The NADA Dealer Academy aims to train men and women, many of them sons and daughters of current dealership owners, in the profitable operation of a motor vehicle dealership in today’s economy. The Dealer Academy consists of the Dealer Candidate Academy (DCA) and the General Dealership Management (GDM) Program. Both year-long programs combine six weeks of formal classroom instruction at NADA’s McLean, Virginia headquarters with 45 weeks of work experience in the sponsoring dealership. Many Washington Area dealers are graduates of this valuable program.
DCA is designed for those who will one day become dealership owners and operators, whereas GDM develops qualified management people to assure the dealership’s growth and continuity. Students alternate classroom sessions and peer group discussions with work experience, acquiring both the knowledge they need and the opportunity to put it to practical use.
The school aims to broaden students’ understanding of how each department operates, so that they are able to analyze departmental profitability, develop workable operation plans for each department, and demonstrate the departments’ collective impact on the bottom line. The in-depth use of the financial statement and the various monthly departmental reports are used as key tools for constructive review of performance. The Academy provides an intensive introductory program on business uses of the personal computer, including the development of trend sheets that allow profit/loss comparisons and evaluation of managerial effectiveness. Students use their own dealerships for case study, thus applying their learning to their own dealerships. The Dealer Academy expands students’ knowledge of overall dealership operations and trains them to look at their own operations from a dealer/general manager perspective.
NADA’s school for successors continues to succeed, with about 75% of graduates serving as owners or managers of franchised new car and truck dealerships across the country.
For further information about the Academy, including specific curriculum, cost, and program dates, and to obtain an enrollment application, contact the NADA Dealer Academy at (703) 448-5825 or (800) 252-6232, ext. 5.
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