The Vehicle Return Tsunami — A Perfect Storm or Shower of Opportunity?
As we move toward the end of the first quarter of 2017, we continue to see a SAAR pressing more than 17 million units. The OEMs are geared to produce the volumes, the incentives continue to maintain sales momentum and leasing makes up about 30 percent of all retail transactions across the U.S. While the
Why You Should Hire a “Chaser” to Improve Used Car Profitability
Sometimes, activities seem to move along better where a nudge (noodge) is at work. A nudge pushes you to do your work, cut the grass (now) and get to the gym. Dealership performance motivator Tommy Gibbs says dealerships need a nudge, too, especially if improving used car profits is the end game. The Free Dictionary
GM’s are Finding Hidden Revenue in Recon and You Can, Too
It is becoming increasingly critical that dealership operators recognize how reconditioning practices affect bottom line profitability. Unstructured and unmonitored recon practices create waste and costs that erode used car gross. On the other hand, GMs will transform their recon operations into profit centers when they use a time-based, continuous improvement strategy to drive this critical
WHY YOUR DEALERSHIP SHOULD BE OFFERING A MASTER VENDOR PROGRAM
The process of reconditioning used vehicles is a costly, but necessary, undertaking for dealerships. Thanks to new technology, there are now tools and systems available to help dealerships get the best value for their recon dollar. A new tool that is trending with dealership vehicle reconditioning is the Master Vendor Program (MVP) concept. This program
The Impact Of Holding Costs On A GM’s Success
New analytics solutions now give dealership general managers much deeper insight into how much gross is being lost through their used car reconditioning processes. By using reconditioning software that creates daily reports on fundamental reconditioning benchmarks, GMs have at hand the data at the same actionable level they use for other decisions for controlling costs
One Tech, Two Tech —How to Correctly Staff Your Recon Operation
Want to run your recon department as a profit center for the dealership? Your goal should be to get retail-ready vehicles to the front line in three to five days at the lowest all-in cost. It’s a process to be managed — and managed well. One component of recon efficiency that dealers ask about is
FIVE TIPS TO HELP SPEED UP YOUR TIME TO MARKET IN USED VEHICLES
As dealers plan their used vehicle department performance goals for the coming year, I’d suggest focusing on reducing the amount of time it takes to get vehicles retail-ready and online. This suggestion follows recent studies that show it takes dealers an average of 10 days, from the time they acquire an auction vehicle and
A Lesson In Accountability In Best Buy
If you’ve followed my columns about reconditioning best practices, you know my drumbeat is time-to-market (TTM) frontline readiness, workflow and accountability, all which describe nonnegotiable processes for turning recon operations into a profit center for the dealership. Dealers using reconditioning workflow software to reduce their TTM or cycle time to three to five days
Four Used Vehicle Fundamentals to Help Stay Strong as Fall Unfolds
There appears to be good news and bad news on the horizon in used vehicles. The good news first: According to analysts, the healthy pace of used vehicle sales, particularly in near-new segments with good-credit buyers, that many dealers have enjoyed this year may continue this fall. If true, the used vehicle market may defy
The Seventh-inning Stretch In Recon’s Race For Relevance
If the history of vehicle reconditioning were a baseball game, it’s now the seventh-inning stretch. Anyone who’s sat through six-and-a-half innings in stadium seats knows its function — to stretch, catch one’s breath, and prepare for the game’s final critical innings. Dealers have been playing recon for many long innings now, and frankly, their teams