Given the chance, most people I know would jump at the chance to get an open point.
If you have the assets to make it happen, the only drawback for you would be staffing and no units in operation to support your fixed operations.
Even with those obstacles, most people will figure a way to make it happen
This type of opportunity doesn’t come along often so your decision is understandable.
Since the odds are not in your favor of getting an open point, why not invest in your used car operation?
Your new car volume isn’t likely to improve all that much with the numbers nationally hovering around 17 million. Cranking up used cars makes a lot of sense.
Of course, I think you should invest in my training and invest in increasing your enthusiasm and passion for the used car business.
That said, perhaps the best investment for you would be in a standalone recon/service center. Your first reaction is it doesn’t make financial sense. Let’s look a little deeper.
If you have two or more stores or if your stand-alone store is selling 100 plus used a month maybe it’s an investment you need to give serious consideration to.
If your current service department is operating at close to 100% efficiency, you are more than likely losing customer pay because you’re not able to service those customers in a timely manner.
We live in a world of “now.” If you can’t get them in right now, you may very well lose them forever.
With your used cars not clogging up your service operation, you should be able to quickly work your way back to 100% efficiency in the service department.
By having a separate recon car operation you’re going to shave a number of days off the number of days tied up in recon.
Every day you save makes you money. Forget about the savings in holding costs. Your grosses are the best in the first 10 days you sell a car. Faster is better.
With a recon car operation, you’re likely to be more flexible about how you price labor and parts to the used car department.
That’s especially true when it comes to keeping some of the older, cheaper, high mileage stuff, etc.
Retailing a unit vs. wholesaling a unit is always a winning proposition for you.
If you don’t have room to build a building, then look for something you can rent or buy within a 5-mile radius of your store or stores. Yes, you will have to shuffle them back and forth, but you can figure that out.
Some questions you should ask:
How much internal work are you now doing?
What’s the impact of moving that from your service department?
Can your service department make up the difference?
How many additional units will you have to sell for the recon center to more than pay for itself?
By opening a separate recon center what’s the message you are sending your organization?
Now is the time to invest in your used car operation. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs