 companies from the Cox Automotive family and how these companies could help grow their business.

“This truly was a unique opportunity to show our customers that Cox Automotive and Manheim truly are leaders in the automotive remarketing industry,” said Julie Picard, vice president and general manager of Manheim Pennsylvania. “It is so important for our customers to understand how our wide scope of products and services can help them buy and sell vehicles easier and drive their results. Some of our employees were fortunate enough to learn more about our sister companies during an event that was well-received by our employees and customers.” 

The Cox Automotive Training Fair, held in conjunction with the wholesale auction’s fourth-annual Xtreme Spring Event, featured a pair of convenient sessions for dealers from noon to 4 p.m., and 5-9 p.m. A separate morning session was held for Manheim Pennsylvania employees to give them the opportunity to learn more about the other Cox Automotive companies.

During the sessions, customers walked through the sales lanes and had the opportunity to attend any or all of the 30- to 45-minute classes led by facilitators from 14 Cox Automotive Companies. Among the groups was Manheim’s Wholesale Institute (TWI), a program designed to support dealer education and training with an overview of Manheim products and services.

While physically attending this free training was encouraged, around 100 participants took part by viewing the sessions online via Manheim.com in what was dubbed SIMUL-CLASS. The live sessions were streamed using Simulcast audio coupled with digital educational content were open to anyone in the retail and wholesale car business with log-in access to Manheim.com.

Manheim Pennsylvania designed the event as an extension of the NextGEN education series that began in 2013. The four-part NextGEN series, which wrapped up with the final session in February 2014, was an educational series developed by Manheim Pennsylvania to strengthen existing remarketing knowledge, and prepare the next generation of auto remarketing leaders. Participants in that series included family members of dealer principals, owners, and managers. Manheim Pennsylvania hosted four NextGEN series events, beginning in 2013.

The Cox Automotive Training Fair at Manheim Pennsylvania was created and developed with the idea that it will be shared with other operating locations.

“This was a very successful event,” Picard said. “We will take what we learned and make this into a great scalable and repeatable event that can be held anywhere.”

Other Cox Automotive companies participating included: DealShield, Go Auto Exchange, Go Financial, Haystack, HomeNet Automotive, VAuto, Vin Solutions, and Xtime.