Dealers Urged to Take Advantage of

WANADA’s New “Mix & Match” Tech Training

It’s Not Just for Beginners!

With school out, there tends to be an emphasis on getting fresh, high school graduates into WANADA’s apprenticeship technician training program. But the association wants to remind dealers that, besides our basic training program for beginners, our new modular training approach also offers “mix and match” training for established technicians already working in the service department.
Under this new type of training, a person working in the dealership, who has passed some ASE tests, but needs further training in other ASE Certification areas, can come to classes and be seamlessly integrated into the program for that specific training alone. Dealers can send established techs to our program for one, two or all of the ASE Certification modules, including: brakes, suspension and steering, electrical and electronics, heating and air conditioning, engine repair, engine performance, and automatic & manual drive train.

Presented at this spring’s tech training meeting, the newly formed Automotive Dealer Education Institute (ADEI) offers greater flexibility to all dealers who wish to develop and train the next generation of technicians. ADEI is an outgrowth of the Strategic Leadership Group, formed last September and is made up of service managers, educators and WANADA’s tech team to oversee the program at Montgomery College and suggest changes in the WANADA tech training program to meet the needs of all dealerships of all nameplates.

In addition to ASE NATEF approval, manufacturer training requirements specific to the products that all WANADA dealers sell is built into the program, as well as provisions for candidates from other fields who show technical aptitude and who need to earn money while changing careers or learning new skills.
“With all that in mind, the team felt that a modular approach would make the most sense, because what our dealers really needed was a more flexible mix-and-match program,” said ADEI Chairman Harold Redden of Fitzgerald Auto Malls.

For more information on the WANADA Technician Training Program, or to sign up to sponsor a student, contact Archie Avedisian or Bill Belew at WANADA, (202) 237-7200.