This is a valuable exercise that will improve your used car turn, gross and ROI.
This is about attacking your ten most expensive units in stock each and every day.
Require the used car manager to print out the 10 most expensive units each day. Distribute a copy to all the members of your management team including BDC, Internet, F&I, Desk Manager, GSM, GM, Prep Manager and Service Director.
Everybody has to be on the same page with a sense of urgency on these units. With a few exceptions, these units don’t make the kind of money they ought to make based on the amount you have invested in them. You will often find they are the very units that are starting to age on you and the ones you end up giving away at the end of their lifecycle.
They are competing with your new car business and there are fewer butts that can fit in the seats. The longer they sit, the uglier your grosses are going to be.
Three bullet points:
1. There should be a clear understanding with your Service Director that if for any reason one of these cars or trucks is sitting in the service department, they have to get it out of there in a hurry because it’s one of your ten most expensive units.
2. Throw your normal retail pricing scheme out the window on these cars. You should price these 10 cars to the public at a bargain-basement price. The sooner they go away the better. There’s only one exception to this approach-don’t do it on any of the 10 cars you always do well with. Use some common sense.
3. Consider putting a bonus on these cars regardless of the number of days they have been in stock.
Historically, here’s what happens. We have a car in inventory that’s around 60 days old. We are more than happy to sell it for what we have in it or less, and we are more than happy to pay a $500 bonus on it to make it go away.
If this becomes a habit for you, eventually your salesman’s compensation percentage gets out of whack to the tune of 22, 25, 28, even 30 percent.
After all is said and done, when the packs and all the crap shake out, most dealers are looking to get to 17 percent to 20 percent in salesman’s comp.
The point is, you are far better off paying bonus money on
these units sooner rather than later, regardless of the number of days they have been in stock. It will help you move the unit and avoid sales compensation creep.
The keys to remember:
1. Create a sense of urgency on these units.
2. Make these units go away faster.
3. Make what you can and run.
4. Put some bonus money on the most problematic ones.
Be an attacker. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs