Freeing hostages and taking out terrorists in Las Vegas

02.07.2012

Last Sunday while in Las Vegas at the NADA convention, Steve Greenfield, Vice President of Business Development at AutoTrader demonstrated both leadership and ingenuity. Instead of watching the super bowl, Steve lead an expedition, which included himself, my son Samson and me to an infamous business establishment outside of town called The Gun Store. Steve [...]

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Why Don’t Online Auction Proxy Bids Work Better For Dealers?

02.04.2012

  I’ve been asking that question lately as I hear two recurring complaints from dealers about their ability to buy vehicles via online auction proxy bids: 1. The success rate with proxy bidding is too low. Dealers say they may acquire one out of every 10 vehicles they try to obtain with proxy bids—a 10 [...]

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How many managers does it take to screw up a dealership?

01.26.2012

I received the below email from a dealer questioning his managers’ practices in their used vehicle department.  My answer follows. Hi Dale, I love ideas of the vAuto velocity management concepts as applied to used vehicle management.  I have several questions for you regarding it. Thank you for taking time to read it. We are [...]

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What is the appropriate Look-to-Book %?

01.22.2012

I received the following email regarding look-to-book. My response is below. Could you tell me what the look to book % should be? Thanks Pam   Pam, There are many variables that can affect look-to-book. Some of these include the strength of your new car franchise, whether you require customers to make a firm commitment [...]

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What to do when you have too many cars and too little pack money

01.18.2012

Here’s an exchange that I recently had with a used car manager. Dale, My name is Josh. I am the used car manager at a Toyota store. At our store, we averaged 46 new and 30 used for 2011. We have had modest growth in used cars the last couple of years until last year [...]

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A Look at “Known Unknowns” of Used Car Retailing

01.17.2012

I recently read a column in the New York Times that discussed the “known unknowns” of our current time. The writer, author Geoffrey Wheatcroft, defines the term as “things that were not at all inevitable, and were easily knowable, or indeed known, but which people chose to ‘unknow.’” He then describes how “known unknowns” were [...]

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Early results from the new Provision system are powerful

01.13.2012

Marc Ray of Grogan’s Town Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Ohio sent me an email this morning telling me that his AutoTrader Demand Index for December 2011 was 210.  The demand index is a measurement that shows how well a dealer’s inventory is aligned to what shoppers in their market are searching for on AutoTrader, relative [...]

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A Pay Plan To Build Transparency and Hold Gross

01.10.2012

I’m seeing a new breed of pay plans emerge at dealerships that seek to balance transparency with customers and the store’s need to make a profit on every deal. Here’s an example from a dealership that has achieved double-digit growth in its used vehicle sales since adopting velocity principles, market-based pricing and a transparency-minded sales [...]

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Very Dedicated to the Auto Industry

01.10.2012

Following is an email I received from Michael, a  vision impaired and very determined auto consultant, and my response. Dear Mr. Dale Pollak, I was introduced to your name today at a job interview with a gentleman that said that I might want to contact you who’s name is Mr. Bryan Koser of Al Packer’s White Marsh Ford of [...]

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Provisioning Webinar: A Better, Easier Way to Manage Used Vehicle Inventories

12.09.2011

Please join me at 2 p.m. (EST) Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2011, for an Auto Remarketing webinar on Provisioning—the new approach to used vehicle inventory management. I’ll demonstrate how new technology and tools make it easier to answer the critical “3W’s” of inventory management—what to buy?, what to pay?, and where to find? the vehicles you [...]

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