Thursday, 26 March 2009 15:52
Written by Administrator
History of AASA
American Automotive Shippers Association was founded in 1994 in response to a problem that many exporters of new cars where encountering in the early 1990’s. When these exporters purchased new cars from authorized car dealers, they would invariably receive a call from the dealer they purchased their car(s) from, claiming that the vehicle they purchased was exported. The dealers further complained that the manufacturer is charging the dealership back for the rebates. In addition they had to pay a penalty on these cars and that their future allotment of “hot” cars was being affected.
Douglas Downen and Max Ruefenacht got together with a couple of other well known car exporters to discuss this issue. We came up with the theory that VIN disclosure was taking place at the pier and manufacturers were collecting information in this manner.
After some research, Douglas and Max soon realized that this is not the case. They found out that US Customs has a Journal of Commerce (JOC) office at every port location that collects all this information from the shippers manifests provided to them by US Customs.
AASA asked that this information not be collected, divulged and sold. After lengthy negotiations with US Customs and JOC and a legal proceeding, a settlement was reached and AASA developed a VIN confidentiality program in conjunction with the other parties.
The American Automotive Shippers Association is a non-profit organization formed out of this issue.
Our early meetings where held in a restaurant in New York City, followed by cosy dinners. We now hold meetings in conjunction with the annual conference of the North American Automobile Trade Association, which attracts close to 100 of the leading vehicle exporters, importers, suppliers and service providers from around the world.
As word about our association spread, we got enthusiastic support from many of the well established car exporters, as well as the shipping lines. Some of them are still members and supporters today.
Since those early days, every year we grew a little bit and got better organized. Unfortunately, Douglas and Max have since passed on, but today we have a bigger Board of Directors that governs our association. We get new members every year. Our relationship with the JOC is cooperative in working together to keep our VINs from being published.
AASA has close ties and working relationships with several overseas car dealer/importer associations. This includes the European Association of Independent Vehicle Traders (EAIVT).