One of the ongoing issues I see as I travel the country is how out of balance most Dealer’s inventories are. Let me first state the obvious. None of you, absolutely none of you have the hottest selling used car brand in the marketplace. Sure, your new car franchise may do very well as a used car on your lot, but the market is so much bigger than that one brand.
   
It baffles me as to why you would want to limit yourself primarily to your own brand. What’s really screwy is often times your new car brand ain’t so hot as a new car, but yet you want to stock mostly that brand in used cars. I mean, come on. If they ain’t buying it as a new car the odds are also pretty good that they don’t want it as a used one either. (Yes, there are exceptions to every rule, just lighten up and read on.) 

So, what is the fix? Hello…become a student of the game. Someone in your organization has got to spend an adequate amount of time on research. I see it happen all the time where the dealer comes to the realization that they need to stock some models other their own, and they rush out and buy a bunch of stuff only to wake up 60 days later and think “geez, this ain’t working let’s get back to stocking our own stuff. We’re a Ford store so let’s go back to stocking Fords.” So, what’s the answer?

Combining vAuto’s stocking tool and AutoCount USA data is a good first step. Research is the most important and most often left out element in the equation of finding the cars and trucks we need. It’s time consuming and cannot be done once every few months. It’s a daily process. Unfortunately it cannot be done by the typical stereotype used car manager.

You need a geek who understands the car business and can sit in front of a computer most of the day. There are a number of things that “Geeky” can do really well for you. With the right direction they can do research, they can buy online and they can handle the  re-pricing of current inventory.

If you can hire a former CarMax person for this position then your chances of success just went way up because they understand the importance of data and the role it plays in inventory turn and profits. vAuto’s Stocking Tool makes this job so much easier than ever before.

Is this a total cure all? No. Are you going to make some mistakes? Yes. Your mistakes won’t be half as bad if you put a short time line on these purchased units. Far too often dealers sit on them hoping and wishing for a miracle to happen. It’s a given that your best profit opportunity is the first 20 days.

If it’s a hot seller in the market and you’re not getting “action” on it in the first 20 days, then it’s time to start cutting your prices and make that ‘bad boy” go away. At some point you have to stop thinking “profit” and think “turn,” and you can’t wait 45 to 60 days to get into that mindset.

So, here’s the deal. If your used vehicle inventory is more than 50% of your own brand you will never be a real used car player. You just won’t. Oh, you will have a few good months just because you get lucky and the market moves your way. But long term you’re not going to dominate your used car market. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs