In just a few weeks, ASA's Mechanical Division will host the annual Congress of Automotive Repair and Service (CARS). The convention will take place Nov. 2-4 at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas.

If you have a mechanical shop, I strongly encourage you to sign up for CARS. The Mechanical Division Operations Committee, chaired by Bill Filley, has done a great job putting together a superior program.

The technical training has increasingly become the strength of CARS. This year there will be eight technical courses taught by some of the best instructors in the nation. Nowhere else can you find so many quality courses at one single event.

Technical training holds the solution to many of the problems we're facing in our industry. How many times have you said or heard how hard it is to find good techs? It's our collective responsibility to do something to correct this problem. I am accepting this responsibility by sending a tech to CARS. I challenge you to do the same.

I challenge you to invest in your employees, your business and the industry by enrolling a tech in CARS. To make it easy for you to accept this challenge, the tech registration fee is discounted and very affordable. You can get the details by calling the ASA Meetings Department at (800) 272-7467, ext. 241.

I know that old excuse about not sending techs to training because they may take their new knowledge and skills to a competitor down the road. Which is worse, a tech who receives some training and leaves or a tech who does not receive training and stays?

In addition to the technical training, there will also be three Automotive Management Institute (AMI) seminars. As you can tell from the comments above, I'm passionate about the technical training at CARS. I'm just as passionate about management training offered through AMI.

When I opened my shop several years ago, I was a pretty good technician. But I soon discovered the hard way that I wasn't a businessman. It was the education I received from AMI that taught me how to run the shop and kept me from going out of business.

We won't be spending all our time at CARS in the classroom. During the show, there will be an ongoing “baseball” game with teams taking part in friendly competition to earn a spot in the CARS World Series.

I've only touched on the highlights of the show. Much more will be going on during those three days. If your business is fixing automobiles, CARS could be the most profitable three days you'll ever spend in Vegas. I'm looking forward to seeing you — and your technicians — at CARS.

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