Member Corner – Thanks for Your Membership and Support From CAWA
“One might ask “why would a small company in the Northeast be an active member of CAWA?” Fair question. The short answer is in the tag line “CAWA, Representing the Automotive Parts Industry”. It TRULY is what they do. Now for the longer answer. It is widely known that fashion trends start on the west coast and then make their way eastward. Unfortunately, it is often missed that legislative trends, both good and bad start in the west and can gravitate eastward, and make it up to the Federal level. CAWA is the industry’s first line of defense when it comes to legislation coming out of the west coast. They have a very active legislative team that monitors all action in the legislature of the western states and works to promote the good and mitigate or derail those that can have negative impact for our industry. That in itself is a very compelling reason to join and be active in CAWA, but there is more. CAWA members encompass all levels of the automotive aftermarket; WD’s, Retailers, Program Distribution Groups, Importer Distributors, Rep Agencies, Manufacturers, Automotive Educators, E-tailers… This is NOT a stagnant organization. As the dynamics of our industry evolve, so does CAWA. The commonality is that we earn our living in the Automotive Parts Industry, and we want to continue to survive and thrive into the future. And theme of survive and thrive, CAWA works to support and bring young talent into our industry, providing annual scholarships to those pursuing education in our industry as well as educators in the field. Recognizing the importance of youth in our industry, CAWA events are always open and actively attended by members YANG, (Young Auto Care Network Group). Sorry… not done yet. Education… bi-annual education forums with presentations from experts in various facets of the industry to share trends, and help navigate the headwinds we often face. The MAC, (Manufactures Advisory Council). It doesn’t matter if you are a small company or part of a billion dollar entity, some aspect of the challenges we face are the same. When the MAC gets together it is an open sharing forum. We are in this together. There are always great takeaways. Yes, there’s more, but now it’s up to you. Take a few minutes to navigate www.cawa.org to dive deeper into how a CAWA membership can help you and your company.”

~Michael Antonelli, IQ Integrated Quality, Inc.