“CPR” to Offset Declining CPO Profits, Sales for Dealers

I’m seeing more fault lines around certified pre-owned (CPO) sales that, over the years, have become the backbone of used vehicle departments for many franchise dealers. The fault lines aren’t...

ProfitTime GPS in Practice: From Skeptical to Sold

When Mike Cirona, general manager of Scott Robinson Honda in Torrance, CA, initially heard about ProfitTime GPS, he didn’t think his store’s used vehicle department would benefit from it. “I...

A Time to Rethink How You Manage Inventory Age

Three market conditions have converged to cause dealers and used vehicle managers to return to inventory age management policies that call for immediate wholesaling of vehicles that reach 45 or 60...

Beware the Pitfalls of a “New Car Masquerade” in Used Vehicles

In the past few weeks, I’ve come to understand what I’d call a “new car masquerade” in used vehicle departments across the country. Perhaps the circumstances are familiar at your store: The new...

A Primer on Used Vehicle Price Sensitivity

As the used vehicle market returns to more normal conditions, I feel compelled to reiterate a perspective on retail price sensitivity that seems to have been lost over the course of the past two...

More Eyes on Dealers’ New Vehicle Mark-Ups

A couple months ago, an associate asked if I’d heard or seen any chatter among dealers about an apparently crowd-sourced site (www.markups.org) that listed new vehicle markups and the dealers who...

It’s a “Whole Truth” Tuesday!

I thought I’d put out a quick post to highlight that, after production and supply chain delays, my latest book, Whole Truth: A Fresh Money-Making Method to Wholesale, the Most Misunderstood Side...

A Rosier View of A Recession, Plus a Moment of Used Vehicle Opportunity

If you follow the news and related commentary on social media, you may well be thinking that the United States is heading toward a recession, if we’re not already in the initial stages of one....

A Mid-Year Gut-Check on Used Vehicle Market Conditions

As we close in on the halfway point of 2022, I think most dealers would agree with the following statement: While used vehicle sales and profits remain solid, they are nothing like they were at...

A Memorable Honor from NIADA

I received a humbling and significant honor from NIADA (the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association) yesterday at the group’s convention in Las Vegas. They presented me with a Ring of...

A Call for “Bucket”-Minded Inventory Acquisition

If you scrolled the clock back 15 or 20 years, you’d find very few dealers who managed their used vehicle inventory in what we now call “buckets.” Rather, dealers managed used vehicles in...

Where Dealers Get Their Most Profitable Inventory

Most dealers would agree that acquiring inventory over the course of the past two years has grown more complex and difficult. We now understand that, if you want to maintain, if not grow, your...

How Dealers Acquire Inventory from Service Customers

In a recent post, I highlighted how vehicles dealers acquire directly from service customers hold almost as much investment value potential as those they acquire off-lease and from trade-in. The...

A Top of the Market Moment in Used Vehicles

If you’re a stock investor, the top of the market arrives when the value of an asset or security stops rising and begins to trend downward. The same is true in used vehicles: The top of the market...

How to use Kelley Blue Book “Excellent” Trade-in Values to More Easily Acquire Customer Inventory (and Not at Excellent Prices)

Are You Positioned to Outsmart the Disruptors?

I think we can all agree that the level of disruption to our traditional dealership process of “I have new cars and you are ready to upgrade so let’s do a traditional car deal” has shifted.

Why Margin Compression May Return in Used Vehicles

While I try to avoid making predictions about the future, recent conversations with industry analysts suggest that market conditions that drove record-setting profitability for dealers in used...

Expanding Your Market Beyond Your DMA Is Easy with SnapLot 360

Read this article to learn how your auto dealerships can easily reach outside your DMA by utilizing 360-degree spins to merchandise your vehicles online.

Building a Winning Team: Why a Recon Playbook is a Must

To build a winning reconditioning game plan, you should first take a look at your current process. Learn how to get started in our latest blog post.