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SEASONED AUTO RECYCLERS

with more than one-thousand users in the U.S. and Canada. AutoInfo, later acquired first by ADP, is presently owned by Car-Part.com which contin- ues to offer the Checkmate™ system along with its other expanded offerings.

Howard Nusbaum

Nusbaum stayed with Auto- Info until 1995 when he start-

ed a consulting firm that provided management training. In 1998, he became vice president at LKQ where he stayed until 2008. Having the knack for starting new ventures, he started the National Salvage Vehicle Reporting Program (NSVRP), a law enforce- ment not-for-profit recognized by the Department of Justice as an independent third party standards body for the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS).

The highlight of his career, Nusbaum said, was leaving the safety and security of being a salaried employee as head of data processing at City University of New York in order to start AutoInfo, with all of the chal- lenges involved in starting a new venture.

“Back in 1975, the recycling industry was very poorly docu-

n 1961 JIM SEAMANS started State Line Motors Recycling Company in Pelham, NH, and stayed there for 17 years before moving to Florida to start a recyclers supply and service company, selling supplies to salvage yards throughout Florida. In 1997, he left that position to work at Jim’s Auto Salvage in Sebring, FL, where he still works today.

I

Jim Seamans with Past President Randy Reitman getting his award in 2013.

mented and the business rules were not well under- stood and it was a challenge,” Nussbaum says. “We had lots of help – and it was amazing how many recy- clers who were not ‘school taught’ were brilliant none-the-less.”

During his involvement with ARA, Nusbaum chaired the ARA Education and Seminars Committee and was deeply involved in setting up educational programs. In 1985, the ARA was known as the Automotive Dismantlers and Recyclers Association (ADRA). He was honored with the ADRA President’s Award for his years of service in supporting the edu- cation programs for the Association.

Looking back, Nusbaum says he misses the friend- ships he made at AutoInfo and ARA. “These organi- zations were an extended family for me and I miss those close relationships and camaraderie.” Today, he would tell a new recycler to “believe in yourself, work hard for what you believe. Never lose site of the importance of friends and family – for that is what matters the most.”

40 Automotive Recycling | September-October 2016

He vividly remembers in 1972 when he was a regional director of the National Automotive Dismantlers and Wreckers Association (the original name of what is now the ARA), he attended the annual convention in Washington, DC. “That was the year that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, established in 1971, was intro- duced to us, so there was much talk about what it was going to do to us,” said Seamans. Another highlight of his career, he notes, was when as a regional director in New England, he signed up 53 new ARA members. Always one to keep innovating, while he was still selling supplies, he notes, “I also sold inventory sys- tems and did seminars to show auto recyclers how to set up an inventory system on paper. Back in those days, I also did seminars on the basics of automotive recycling all over the country. We taught attendees how to organize their business,” says Seamans. “It’s been wonderful,” he says. “I

have friends all over the country and Canada. I’ve had a heck of a career and enjoyed every bit of it. I still enjoy the business.”

For someone new to the industry, he has this advice:

“You have to be honest with the customer, because without the customer you don’t have a business.”

A

father’s illness shouldn’t be the reason why someone goes into business. But sadly, for SOL

TODER, that is what happened. One year after getting out of the Army in 1955, Toder’s father had a heart attack. His dad was working at another salvage yard at the time and Toder went into the business to take over for his father. Two years later, he bought his own facility and moved it to Rt. 19 outside Pittsburgh, PA. Thus, Rt. 19 Auto Salvage was born. “The highlight as a small recycler was that I had four employees. I tried to exploit that when I was ARA President in 1978,” he says.

At the time, the members called themselves auto wreckers and the guys in the association were the big

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