AutoNation and some of the other public groups have just had the most amazing revelation and that is that it pays to retail every used car that has a breath of life left in it? Really? Wow, that’s an amazing discovery!
How many people did it take sitting around a conference table to come up with this brilliant idea?
Automotive News continues to let us know how smart Mike Jackson and the folks at AutoNation are.
I am really surprised that the auto dealers of America have been able to survive all these years without the wisdom of these brilliant executives. How in the world did some of you make it?
Here are three excerpts from articles that appeared in Automotive News over the last 30 days or so with a link to the full article that you must read if you have any intention of staying in business. (Because they are so much smarter than you.)
“AutoNation Speeds Up Effort To Sell Older Used Cars, Snags 7 Fiat Stores” (LINK)
By Amy Wilson
Automotive News — October 28, 2010 –
“It’s an opportunity to retail a vehicle that we normally would wholesale,” Maroone said. “It’s incremental business, and it helps us create another retail customer.”
“Groups Find Gold In Old Used Cars” (LINK)
Amy Wilson
and Donna Harris
Automotive News — November 8, 2010
“Older vehicles are part of Penske’s growth strategy, Tony Pordon, senior vice president, wrote in an e-mail. Some of these cars would have been wholesaled in the past, but we found them to be in demand, so we modified our processes," Pordon said. "That’s the beauty of this business — work with your customers, right?"
Here’s more brilliance on the other side of the table:
LETTER TO THE EDITOR (LINK)
“Selling Older Cars Will Hurt Dealers” (In response to Auto Nation Article.)
RONNIE ROZIER, Honey Brook, Pa. November 22, 2010
“But selling older, junk cars is a publicity nightmare for a franchised dealer in the long run. Selling bad cars always has been a bad business model. Some franchised dealers are fooling themselves into thinking it is a cash cow for them, but it will be short-lived before it starts hurting their main business of selling new and certified pre-owned vehicles”.
Ok, can you tell I’m a little annoyed with all of this? First of all, there is nothing new or brilliant about selling older cars.
Any dealer with half a brain has known since they opened their doors that it makes good sense to retail everything they can. I’m not about to go into all the benefits of doing so because “I just know you know.”
In the above “Letter to the Editor”, the writer criticized dealers for selling older cars and said “Selling bad cars always has been a bad business model.” No crap Sherlock. It’s not about selling bad cars. It’s about selling older cars. Duh…just because a car is older doesn’t make it a bad car and it’s not a bad decision to sell it.
I think I just get tired of Automotive News wanting to make us think some of these people with the public companies are so brilliant when they just ain’t “all that.” Reading these articles is like wiping my butt with sandpaper…That’s all I’m gonna say.