On behalf of WANADA’s board of directors, executives and staff, thank you for your membership in our association. WANADA is a proud group with a long history whose membership includes some of the most influential dealers in the country, serving the nation’s most influential populace. The DC region is the 6th largest combined metro statistical area (MSA) in the United States, with the wealthiest and most educated consumers found anywhere. As a matter of fact, if you look up a list of the wealthiest counties by median income, five of the top seven are right here in the DC region.
For these reasons, it is critical that we be on the cutting edge of customer service, technological advancement and shifting political realities. Being active in WANADA provides each of us the information, resources and communication necessary to thrive amid such a dynamic landscape.
If you are struggling with filling your service department with qualified technicians, WANADA has a solution for that. If you need additional training for your service advisors, WANADA can help with that. If you wish there was better coordination between your inventory security and local law enforcement, WANADA has the relationships to assist with that.
Furthermore, supporting WANADA is a way to “pay yourself” for many of the services your business requires anyhow. All of us dealers need an employee benefits program. By purchasing your employee benefits through WANADA, the commissions are funding services that benefit you rather than lining someone else’s pockets. Additionally, we all need robust marketing strategies to compete effectively and the Washington, DC Auto Show is the only venue where our potential customers actually pay to come view our products. For these reasons and more, supporting WANADA’s benefits program and the auto show are easy and sensible ways that our mutual support makes each of us stronger as a result.
In addition to providing a useful guide to our fellow dealers, this directory also includes the “kindred-line” members that provide other essential goods and services we all rely upon. When the time comes for you to explore different options or new vendors, this Directory is a great place to start. I trust you will find it useful and hope you will benefit from your continued participation in all that we do. As always, it is my honor to serve as your chairman.
Sincerely,
Chip Doetsch
Chip Doetsch
Chairman
This past year has been one of the most challenging in modern history, with an unprecedented health crisis and economic uncertainty affecting everyone in ways nobody could have envisioned just 12 months ago.
While this time has created new challenges in all facets of our lives, WANADA continues to stand with the franchised auto dealers and Kindred-Line members who form the organization’s membership, just as we have for over 100 years.
In the early days of the pandemic, WANADA was able to provide continuity of service even while all of the staff was suddenly forced to work remotely. The organization helped our members understand how to keep their employees safe, and how to help wade through the sudden and drastic economic changes happening right under all of our feet.
From sourcing protective equipment, to securing federal, state, and local grant funds to help make it through the worst days of the crisis, we at WANADA have been proud to serve as a resource for our members in these times of immense need. We also accelerated some planned upgrades to our information technology system, and did so while most of the office was working remotely. These upgrades have made it easier for staff to work anywhere, while also providing members with more robust resources at a time when they are extremely valuable.
Our franchised auto dealers were able to continue providing the essential transportation services that area residents needed, even during the stay-at-home period in the early spring. Our dealers figured out quickly how to safely and efficiently provide essential services while facing both a sudden health crisis and an inventory crunch, as supply chains and plants shut down nearly overnight.
With that in mind, we want to thank the state and local leaders across the region, who accurately recognized that personal transportation, and servicing of those vehicles, remained vital during the crisis. In many ways, those services have become more important than ever.
WANADA member dealers have been through many crises in the past century – from wars, recessions, foreign and domestic turbulence, and much more. Even during this particularly scary time, our members have continued providing the reliable, responsive service that the North American franchise dealer model makes possible. Non-franchise markets globally can’t compare to this system, and 2020 reaffirmed the importance of centering local, franchised dealers at the center of automotive retail.
Before the pandemic hit, we were fortunate enough to have a successful 2020 Washington, D.C. Auto Show, which was one of our best years ever. Attendance was near an all-time high, as area residents flocked to the Washington Convention Center to see more than 600 new vehicles – including an ever-growing array of alternative fuel and advanced technology models. This market is vital for automakers who are trying to expand their electric and inter-connected vehicle lines, and we look forward to remaining a showcase for them for many years to come.
In 2021, as we hope to come out of this crisis, welcome in new leadership at the federal level, and brace for new challenges and opportunities in our state and local advocacy efforts, we will continue to need your support.
In the past year, WANADA and our advocacy partners helped secure a raise in Maryland’s dealer processing charge, reduced certain titling fees in Virginia, and defeated a proposed digital advertising tax in the District of Columbia. We have also advocated against local budget cuts that threaten the stability of the Montgomery County Police Department’s auto theft task force.
As I have noted in past years, WANADA members are some of the region’s largest providers of middle-class white- and blue-collar jobs, and we are honored to work on your behalf. Thank you for entrusting us with this great honor.
More than ever before, I speak for everyone at WANADA when I say how grateful we are for your trust and support. To all of you and your employees, and your families and theirs, thank you for everything you do for this region – in good times and bad. Stay safe, be well, and I look forward to seeing you again soon.
Sincerely,
John O’Donnell
President & CEO
