Change intended to solidify industry recognition and maintain group’s relationship with regional dealers’ associations
Something old is new again.
The Equipment Dealers Association, which represents more than 4,000 dealers, plans to return to its roots by again operating as the North American Equipment Dealers Association.
Officials say the change will solidify industry recognition and maintain the group’s relationship with regional dealers’ associations across the continent.
The joint boards of the EDA — the Midwest-Southeastern Equipment Dealers Association, the United Equipment Dealers Association and the Western Equipment Dealers Association, recently voted to consolidate.
“For the first time in 121 years of history of our equipment dealer associations in North America, we have the national and regional associations coming together under one organization, under one structure,” said John Schmeiser, chief executive officer for the Western Equipment Dealers Association (WEDA).
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A vote by dealer members of each association is required and expected to be completed this spring. That would make the consolidation effective by July, according to a recent statement announcing the name change.
The new structure will be known as NAEDA Canada and NEADA US, with one common board of directors.
Returning to its original name will strengthen the relationship with dealers, said Schmeiser.
“The dealers that were on the long-range planning group, looking at the future of associations, ultimately decided that that was the wrong move changing the name (NAEDA to EDA) and that we had lost decades of brand value by making that name change,” he said.
“Since we were going through this restructuring plan now, it made perfect sense to return to the name that pretty much every dealer across North America identifies with the national association and that’s the North American Equipment Dealers Association.”
Schmeiser said equipment dealer associations date back to the first one formed in Kansas in 1889. By 1900, several regional state associations in the United States had formed, which created the North American Equipment Dealers Association. It represented their interests in Washington D.C. and led a co-ordinated manufacturer relations effort.
In Canada, the first equipment dealer association was set up in Manitoba in 1927, followed by Alberta in 1943, Saskatchewan in 1944 and Ontario in 1945. A series of provincial association consolidations followed, which were granted full voting status in NAEDA in 1986.
The Canada Western Equipment Dealers’ Association was officially formed in 1990.
In 2015, NAEDA changed its name to the Equipment Dealers Association. Dealer consolidation later led to consideration of a return to the original name in 2018 under the leadership of Tom Rosztoczy, chair of the EDA long-term planning group.
“Our four boards of directors have acknowledged that the dealership network has evolved over the past number of years, and the service level that they require from their association has changed,” Rosztoczy said.
Schmeiser said dealer associations haven’t consolidated at the same rate as dealers and there were questions about whether the national association was fulfilling its mission to represent dealers on manufacturer relations and government affairs.
“The priorities were always government affairs and manufacturer relations, but should dealer associations be doing more?
“It was acknowledged that because we’ve changed from an environment where farm equipment dealerships 20 to 30 years ago were pretty much single store operations, maybe a mom-and-pop operation and private ownership, and now we’ve got large multi-store operations, some that are publicly traded, and we also have a lot of private equity ownership that’s come into the business.”
Starting in October 2018, equipment dealers from all regional associations met to discuss the needs of dealers and whether EDA associations were meeting them.
“The consensus that came out of those dealer meetings was that a strong national association to appropriately and adequately represent dealers in both Washington D.C. and Ottawa was needed, while at the same time new programs and services needed to be put in front of dealers to help them with their operations,” he said.
Once the consolidation is completed, dealer members of the four associations are expected to see little change in daily interactions with their association.
“The biggest change is going to be the name change from WEDA Canada to NAEDA Canada,” said Schmeiser.
“We’re going to maintain our Canadian operations out of our Calgary office. We’re going to continue to expand on our programs and services that we offer our Canadian dealers. And our emphasis in representing Canadian dealers in Ottawa, or our nine provinces (excluding Quebec) on provincial issues is not really going to change.
“If anything, it’s going to be enhanced because this merger will give us the opportunity to add additional resources in provincial and federal government affairs as well as manufacturer relations.”
