Auto center to mark anniversary

The New York Metro area’s auto dealer association plans a celebration Oct. 3 of the fifth anniversary of what it says is the nation’s only training center run entirely by car dealers: the Center for Automotive Education & Training, in Whitestone, Queens.

The center has taught thousands of students who have gone on to staff dealership service shops, showrooms and back offices, says president Mark Schienberg of the group that buuilt it and runs it, the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association.

New Jersey-based Lincoln Technical Institute, which trains service techs at the center as a tenant, has graduated 1,500 students since the start, with 92 percent placed in dealerships, Schienberg said. “That part of the program is just way beyond our expectations in terms of getting them jobs,” he said.

He said 12 automakers regularly use the $25 million 90,000 square foot facility for training of dealership employees.

It has classrooms, service bays, lecture halls, an auditorium and a simulated showroom.

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