Auction Academy recently announced that its fifth class group has completed its first two sessions of the year, following two days of training, a seminar on selling vehicles online, and two field trips,

The continuing education program for auto auction industry professionals welcomed its newest class group for its first day of training on April 6 in Nashville, Tenn.

The two-day training included an opening by industry icon, Tony Moorby who provided background on the automotive industry and an account of his own career, as well as  presentations by Black Book’s Anil Goyal about the economics of depreciation and Pierre Pons, who delivered an overview of the current auto auction landscape.

Some members of the class arrived early for a pre-session field trip to the Nissan Manufacturing Plant in Smyrna, Tenn. 

“Class 5 Group was fantastic. They asked great questions throughout the Session and quickly became engaged in all aspects. The post-session reviews were equally strong with the best marks going to the Nissan Plant Tour, the time spent at Manheim Nashville and Kay Hudson’s presentation on employment practices,” Auction Academy president Penny Wanna said.

When the class visited Manheim Nashville, general manager Sam Chaple and his team shared their views on how to make dealers feel welcome even in a very large facility. Following the tour, Jeremy Robb of Nissan, Kay Hudson of Capital Automotive Reconditioning gave presentations on human resources and employment practices essentials.

Auction industry digital and Internet managers of the class met in Franklin, Tenn., to attend the Academy’s Digital Managers’ Seminar.

 “This is the fourth year in a row that Auction Academy has held a session focused exclusively on selling vehicles on the Internet,” Wanna said. “Each year we look to enhance the program, and the initial reviews from participants indicate that we succeeded, with many saying that this year’s session was the best to date.”

The managers heard presentations and participated in discussions with Michael Daseke of Liquid Motors, Brent Ramels of SmartAuction, Peter Lavallee of OVE, Dan Diedrich of Auction Edge, and Joe Miller and Mike Broe of AutoIMS.

Additionally, Keith Fetz of Clark County Auto Auction and Tad Swift of Winchester Auto Auction discussed techniques for selling vehicles online. Nick Pirovolids of BSC America’s Bel Air Auto Auction led a talk about using social media as a marketing tool at the auction. The next seminar series session scheduled for June 12 and June 13 will cover auction operations.

“The operations session will be followed closely in July by our first ever Leadership Seminar in Nashville, led by four of the top trainers in the country,” Wanna added.

Auction Academy said its fith class will also travel to Spokane, Wash. in July for a session hosted by DAA Northwest’s Bob McConkey and his team.