Mohawk Auto Group uses vAuto solutions throughout the inventory lifecycle to guide acquisition, pricing, reconditioning, and service-lane opportunities, helping their teams make more informed decisions in a rapidly changing market. Watch the Video >
Summary:
- Mohawk Auto Group uses vAuto solutions to connect acquisition, pricing, reconditioning and service-lane opportunities to market demand.
- The dealership uses vAuto to align inventory with customer demand and support wholesale acquisition decisions.
- ProfitTime GPS helps the team evaluate vehicle-specific pricing and inventory strategies.
- iRecon supports visibility and accountability throughout a three- to five-day reconditioning process.
- Using vAuto and VinSolutions, Mohawk Honda identifies repeat and conquest opportunities from approximately 120 daily service vehicles.
- The dealership generates approximately 25 to 40 sales per month through its Mohawk Honda Exchange Program.
The best inventory decisions start with real market knowledge.
What belongs in inventory? Which vehicles deserve a closer look in the lane? How should a vehicle be priced? When is it ready for the frontline? Which service customers may be ready for their next vehicle?
At Mohawk Auto Group, each of those decisions starts with the same principle: stay aligned with market demand. That discipline has become increasingly important.
“We’ve seen this evolution happen over a period of years, and in a market where things are progressing more quickly than we can even imagine, we’re proud to make sure that we’re on the frontline with vAuto and have all the data we need to make our daily decisions about our business”
-Mike O’Toole, Used Vehicle Director, Mohawk Auto Group
Build an Inventory Strategy the Market Can Support
You know not every inventory opportunity is worth pursuing.
At Mohawk Auto Group, inventory strategy is very intentional. It starts with understanding which vehicles fit the dealership’s inventory profile and support customer demand.
“We use vAuto and our stocking strategy to make sure that we’re aware of what types of vehicles we need to fit our inventory profile. It’s very important that we have quality vehicles that increase and improve our turn so that we can provide more vehicles for sale every month for our customers and for our business.”
– Mike O’Toole, Used Vehicle Director, Mohawk Auto
Rather than treating acquisition as a volume exercise, the dealership focuses on opportunities that align with customer demand.
That approach establishes a foundation for every decision that follows, from sourcing and pricing to reconditioning and retail readiness.
Source the Right Vehicles in a Competitive Market
Once inventory needs are established, the challenge becomes finding the right vehicles.
For Tom Lavallee, Vehicle Purchasing Specialist at Mohawk Auto Group, that’s no small task.
The wholesale market is highly competitive, with buyers often pursuing the same vehicles at the same time. Understanding what the market wants helps the team focus on the opportunities most worth pursuing.
“vAuto does a very good job of letting you know which ones are the hot sellers and which ones aren’t.”
-Tom Lavallee, Vehicle Purchasing Specialist, Mohawk Auto Group
Tom also relies on market day supply information to prioritize the vehicles he pursues, helping him focus on the ones the market is actively seeking.
Match Pricing Strategy to Each Vehicle
Acquiring the right vehicles is only one part of the end-to-end inventory story for Mohawk and vAuto.
Once a vehicle enters inventory, Mohawk’s team evaluates how it should be managed over time. Not every unit carries the same opportunity, and not every vehicle should follow the same path to retail.
TJ Dusenbury, Used Car Manager at Mohawk Auto Group, has seen that evolution firsthand.
Early in his career, pricing philosophies often emphasized velocity above all else. Today, he takes a more strategic approach.
Using ProfitTime GPS, TJ evaluates vehicles through a ranking framework that helps him understand the role each unit plays within inventory. Some vehicles warrant rapid action. Others may justify additional time based on their potential.
“Moving to the ProfitTime model and having gold, platinum, silver, bronze rankings on cars, it gives me a better understanding. It creates a roadmap.”
-TJ Dusenbury, Used Car Manager, Mohawk Auto Group
That roadmap helps the team match its strategy to the vehicle in front of them.
Create Accountability Throughout Reconditioning
Even the strongest acquisition and pricing strategies can lose momentum if inventory becomes stalled during reconditioning.
That’s why visibility plays such a critical role in Mohawk’s operation.
The dealership uses iRecon to help track vehicles through the reconditioning process. TJ noted that the platform integrates directly with ProfitTime GPS, allowing him to see where vehicles are in the process directly from his dashboard.
That visibility helps create shared accountability across departments responsible for moving vehicles toward retail readiness.
Mohawk’s reconditioning process is designed as a three- to five-day turnaround, supported by visibility throughout the workflow and alignment between used vehicle managers, service dispatchers, and technicians.
Their Used Vehicle Director views accountability as one of the most important parts of the process.
“The use of iRecon is very important in making sure that our entire team is accountable for getting that vehicle to the frontline as soon as possible.”
-Mike O’Toole, Used Vehicle Director, Mohawk Auto
By giving multiple departments access to the same information, teams can track progress and move vehicles through the process more efficiently.
Turn Service Lane Activity into Sales Opportunities
The same mindset that guides acquisition decisions also shapes how Mohawk Auto Group approaches its service lane.
Customer activity helps identify both repeat and conquest opportunities for the dealership, creating a connection between service activity and future vehicle sales.
That opportunity starts with scale.
Mohawk Honda averages approximately 120 vehicles through its service department each day. Using tools such as VinSolutions with vAuto, the team prospects within that traffic and identifies customers who may be ready for their next vehicle.
“Typically, we can expect anywhere from 25 to 40 sales per month out of our Mohawk Honda Exchange program.”
-Jennifer DeCiero, Business Development Center Manager, Mohawk Auto Group
Jennifer credits the dealership’s connected platforms with helping managers, salespeople, and BDC representatives work more efficiently and get more out of their time.
The service lane is more than a place to maintain customer relationships. It is a source of inventory and sales opportunity, supported by the same market-informed approach guiding the rest of the dealership.
Align Teams Around a Common Strategy
Viewed independently, acquisition, pricing, reconditioning, and service-lane outreach can seem like separate dealership functions.
Mohawk Auto Group credits vAuto with helping them operate as one.
From acquisition and pricing to reconditioning and service-lane outreach, each stage of the inventory lifecycle supports the next.
Those efforts help the dealership connect every inventory decision to market demand, from acquisition to retail.
Build a More Market-Driven Inventory Strategy
Explore vAuto with an on-demand demo to learn how you can connect acquisition, pricing, reconditioning and retail decisions around live market demand.