By now you have seen your December statement, which of course includes your year-to-date numbers. So, rock star, how do they look? I’m thinking you’ve had one of three reactions to them:
1. They look great. Could have even been better, but a little pat on the back is in order.
2. They are ok. Kind of pleased, but you know you could have done a lot better.
3. Not happy at all. What a wasted year. You are super disappointed and know you have to do better.
While you have that statement out, take a look and see if you have any used units over 60 days old. Even one is too many.
That being said, the odds are pretty good that you’ve not made as much money as you think you have, and if by some chance you lost money for the year, you’ve lost a lot more than you thought you did.
I hope the reasons are obvious, but if they aren’t, let me enlighten you a bit.
If you had to liquidate your used car inventory today, your bottom line would take a real hit. The fake news is you think you’ve made money. The real news is you haven’t made any, or at least not as much as you thought.
If you’re the owner or GM, keep in mind someone’s paycheck has been impacted in a positive way from that stuff that’s been sitting. The company’s paycheck, not so much.
A simple New Year’s resolution for you is to fix it. Fixing it doesn’t mean dumping stuff at 60 days old. Fixing it is understanding there’s a retail buyer out there at some number. Retailing early at some price is far better than dumping or retailing late.
I’ve been doing this a long time and for the life of me, I don’t understand the mindset of keeping aged inventory. I’m sure you have a great excuse for doing so. Keep in mind, there’s not a unit in your aged inventory that you couldn’t have already retailed at some number. Think retail, retail, retail.
The choices you have are to keep on doing what you’re doing or do something that will dramatically improve what you’re looking at this time next year. Enjoy your numbers. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs