A New Beginning...
NORTHEAST 2009
March 20, 21, 22, 2009

Meadowlands Exposition Center
355 Plaza Drive
Secaucus, NJ 07094
www.mecexpo.com ~ 201.330.7773

click and watch flash movie

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Mitchell, Collision Services Among Vendors Signed for AASP/NJ’s NORTHEAST 2009 Show at the Meadowlands

       The Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of New Jersey (AASP/NJ), the state’s largest association of collision and mechanical repairers, is proud to announce that Mitchell International, Collision Services, Wheel Collision Center and Hella Inc., have signed on to exhibit at NORTHEAST 2009 at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, NJ. NORTHEAST 2009 will take place March 20-22, 2009.
      These initial signings are the first of a projected 200 vendors looking to reach the biggest NORTHEAST audience ever. “We are excited to have these great supporters of our industry on board this early.” AASP/NJ President Tom Elder says. “A commitment to AASP/NJ’s NORTHEAST 2009 show is a commitment to our industry. We support those who support us. That’s sort of a commandment in our industry. Companies like Mitchell, Collision Services, Wheel Collision Center and Hella are dedicated to serving and making our industry grow during a very hard economic time. We greatly appreciate their support and will do everything we can to promote their allegiance to our industry.”
      Since AASP/NJ announced the NORTHEAST move to the Meadowlands, the overwhelming response has been “incredibly positive,” according to Elder. “The daily reports we are getting from the MEC are very encouraging. Vendors are excited again. Most are looking forward to not only the venue change, but also all of the great things that the Meadowlands and its surrounding areas offer.”
      Find out all about AASP/NJ’s NORTHEAST 2009 show at the Meadowlands at www.aaspnjnortheast.com.

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AASP/NJ Unveils State-of-the-Art NORTHEAST 2009 Trade Show Website:
 www.aaspnjnortheast.com

 
     The Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of New Jersey (AASP/NJ), the state’s largest association of collision and mechanical repairers, has unveiled a state-of-the-art website for their flagship event, the NORTHEAST 2009 trade show at the Meadowlands Exposition Center (MEC). The OFFICIAL NORTHEAST 2009 site is www.aaspnjnortheast.com. NORTHEAST 2009 will take place March 20-22, 2009 at the MEC in Secaucus, NJ.
      “Wow!” AASP/NJ President Tom Elder said as he first viewed the site. “This is an amazing representation of the NORTHEAST show. For the first time in 32 years, we can say the show has a 21st century online presence. This forward-thinking type of site is what AASP/NJ has been attempting to get from our show producers for the last decade. Although it took some serious changes to get to where we wanted to go, I think one look at the website justifies everything. We are proud to be represented by www.aaspnjnortheast.com.”
      The new site is full of information about the NORTHEAST show and AASP/NJ, sponsors of the event for the last 32 years. An integral part of the site is the interactive floor plan, which allows vendors to see which booths have been booked and which locations best serve their needs. Also included is AASP/NJ’s advanced NORTHEAST marketing plan that was developed to entice the over 75, 000 automotive repair shops in the NORTHEAST to attend the Meadowlands show.
      Elder took time to highlight the site’s Area Attractions section. “This button really shows you why we moved the show to the Meadowlands,” he noted. “It shows the immediate property and surrounding areas of the location that makes it a must-see show for anyone in the automotive repair industry.” The section also features links to nearby attractions such as the Meadowlands Sports Complex, New York City, Broadway and the spectacular new theme park, Xanadu.
“Our priority in moving to the Meadowlands was to attract as many automotive professionals as we could to a place where they would want to go, where there are so many advantages that it would be a mistake to go anywhere else,” Elder continues. “One visit to the site and you’ll see we are on our way to accomplishing that.”
      Perhaps the most interesting part of the site is the AASP/NJ History section. The section includes a 32-year timeline of the NORTHEAST show as well as an exclusive slideshow taking you on a tour from the very first show in 1978 through NORTHEAST 2008. “For me, that is the most fun,” says Elder. “It’s very humbling to see how the show evolved over three decades; to see such pioneers as [AASP/NJ and NORTHEAST show founder] George Threlfall. To think that we are continuing a legacy that was built over three decades ago can be a bit overwhelming. However, we are confident this year’s show will not only live up to that legacy, but also honor it as well.”

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AASP/NJ Explains Move to Meadowlands, Split with Rockland Expositions

      The Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of New Jersey (AASP/NJ) announced late last month that they would be moving their 32nd annual NORTHEAST Automotive Trade Show to the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, NJ. Recently, AASP/NJ President Tom Elder explained the move and the high expectations AASP/NJ has for the 2009 show.

Q: AASP/NJ has held its NORTHEAST show in Suffern, New York for almost two decades. Why change now?

Tom Elder: First let me give you some background on the show. We first ran the event in the mid-‘70s as a tabletop show for a few of our vendors. One of the Association’s founding fathers, George Threlfall, put the whole thing together and it took off immediately. Within a few years, the show had grown so much that we moved to the much bigger Hilton in Secaucus and then the Sheraton in the Meadowlands.

Q: Why did you move to Suffern?

TE: By that time, around 1990, we had outgrown the Sheraton and we began looking for a bigger facility. Back then, the exposition center industry was just beginning so we really didn’t have anywhere to go without traveling a great distance. We met up with Rockland Expositions and Dave McCarey. He brought us to the Suffern Arena and it was certainly big enough. We just didn’t know if our attendees would travel to a facility that far away. So we hired Rockland Expositions to manage the show for us.

Q: Obviously with the success of the show, you were able to get attendees to travel.

TE: Initially it was tough, but through AASP/NJ’s persistence, we were able to get automotive professionals to come up and check out the show. The first year in Suffern, I believe we only had about 10 more vendors, so we were concerned at the beginning. But after a few years, the show took off. It became the East Coast focus for the collision and mechanical repair industry.

Q: So why the move back to New Jersey?

TE: Over the last four or five years, we have seen a drop in attendance and in booth sales. We spent countless hours looking for solutions and coming up with new ideas to turn that around. An example of that was giving away a Harley, which we did the last two years. In spite of the buzz that the Harley generated, growth didn’t happen. This year’s attendance was below expectations. Last year, we did a CSI of vendors who had stopped coming to the show and the top two reasons they gave for dropping out were attendance and location. They felt Suffern was too remote.

Q: Did the relationship with Rockland Expositions change?

TE: As I said, we had a great run with Rockland and Dave McCarey. But last year we sat down with them and requested a new marketing strategy. Since they were the managers of the show, and they controlled the marketing and the sales, we wanted some new ideas from them on how to improve attendance.

Q: Did Rockland come up with anything?

TE: They made some minor changes but it was the same venue with basically the same approach. The poor result is unacceptable to AASP/NJ and our vendors. It was time to move on.

Q: How did you decide on the Meadowlands?

TE: We looked around and met with a few different exposition centers and what we found was that things had changed dramatically since we had moved to Suffern. First of all, due to the competition among the exposition center industry, prices had come down and the labor costs were nowhere near what we had heard they’d be. Once we met with the Meadowlands and saw their state-of-the-art facility and location, we were very interested. We attended a few shows at the site and came away extremely impressed. Everything about the location was a positive. Parking surrounds the facility. Five hotels are within walking distance. Restaurants, shops and bars are everywhere. They have the racetrack and the arena. A new state-of-the-art theme park, Xanadu, will be opening a few months prior to our show. And it’s five miles from the heart of New York City. There are so many attractive things about the location; we felt it would be foolish not to.

Q: What about attendees?

TE: We contacted a mailing house to find out how many shops were within a 30-mile area of both the Meadowlands and Suffern. They reported there are approximately 1,200 shops within a 30-mile radius of Suffern. There are almost 10,000 shops within the same distance to the Meadowlands! That’s not even including all of Central and South Jersey, areas in which shops have told us Suffern was just too far. Nor does it include the thousands of shops in the boroughs of New York or shops in Massachusetts, New York State, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and other states up and down the East Coast. At the Meadowlands, access is simple from everywhere in the country. It is five miles from Newark Airport; Interstate 95 runs right past it and every major highway in the state will bring you there. We are going to make NORTHEAST 2009 a must-see show. We expect to triple our attendees from Suffern.

Q: How are you going to market all of these improvements?

TE: We have two great resources to market our show. First, we have hired SGW Marketing to put together a comprehensive marketing plan that will target attendees from the entire Northeast region. SGW’s clients include Sony, JVC and New Jersey Travel and Tourism, so we know we have taken a dramatic leap upward in our marketing strategy. We will have a new website, electronic marketing, press releases, online space booking and online promotion; these are things we fought for years for but were never able to get from Rockland Expositions.  We also have Greco Publishing, publishers of automotive trade publications throughout the Northeast. They will be making a concentrated effort to promote and feature NORTHEAST 2009 and its vendors in such publications as New Jersey Automotive, New England Automotive Report and Hammer & Dolly throughout the next 12 months.

Q: What about the rumors of a competing show at the same time?

TE: I’d like to clear this up once and for all. AASP/NJ is a non-profit association that is made up of over 450 automotive professionals. AASP/NJ’s NORTHEAST Automotive Trade Show is the only show with a 32-year history of strong industry sponsorship and support. All of the profits go right back into improving and educating our industry, helping our members become better and successful businesspeople. It allows the Association to hire lobbyists to fight for our rights as an industry. It allows us to hold meetings to inform and educate our industry. It allows our industry to have a strong voice; not only in Trenton but also across the country. I don’t know of any vendor who would rather support an independent company instead of an association who fights for and represents the industry purchasing their products. AASP/NJ has been giving back to the industry through the NORTHEAST show for 32 years. Vendors know and support the Association and the goodwill they generate by participating with our members and the industry. The only place to exhibit to reach industry professionals continues to be at the 32nd annual NORTHEAST Automotive Trade Show. 

     

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4th ANNUAL AASP/NJ LOU SCORAS MEMORIAL GOLF OUTING
 
Championship Private Course Lincroft, New Jersey 
  MONDAY - MAY 5, 2008 
Online Regisration    Printable Registration

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ATTENTION ALL AASP/NJ COLLISION MEMBERS”

No More Unjustified Paint and Material Caps
and
No More Unjustified Formulas of a Dollar Figure Per Paint Hour That Results In Repair Estimates That Do Not Reflect The Actual Cost Of Paint And/Or Materials!

On October 25, 2007 the NJ Department of Banking and Insurance issued Bulletin No. 07-20 that mandates that insurers in New Jersey provide allowances that are sufficient to restore damaged vehicles to their pre-accident condition and encourages insurers to use paint and materials cost calculator manuals and programs available in the industry to determine allowances to achieve compliance with the provisions of the bulletin.

We are presently aware of three paint and material cost calculators that are available upon request. Those are the Mitchell RMC (Refinishing Material Calculator), PaintEx (Cost Accounting & Invoicing System - Detailed Body and Paint Materials) and PMCLogic.

To obtain the Mitchell RMC Program, contact Mr. Al Sank at 908-391-8812.

To obtain the PaintEx Program, contact Mr. Bob Clem at 760-489-6600.

To obtain PMCLogic, contact Mr. Kerry Friar at 478- 474-5593 Ext. 243.

or

Your Membership Dollars Working for you!


  
The 2007 - 2009 AASP/NJ Executive Board
(L-R):
Keith Krehel (Mechanical Co-Chairman), Tom Hennessy (Mechanical Co-Chairman), Charles Bryant (Executive Director), Ron Kromer (Secretary), Tom Elder (President), Jeff McDowell (Treasurer) and Anthony Trama (Collision Chairman).

In his opening address, AASP/NJ President Tom Elder provided all attendees a progress report of the industry, marking current and future endeavors of AASP/NJ and other industry organizations while encouraging participation across the board. “Much of our success as an association and an industry is due to the tireless efforts of our many members,” said Elder, “and I urge all members to keep up the good work and continue to be proactive.” Executive Director Charles Bryant affirmed the statement, and reminded members to take advantage of the many benefits offered by AASP/NJ. “Access to our labor pool, equipment exchange, any one of our many member benefits and the ability to get assistance on any problems you may have come built-in with your membership to AASP/NJ,” he explained. “I encourage you to get the most out of your membership; let our association help your business.”

A multitude of speakers were on hand to provide valuable insight during the meeting, including New York’s Greg Coccaro (who is in the midst of a $40 million steering lawsuit against Progressive), representatives from the Auto Body Association of Connecticut (who are currently part of a class action suit against Progressive), Sandy Bass-Cors from the Coaltion for Auto Repair Equality (C.A.R.E.) and Erica Eversman of Vehicle Information Services. Bass-Cors provided attendees with a detailed perspective on the progression and importance of passage of Right to Repair legislation, while Eversman presented numerous current and future legislative initiatives around the industry.

The evening concluded with an election of the 2007-2009 Executive AASP/NJ Board. President Tom Elder and Treasurer Jeff McDowell were appointed to maintain their current positions for another two years. Anthony Trama of Bloomfield Auto Body was appointed to Collision Division Chairman, while Keith Krehel and Tom Hennessey of Krehel Auto Repair and Cokesbury Transmission (respectively) will be co-chairmen of the Mechanical Division. Ron Kromer of Ultimate Collision was also elected as board secretary.

“As usual, there was something for everyone at this year’s annual meeting,” says Elder. “I think everybody had a great night, and more importantly, they learned something at the same time. I want to extend thanks to everyone who helped orchestrate this year’s meeting, as well as all who attended. I hope to see you all next year.”