Daryl K. Tabor
2012 Subprime Conference Offered Quality Education and Networking Opportunities
dealers who survived the worst of the Great Recession that ended in 2009 has shifted back from turning over rocks simply to find buyers and keep the doors open to beating the competition to a newfound bevy of eager car shoppers. Looking for that edge, dealers from coast to coast arrived in Las Vegas recently to hear expert insight into the recov- ering subprime auto finance arena that, in large part, is fueling the automotive market's resurgence.
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As part of the overall Industry Summit that included the sixth annual Subprime Conference and the first-ever CRM Convention—each sponsored by Auto Dealer Monthly—as well as the F&I; Conference, the early-September event seemed to provide many of the special finance and dealer- controlled finance operators present with the knowledge they needed to improve business. "On a [scale of] one to five, it was definitely a five," Patrick McNamar, president of Mad City Motors, a used car lot in Madison, Wisc., raved of the event. "It was a good experience."
ith the automotive industry continuing to gain strength for a third year after suffering through its bleakest period in a generation, the focus of
The three days of the Subprime Conference offered conference-goers two separate tracts of seminars—special fi- nancing and BHPH—covering everything from inventory to increasing oversight by the federal government. Almost as importantly, there were myriad opportunities for dealers to network with other industry professionals and explore the products of vendors in the exhibit hall.
Special Finance The convention could perhaps have not come at a better time for dealers and finance companies emerging from the recession that began in 2007. Americans are chomping at the bit to trade vehicles after having held onto to their cars longer than at any point in history; an average of six years, according R.L. Polk and Co., an automotive research firm. Despite a collective decline in individual borrowing power, capital is beginning to again flow as tight-fisted financial institutions start to ease their grip, and special finance is leading the way in handing a new set of keys to the growing number of anxious shoppers.
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