Get Connected: Experience It All at NORTHEAST® 2025
by Alana Quartuccio
A new year is here, and that means the NORTHEAST 2025 Automotive Services Show is just two months away.
Every informed automotive professional up and down the East Coast and beyond knows that AASP/NJ’s flagship show is where the industry connects and plans to head to New Jersey this March 14-16 when it all goes down at the Meadowlands Exposition Center (MEC) in Secaucus.
2025 marks the 48th year AASP/NJ will present this show, which is noted as the largest and fastest-growing event of its kind. Elite educational presentations in the classrooms, innovations, products and equipment on the show floor, plus non-stop activities on and off the show floor is what brings people to New Jersey year after year to experience this one-of-a-kind premiere industry weekend.
“We are gearing up for another action-packed weekend,” boasts AASP/NJ President Ken Miller. “Repair professionals travel from all over to take part in the NORTHEAST experience, so we set out to never fall short in offering the best of the best. I have no doubt that all we have in store this year will make for another record-breaking event. Can’t wait to see everyone in March!”
Details are still rolling in, but attendees can rest assured the sky is the limit once again when it comes to the NORTHEAST show as it sets out to bring everything together under one roof. Attendees can expect more than 150 exhibitors to line the aisles of the MEC. The Body Work Bowl will return for the third consecutive year, giving repairers an opportunity to showcase their skills in welding, painting and estimating. Winners in each category will take home big prizes! The show offers repair professionals a shot at winning some NORTHEAST Dollars toward purchases at the show – plus there’ll be chances to meet celebrity guests!
All that is just what will take place on the show floor. There’s also the education component (once again sponsored by AirPro Diagnostics) that NORTHEAST is so well recognized for – featuring some of the industry’s most recognizable faces.
In fact, the most recognizable face in the industry – Mike Anderson (Collision Advice) – will return to NORTHEAST this March. One of the most dynamic speakers around, Anderson is known for his engaging presentations designed to inspire and enlighten repairers to be their best selves in and out of the body shop.
Last year, Anderson wowed the NORTHEAST audience with a full-day Collision Advice workshop focused on completing a 100-percent disassembly and offering an extraordinary customer service experience. This year, he will team up with Craig Stevens of CCC Intelligent Solutions to offer an exclusive, in-depth, one-day workshop to kick off the NORTHEAST weekend.
“Unleashing the Full Power of CCC One” will be held on Friday, March 14 from 8am to 4pm featuring “all things related to CCC One, whether you are a CCC estimating customer or a body shop management customer.” The course is designed for shop owners, operators and managers who want to take full advantage of CCC One’s capabilities. Repairers will walk away from the workshop with a deep understanding of pre-repair, repair and post-repair processes.
This will be an opportunity for repairers to optimize CCC One to improve their body shop’s performance. Anderson and company intend to cover estimating, repair tracking, parts management, invoicing and customer communication. The Collision Advice team will also be on hand all weekend during NORTHEAST.
The conclusion of the Friday workshop will mark the official start to NORTHEAST 2025 when the doors open at 5pm.
Once again, NORTHEAST educational offerings will extend beyond the three-day weekend. Following in the success of last year’s pre-show workshop debut, Dave Luehr (Elite Body Shop Solutions) returns to offer another full-day of education set for Thursday, March 13.
“My Elite team and I are very excited to be invited back to NORTHEAST,” exclaims Luehr. “To me, it is one of the very top events in North America.”
Luehr intends to show audience members how to not only increase productivity and profit, but also how to reduce stress with his “Fundamentals of Operational Success” workshop. Most body shop chaos is avoidable by consistently doing the basics well. Luehr and his team have studied the effects of a few high-leverage actions that eliminate most of the stressors. “In other words, if you do these few things, you work less and accomplish more!” according to Luehr.
His workshop will dive into transforming the atmosphere of one’s shop in the areas of work in process (WIP), repair planning accuracy and parts management. It’s recommended the entire team attend the course in order to learn and build an action plan together.
Later in the NORTHEAST weekend, Luehr will return to the classrooms to present “REV UP Your Business,” where he plans to share the secrets of the world’s best body shops while helping repair professionals build a strategy to take advantage of the incredible opportunities coming their way.
“There’s incredible opportunity in the collision repair industry right now,” Luehr believes. “I’m finding that many collision repairers feel overwhelmed and they aren’t seeing these opportunities because they are feeling the grind instead. This program will give them clarity toward the freedom and prosperity they seek, helping them identify the opportunities they should take advantage of. There’s a false impression that new opportunities will result in more work but that is only the case if people go about things the wrong way. My mission is to help them find the clarity they need so they don’t have to work harder, but work smarter on the high leverage activities that are really going to move their businesses forward.”
The AASP/NJ team is gearing up for another successful year at Meadowlands.
“It’s nearly time for the industry to return to the Meadowlands for the largest automotive services trade show of its kind,” says AASP/NJ Executive Director Charles Bryant. “When repairers invest in their businesses, our industry can reach new heights and achieve great things – and this is the opportunity to do just that. We can’t wait to see everyone on the show floor this coming March!”
NORTHEAST 2025 show hours are 5pm to 10pm on Friday, March 14, 10am to 5pm on Saturday, March 15 and 10am to 3pm on Sunday, March 16.
Whether you’ve been attending for decades or will be a first-timer this year, be sure to secure your spot at the show. Don’t miss this great opportunity to connect with your peers, grab hold of new knowledge and experience the best innovations the industry has to offer.
Pre-register now for your free admission, make accommodations and get the latest updates by visiting aaspnjnortheast.com.
Want more? Check out the January 2025 issue of New Jersey Automotive!