Michele Somich certainly made the most of her time with the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association in the Music City this week.

Somich, of The Car Store in Piney Flats, Tenn., received accolades from her dealer peers and won the Best Ideas Contest during the closing session of the NIADA BHPH Dealer Forum at the Loews Nashville.

NIADA recapped that Somich shared with dealers how her store increased sales and profits by offering liability insurance at the time of sale with micropayments. She won a free registration and hotel stay for next summer’s NIADA Convention and Expo from AutoZone.

“It’s been great for us. It’s helped us close more sales because the customer doesn’t have to leave the lot to get liability insurance,” Somich said.

Six other best ideas were presented during the closing session, including:

—Jenne Madrueno of BHFC Financial Services explained how they offer Amazon gift card giveaways to keep customer information updated.

—Thomas Rainey of Rainey Used Cars suggested a ride-along with the service writer.

—Jason Holmes of True Value Auto Sales spoke on using an AI tool for acquiring vehicles.

—Ben Brum of Carsmark described how they are waiving first payments as an incentive.

—Maria Pericaz of Express Auto Financial went through how they have created a local referral network.

—Keely Dishman of iGo presented how the dealership utilized a culture index.

The Best Ideas Contest wrapped up the event that brought BHPH dealers from across the nation to Nashville, Tenn., to collaborate and exchange ideas.

NIADA organized multiple dealer roundtables, matching operators of similar size and business models. Dealers spent three hours addressing a variety of issues, including employee management, inventory management, reconditioning, underwriting, insurance, collections, compliance, capital and customer retention.

NIADA said the dealers even came up with their own hot topics.

“It was a great group. We could’ve stayed in there another nine hours,” said Nathan Smith of Parker Auto Sales in Knoxville, Tenn., who was one of the dealer moderators.

Mike Clark, Jr., of Appearance Plus Auto in Pinellas Park, Fla., said every dealer in a roundtable contributed to conversations

“This is a great show. You get the chance to drill down on specific topics in BHPH and that really resonates with us,” Clark said. “I love the dealer interaction.”

NIADA highlighted nine education breakout sessions also provided dealers with the latest information on collections, underwriting and compliance from other dealers and industry experts.

The association mentioned additional dealer panels during the event reviewed solutions for service departments, how to utilize artificial intelligence and other ideas from 20 Groups.

“It’s affirming when you’re self-employed and you come to these conferences,” Somich said. “It really reinforces what the hot topics are when you hear from experts and get all the best practices as quickly as possible. You don’t have to learn everything from the school of hard knocks.”