Stacy Ward, Editor in Chief stacy@feda.com


LAST MAY, THE GREATER MEMPHIS AUTO DEALERS ASSOCIATION BROKE GROUND ON THE FIRST-OF-ITS KIND AUTOMOTIVE TECH SCHOOL IN MEMPHIS BECAUSE NEARBY TECHNICAL SCHOOLS WERE NOT TEACHING PROSPECTIVE TECHS THE SKILLS REQUIRED TO SERVICE A MODERN DEALERSHIP.


The Greater Memphis Auto Dealers Association’s (GMADA) membership is reflective of the change du- plicated in many industries. Thanks to a massive wave of consolidation, public entities own seven of the 54 dealers that make up its membership, and 20 entrepre- neurs own the rest. The call for more technology and innovation—on both the product and operations side— is dictating what’s required for future profitability and success while veteran service technicians are aging out of the industry faster than local dealers can recruit, train and retain new talent.


To fill the void, GMADA auto dealers will need about 200 readymade techs, according to feedback from members surveyed about the number of vacancies in their dealerships. Yes, the findings were alarming but not a complete surprise, considering the chronic short- age of service techs throughout the country, says Kent Ritchey, the association’s president as well as the pres- ident of Landers Auto Group, which operates six fran- chised dealerships in Mississippi and Tennessee. “Even though we knew this would eventually be an issue, we didn’t have the collective political will to do anything


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