| Please note times, locations for Bristol/Knoxville – these are a change from last year’s venues/times. | |
| Monday, September 29, 2025 The Bristol Hotel Doors open at 5PMET 1115 Country Music Way Bristol, VA 24201 | Thursday, October 2, 2025 LBMC, PC Training Room 10:00 AM CT 201 Franklin Road Brentwood, TN 37027 |
| Tuesday, September 30, 2025 Embassy Suites by Hilton Knoxville West 11:30 AMET 9621 Parkside Drive Knoxville, TN 37922 | Wednesday, October 8, 2025 Hilton Garden Inn Jackson 10:00AMCT 1324 Vann Drive Jackson, TN 38120 |
| Wednesday, October 1, 2025 HHM CPAs Training Room – Chattanooga 10:00 AMCT 1200 Market Street Chattanooga, TN 37402 | Thursday, October 9, 2025 HHM CPAs Training Room – Memphis 10:00 AMCT 1755 Kirby Parkway, Suite 200 Memphis, TN 38 |
Save the Date – 2026 Tri-State Convention
Tri-State (Alabama/Mississippi/Tennessee) Summer Convention June 21-24, 2026
Stay tuned for registration, sponsorship details. Feel free to reach out to Kelly Barber at kelly@taaonline.biz to make sure you receive finalized details.
Johnny Wayne Farris named Tennessee Time Dealer of Year
| Congratulations to Johnny Wayne Farris for being Tennessee’s nominee for Time Dealer of the Year |
| TAA congratulates Johnny Wayne Farris, president of Farris Motor Company in Jefferson City for being Tennessee’s nominee for the 2026 TIME Dealer of the Year national award. He is a recognized leader in our industry here in Tennessee and we congratulate him for this great accomplishment! Johnny Wayne is one of a select group of 47 dealer nominees from across the country who will be honored at the 109th annual National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, on February 5, 2026. Johnny Wayne literally grew up in the business founded by his grandfather in 1929. After earning a B.S. from Tennessee Technological University, he joined Farris Motor Company full time in 1972 and has led Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram dealerships through multiple industry cycles, centering the operation on the Golden Rule, transparency, and long-term relationships. Johnny Wayne has served the TAA on the Board of Directors since 2000, including Secretary/Treasurer (2010–2011) and Chairman (2011–2012), In 2025, he received the Roberts V. Weaver Award, the highest honor a Tennessee dealer can receive. His community work includes long-standing support of God’s Warehouse, which has shipped 140+ forty-foot containers of humanitarian aid over the last twelve years—supporting East Tennessee families, Israel (via the Joseph Project), and Ukrainian refugees. The TIME Dealer of the Year award is one of the automobile industry’s most prestigious and highly coveted honors. The award recognizes the nation’s most successful auto dealers who also demonstrate a long-standing commitment to community service. Farris was chosen to represent Tennessee in the national competition – one of only 47 auto dealers nominated for the 57th annual award from more than 20,000 nationwide. To read the press release from Time, please click here. |
New-Car and -Truck Dealers Driving Tennessee’s Economy
Tennessee dealers are an economic driver of the state economy. Nearly 350 new car dealerships in the state employ over 50,000 Tennesseans with pay over $2B in annual salaries and wages.
Key Facts:
- Over 3,000 independent dealers.
- Over 13,080 licensed salespeople.
- This represents more than 5% of the total retail workforce in Tennessee.
- This 5% earn approximately 10% of the total retail wages paid in Tennessee.
- Sales of motor vehicles are the largest single source of Tennessee sales tax revenues (approx. 12% of the total).
- Average sales per franchised dealer in Tennessee = $29.4 million.
- Average annual payroll per franchised dealership = $2.46 million.
- Tennessee dealers generate hundreds of millions of dollars of tax revenue for state and local governments through sales & use taxes, F&E taxes, and Tennessee Business Taxes.
- Tennessee dealers also generate tremendous economic stimulus through their purchases of advertising, goods and services, etc.
- Tennessee businesses pay approximately 40% of total sales tax collected.
- Bottom line . . . Tennessee’s economy depends upon our ability to sell cars and trucks in the regional marketplace.
Welcome to TAA!
The mission of the Tennessee Automotive Association (TAA) is to protect, promote and advance the welfare of our members: retail car and truck dealers, valued associate and finance members and all of our members’ customers.