{"id":5819,"date":"2025-04-30T12:47:23","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T17:47:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/?p=5819"},"modified":"2025-04-30T17:50:27","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T22:50:27","slug":"meet-the-nqd-finalists-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/meet-the-nqd-finalists-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the NQD finalists"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Each year, NIADA presents the National Quality Dealer Award to one dealer who has exemplified a commitment to quality and excellence in the industry, as well as outstanding customer service and community service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>NIADA will crown the 2025 National Quality Dealer of the Year on June 24 during the Awards Luncheon at the Convention and Expo at the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s a look at this week\u2019s two finalists:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Carolinas<\/strong><br><strong>Steve Wetmore<\/strong><br><strong>McAdenville Motors<\/strong><br><strong>Gastonia, North Carolina<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"2025 NQD Nominee - Steve Wetmore\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2mHcxxHDsVw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>When asked about being in the car industry, Steve Wetmore provides a quick response to what he loves about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe keep the world moving,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He also enjoys building relationships with his fellow dealers, vendors and the auction employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was at Christmas time in 2003 that a lot caught his eye when out looking at Christmas lights. A year later, he saw an ad in the paper and it turned out to be that lot. He\u2019s been there ever since growing his dealership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The dealership prioritizes customer service, earning page after page of positive reviews from customers. As he said, if there\u2019s an issue, he\u2019s going to help the customer through it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wetmore is always willing to give back to the community and the industry. Wetmore previously served as the past president of the Carolinas Independent Automobile Dealers Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Colorado<\/strong><br><strong>Dario Arnautovic<\/strong><br><strong>Urban Motors<\/strong><br><strong>Denver, Colorado<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"2025 NQD Nominee - Dario Arnautovic\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/beq02Hyp6H0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>As a high school student, Dario Arnautovic was hired for sales at Emich VW. The hard worker quickly found a mentor who helped him move up at the dealership and foster his passion for customer service and cars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In December 2014, Arnautovic started a salvage lot As-Is Auto after convincing a friend to give him a one-year lease on a trailer. From the beginning, he was dedicated to customer service and honesty with his customers. Within the first year and a half, he was able to acquire a larger building with a showroom, repair\/recon shop and a larger lot. Through the transition, the inventory changed and the focus switched to all Colorado-based vehicles, primarily focusing on Toyota, Jeep, Ford and anything off-road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His rule has always been never put a customer in a vehicle you wouldn\u2019t put your mom in. He said it&#8217;s not just about selling any car that anyone will buy, he wanted to make sure his customers are happy with their reliable car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Within six years, he was able to expand to three independently owned, licensed stores and produce approximately 200 happy customers per month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read about all the finalists <a href=\"https:\/\/digitaleditions.walsworth.com\/publication\/?i=842401&amp;p=18&amp;view=issueViewer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Each year, NIADA presents the National Quality Dealer Award to one dealer who has exemplified a commitment to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5802,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_appearance_grid":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5819","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-industry","8":"cs-entry","9":"cs-video-wrap"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niada.com\/dashboard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}