NADA Convention and Exposition

New Jersey’s Rick DeSilva Jr. is 2021 TIME Dealer of the Year.

Incoming NADA Chairman Paul Walser talks with Wards about handling COVID, improving dealer diversity, recasting incentives, NADA’s virtual Conference & Expo Feb. 9-11 and the auto industry’s need to view the world through consumers’ eyes.

“No playbook was ever written for 2020,” says Rhett Ricart, outgoing NADA chairman. “No one could have envisioned the strongest disrupter ever: COVID.”

“You have to realize you are representing 17,000 dealers, and your view on a particular topic is not necessarily NADA’s,” says Wes Lutz, the trade group’s 2018 chairman.

“Dealers are always looking for something they can buy and profitably bring it back to the dealership, but that process has got to be efficient,” says Brad Kokesh, general manager of software provider DealerSocket.

The company has 20,000 dealers enrolled on its credit application processing platform, including 9,000 participating in its eContracting service.

In his inaugural convention speech, Rhett Ricart says dealers “thrive on disruption.”