The New England Tire and Service Association (NETSA) brought together a crowd of about 700 attendees and vendors for the group’s 2023 trade show and convention.
Executive Director Tony DeSimone said morning seminars were filled to the brim with people standing, and technical talks with live demonstrations of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) calibrations by Hunter Engineering Co. and Advance Auto Parts were both well received.
DeSimone said this year, rather than talking about ADAS and using videos or a slideshow, the technicians from Hunter and Advance both led the sessions while doing the calibrations on a vehicle parked in the expo hall, and their work was shown live on a large screen.
“Each had a car there and could show that on a 12-foot screen,” DeSimone said. “That turned out to work really well.”
And, it allowed tire dealers to go back to those companies for one-on-one discussions and demonstrations related to the demands of ADAS service, DeSimone said.
Jason Abrahams, founder and CEO of TireTutor, talked about tire pricing, online sales and how to compete with large online retailers and mass merchandisers, and Shivahn Fitzell talked about the future of tire sensors in her keynote address. Fitzell is from Performance Sensata Automotive Division.
Two new members were inducted into the NETSA Hall of Fame: Jim Melvin Jr., from Melvin’s Tire Pros, which was acquired by Mavis Tire Express Services Corp. in 2022, and Brian McGeoghegan, the former owner of Mohawk Rubber Sales of New England Inc., which was bought by Myers Tire Supply last year.
During the event NETSA unveiled its updated website and logo, and the group also raised more than $12,000 for scholarships during its annual auction.
DeSimone said while the official headcount is still being finalized, the crowd was “close to pre-Covid kind of days. That was our goal — to slowly but surely get back to where we used to be.”
