Do You Own It?

If you’re a sports fan, you’ve probably heard a reporter say that the player “owned it” when they acknowledged that they made a mistake, blunder and/or just screwed something up that cost their team a win.

The Tampa Bay Rays lost a game to the Red Sox this past weekend at the very end with a boneheaded play by Tommy Pham, one of my favorite players. He’s a favorite of mine because of the intensity upon which he attacks the game.

The Rays are down one run in the bottom of the ninth, two runners on, two outs, a base hit ties the game, a double or more wins it. Pham gets picked off at first base by a throw from the catcher. Yes, from the catcher. Good Golly Miss Molly. What the heck!

In an interview after the game, Pham said he “just messed up.” The media was kind to him saying he “owned it.”

Really? What else could he do? He totally screwed it up. Nothing more, nothing less. Of course, his intention moving forward is to not make the same mistake again.

The problem in some dealerships is that nobody, and I mean nobody, owns the used car inventory.

Not the Dealer.
Not the GM.
Not the GSM
Not the Used Car Manager.

How do I know that to be true? Because if anyone owned it, they wouldn’t have aged units that they keep making excuses for.

I’m amazed at all the excuses I hear for having units over 60 days. As an old friend of mine used to say, “You can justify anything you want to justify.”

Hey Einstein, there’s no logic and no money to be made past 60 days. Betting you will make money on a 60-day old unit is a really bad bet. So why do you keep doing it? Beats the heck out of me.

Clearly, understand I’m not in favor of you dumping a 60-day old unit in the wholesale market. But, I’m highly in favor of you
finding a retail buyer before you get to the 60-day mark.

There’s a number that somebody will pay for it at retail. The problem is you keep holding out thinking you can make X. More often than not, the unit that just hit 60 days was a problematic unit from jump street, but you didn’t bother to identify it and take action to make it go away.

It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, “It starts at the top.” If you’re the Dealer or GM, shame on you, shame, shame on you. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs