2026 CAR Awards Have fun Trade Excellence
CAR’s annual Fleet Remarketing Awards opened a reimagined 2026 convention designed to bridge the worlds of fleet administration and automotive remarketing.
The Convention of Automotive Remarketing (CAR) kicked off its 2026 occasion with its annual Fleet Remarketing Awards ceremony, held the night of April 15 on the Huntington Conference Middle in Cleveland, Ohio.
The awards reception was timed to observe the shut of the NAFA Fleet Administration Affiliation’s Institute & Expo, which concluded earlier that afternoon. Three awards have been introduced on the occasion, together with one making its debut this 12 months.
Opening the night, Colin Sutherland, CEO of Bobit Enterprise Media, mirrored on how far the business gathering has come. CAR traces its roots to casual lunches in Southern California, then a small assembly of roughly a dozen individuals on the Renaissance Lodge close to Atlanta’s Hartsfield airport in 1995.
Propelled by Bobit’s founder Ed Bobit and former Bobit President Sherb Brown, the assembly produced a proper affiliation — the Automotive Remarketing Affiliation — earlier than evolving into CAR, which drew about 50 attendees at its inaugural occasion.
CAR’s New Path
Sutherland additionally mirrored on what makes the fleet remarketing world distinct, which aligns with the evolving route of the convention.
Fleet automobiles, he famous, are pushed by skilled drivers beneath strict behavioral monitoring (by means of telematics) and are sometimes upfitted with specialised gear. But once they attain public sale, that upfitting isn’t correctly valued when it rolls by means of a 66-second prepared line.
“That simply does not appear honest,” he mentioned. “We’d like to verify we’re defending the worth of automobiles that, fairly frankly, have funding put into them.”
CAR’s new route is designed to deliver fleet managers and remarketing professionals into nearer dialog — and to take a tough have a look at knowledge, know-how, and the function of individuals in an more and more automated business.
Earlier than the awards have been introduced, Sutherland paused to bear in mind Mike Antich, a longtime determine in automotive remarketing and a driving pressure behind CAR from its earliest days. Antich handed away simply earlier than Christmas. He requested attendees to lift a glass in tribute.
“Mike was actually current on the very starting of CAR,” Sutherland mentioned. “On the very starting of automotive remarketing.”
Three awards adopted, together with one making its debut this 12 months.
Remarketer of the 12 months: Eric Autenrieth, Carolina Auto Public sale
Eric Autenrieth, CEO of Carolina Auto Public sale in Anderson, S.C., was named Remarketer of the 12 months — an honor that carries particular resonance, as his father, the late Henry Stanley, acquired the identical award years earlier.
Autenrieth grew up within the public sale business, working on the household’s Ohio Auto Public sale earlier than it was offered to GE Capital within the Nineteen Nineties. After pursuing different ventures, together with insurance coverage and fleet administration, he returned to the enterprise when his household acquired Carolina Auto Public sale.
Autenrieth later managed Indiana Auto Public sale in Fort Wayne for practically a decade earlier than returning to Carolina, the place he now leads the operation following his father’s passing earlier this 12 months.
Past operating the household enterprise, Autenrieth has been deeply concerned in business management, having served as president of ServNet, as a regional chapter president of the Nationwide Auto Public sale Affiliation (NAAA), and in the end as president of the NAAA itself — following within the footsteps of each his mom, Patty Stanley, and his father. Each Henry and Patty Stanley are members of the NAAA Corridor of Fame.
The award was introduced by Pierre Pons, president of TPC Administration.
“The recipient tonight goes to forged a shadow of his personal,” Pons mentioned in his introduction.
In accepting the award, Autenrieth was characteristically modest. “I am the face of the group, but it surely’s the crew that actually wins this award,” he mentioned, including that Carolina Auto Public sale can be making room in its trophy case for the distinction.
Consignor of the 12 months: Larry Knapp, Wheels
Larry Knapp, who retired every week after the ceremony as director of car remarketing at Wheels, acquired the Consignor of the 12 months award in recognition of a profession spanning a number of a long time and together with among the most distinguished names within the automotive finance and remarketing house.
Knapp’s profession has included roles on the Hertz Company (two separate stints), Honest Monetary Company and Honest.com, Black E book, BMW Group (additionally twice), Auto Vin, Mercedes-Benz Monetary, UB Leasing, and HSBC’s Marine Midland Financial institution — earlier than becoming a member of Wheels, one of many largest fleet administration firms in North America. He additionally served within the navy previous to his profession in automotive.
Additionally launched by Pierre Pons, Knapp stored his remarks transient and gracious, thanking the two,000-strong Wheels crew, in addition to fleet administration clients, consigners, public sale companions, and logistics suppliers.
Inaugural Fleet Worth Champion: James McKinley, Metropolis Lease a Truck
A brand new award debuted at this 12 months’s CAR. The Fleet Worth Champion Award, launched to acknowledge fleet operators who take a disciplined, revolutionary method to automobile remarketing, was introduced to James McKinley, VP of Operations at Metropolis Lease a Truck, primarily based in Kansas Metropolis.
CAR convention chair and Automotive Fleet affiliate writer Chris Brown launched the award, describing it as recognition for individuals who “protect worth of their automobiles” and who “improve automobile worth all through the total life cycle.”
McKinley, who began within the enterprise 12 years in the past working in a wash bay, credited senior administration at Metropolis Lease a Truck, Jeff and Shaefer Schuetz, for giving him the belief and latitude to construct the operation. He described Metropolis Lease a Truck’s method as one which begins at automobile specification and continues by means of acquisition, deployment, upkeep, and eventual disposal.
“Fleet worth actually is not a single second in a automobile’s life,” McKinley mentioned. “Each a kind of choices both creates worth or destroys it.”
He famous that the corporate has leaned closely into synthetic intelligence and data-driven decision-making throughout utilization administration, fleet operations, and asset disposal — leading to what he described as higher timing, smarter pricing, and a extra disciplined total fleet administration course of.
A Word of Remembrance
The ceremony opened with a tribute to Mike Antich, a longtime determine in automotive remarketing and a driving pressure behind the CAR convention, who handed away simply earlier than Christmas. Colin Sutherland, CEO of Bobit Enterprise Media — which has co-produced CAR for 30 years — requested attendees to lift a glass in his reminiscence.
“Mike was actually current on the very starting of CAR,” Sutherland mentioned. “On the very starting of recent remarketing.”
