5 Fantastic Used Car Dealer Results in May

Already, I’m beginning to receive May results…

Congratulations Clay Close, owner of Atchison Automotive in Atchison, Kansas. Clay called me on Saturday and told me that April had been a record month with 58 retail units. May was about to blow April away with over 70 retail used units. 70 retail used units may not sound huge, but you need to know that Atchison, Kansas is a town of 10,000 people. What Clay was most excited about is how 50% of his sales come from over 100 miles away. According to Clay, most of these sales were consummated over email and phone without the need for much, if any traditional sales labor. Having hooked them on a vehicle with high demand, low supply and a very fair price, the only real remaining questions were which airport to and how long it should take to get to the dealership from the airport. Clay commented that he can go through a normal work day and sell three or four cars simply by exchanging a few emails and telephone calls. When Clay started his velocity journey, he was selling about 30 used cars, losing money and wasn’t having any fun. Congratulations Clay, you rock.

News from John Chalfant of Edmark Superstore in Boise, Idaho came simply and sweet, “Dale, 283 used units delivered in May.” Not much more needed to be said.

If you haven’t seen it already, you should read my blog posting from May 22, entitled, “Two brilliant 25 year olds that will be future legends in the automobile business.”

Then there’s my good friend, Bill Pearson of Finish Line Ford in Illinois. Congratulations Bill on the biggest month in your dealership’s history, delivering 330 used retail units. Last night Bill told me on the telephone, “we’re addicted to turning cars.” Sorry Bill, once you’ve had a taste of this stuff there’s no rehab. 500 retail units is clearly in your future.

John Malishenko the COO of the Germain Group wrote me this morning including the following excerpt, “…Total P/O sales were up 25% versus May 2008 and represented our best month since September 2007. Thanks for your help thus far and we’re strongly committed to continuing the progression.” Congratulations to John, Rich Ackman and the rest of the talented team of the Germain Auto Group in Columbus, Ohio

How fantastic was your May?

Please send your May results to [email protected]

Here’s a message from Chris Turner of the Prestige Group in northern New Jersey… Thank you for all your assistance. Prestige MINI is number one in the country for MINI Next certified pre owned. We are up almost 61% in used cars over last year!

With the increase in used cars the new car business continues to remain strong. Prestige MINI is leading the country in that category as well, with 399 delivered YTD. Did I mention the new car days supply number should be part of Vauto?

The used car increase is a direct result of our partnership with Vauto.

Thank you for all your efforts!

Congratulations Chris, you guys rock.

Sometimes those that have the greatest challenges somehow accomplish the greatest feats. If you ever saw the disjointed land and building configuration of Paragon Honda and Acura, you’d wonder how anyone manages to sell anything. This ignores the fact that people who walk in (no parking available) are likely to speak any one of a hundred languages. Congratulations to Brian and the entire Paragon team on delivering 300 used retail certified Honda’s and Acura’s.

Congratulations to John McBrearty and John Reale from Crown Kia. Following are the notes from our performance review meeting today with them today:

Mark LaMarch of vAuto completed a performance review with John McBrearty and John Reale and congratulated both of them on the fine job they did last month as well as the over-all condition of their used car department. They told him they retailed 56 units in May! Quite an improvement from the typical 20-30 car performances of the recent past.

•56 retail sales on an average inventory of 51 vehicles
•Over-all market day supply: 82 days
•Average price to market 92%
•ONE vehicle over 45 days old
•Average age of inventory:15 days
•Turns: 24!!!!!

What we’re really impressed with is John’s open minded view toward stocking the lot with fast moving low market day supply “off brand” inventory. He’s using the tools to intelligently play offense with a minimum of risk. Congratulations to these guys for a job well done.