Jennifer Murphy - Would you like your service department to gross tens of thousands of dollars more each year? The answer seems like a no-brainer, but many dealerships aren’t taking advantage of additional profits that can be had by selling service contracts on the service drive. Chuck Fairbanks Chevrolet’s service department, however, is grossing an extra $7,000 a month by doing just that ...
When it was launched in 2000, SmartAuction was intended to serve as a means of remarketing off-lease vehicles for GMAC to GM dealers. As it exists today, SmartAuction has grown well beyond its original concept and shows no signs of slowing down.
It’s not unusual for a visitor to Jennifer’s Auto Sales and Service, an independent dealership in Spokane Valley, Wash., to find Dealer Jennifer Johnson in her facility’s fully-equipped kitchen cooking up a pot of spaghetti or baking cookies for her staff and customers
Don Reed - After spending the last nine years working with hundreds of dealerships all across our country, I have discovered an amazing phenomenon permeating fixed operations. One could compare this phenomenon to cancer. The good news is this cancer is 100 percent curable for every single dealer who really wants to be cancer-free! The cancer is called “Lack of Accountability.” I find maximum accountability for everyone’s performance in the sales department ...
Greg Goebel - It has been a while since I have used a running analogy for special finance, but based on recent events in my life and the auto industry, I feel there is no better time than the present. Prior to taking up marathon running in late 2007, it had been many, many years since I was identified as an athlete, so regardless of whether or not you run, this article is still very apropos ...
Jennifer Murphy - Although the August 1, 2009 enforcement date for the Red Flags Rule is upon dealers – provided the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) doesn’t delay it at the last minute again – many dealerships have yet to comply. For those who still need to put their Red Flags program in place, here’s a sampling of the products available on the market to help you become compliant ...
David Keller - What a month it has been! For the past three to four weeks, we have been busy assisting our GM dealers who received a “non-renewal agreement” letter to effectively close their new GM franchises down by October 2010 ...
Dealers have a sort of love/hate relationship with compliance, especially in terms of their Web sites. Before manufacturers implemented standards for dealer sites, there was a kind of “Wild West” feel to things ...
Jennifer Murphy - While some dealers have had a Web presence for years, CarSmart in Kansas City, Mo., didn’t have one until April 2009. Co-Owner Ted Heater, Jr. said, “We were in business for 11 years and didn’t have … any kind of Internet presence … Business was always so good by our direct mail, TV and radio campaigns, nobody would have had time to do a Web site. Now, [with] a 40 to 50 percent decrease in business, well, I have a lot of time now.” ...
Thomas B. Hudson - I was conducting an on-site dealership compliance audit of a buy here pay here store, looking over the dealership’s sales and F&I process from A to Z in an effort to decrease the dealership’s potential liability for violations of state and federal law. It’s a good thing that it was only lil’ ole me probing this dealership’s operation. If, instead, an FTC SWAT team had descended on the car lot, the dealer would be out of business ...
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