Featured Articles - July 2008

• - 4 ratings

  Eruzione, Anderson to Headline 14th Annual National Special Finance and Buy Here-Pay Here Conference  - Must Read

  

  Chris Leedom

  SARASOTA, Fla. — Given the current state of the automotive retail industry, there are clearly more questions than ever being asked about capital markets, special finance, the buy here-pay here business model and the overall economy.

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• - 7 ratings

  Slow Sales? For Whom?  - Must Read

  

  Dr James Garvin

  One of the interesting things in business is the argument that springs up about what to do in slow times. Let’s think about that for a minute. When times are good, when people are coming on the lot constantly, does that mean you can stop advertising? Does that mean you stop sales training? Does that mean you stop attending seminars and meetings to educate yourself? Nope, because each one of those things brings value to your enterprise, to you as a business person and to your dealership. Money is good, it’s a no-brainer, right?

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• - 4 ratings

  Our Industry Has Been Harmed! Let’s Right This Wrong  - Must Read

  

  Peter Salinas

  Last month a report on Good Morning America on ABC by Elisabeth Leamy discussed the “Dos and Don’ts of Buying a Used Car.” It was rife with inaccuracies, stereotypes of retailers and, most importantly, a disparagement of independent used vehicle retailers by saying: “Don’t buy from questionable used car lots. Don’t buy from a used car lot that is brand new, changes names often or moves around. Some experts say don’t buy from these businesses at all because they get the second-rate used cars the new car dealerships don’t want.”

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• - 1 rating

  Auctions Pick Up AuctionACCESS Fees, Dealers to Get Refunds  - Must Read

  

  Peter Salinas

  Despite having collected more than 40,000 payments and being more than half way to securing payments from all automotive retailers and their auction buyers to renew their AuctionACCESS cards, the company has entered into an agreement with its participating auctions to have them continue to pay for the service and refunds will be given to dealers who already paid to renew.

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• - 1 rating

  Lease Here-Pay Here: The Next Great ‘Evolution’ — Part 2  - Must Read

  

  Randall McCathren

  (In Part 1 (DBJ June 2008, p. 38) Mr. McCathren discussed the benefits and challenges of Lease-Here-Pay-Here (LHPH) programs. Part 2 discusses the steps to implement a successful program.)

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• - 5 ratings

  Get Noticed! Drive Traffic! Be Memorable!  - Must Read

  

  Nick Ferri

  If you look in today’s newspapers or turn on the radio or TV, most of the advertising in the automotive market looks the same. Most of the ads scream at you to “Buy Now!” with some kind of Clearance, Liquidation, Midnight Madness Sale, Inventory Blowout, Super Sale, or some other type of high-pressure, fast-talking, blow-out-your-eardrums Mega Sale.

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• - 5 ratings

  Ten Examples You Can Set To Positively Impact Others  - Must Read

  

  Dave Anderson

  When your people listen to your words and then watch your actions, do they see stellar consistency or blatant hypocrisy? In other words, do you lead by personal example or by personal convenience? Since your followers will listen to what you say but are more interested in what you actually do, you are well-advised to pay close attention to the consistency between words and deeds. As Andrew Carnegie observed: “As I grow older I pay less attention to what men say and instead I watch what they do.”

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• - 6 ratings

  Where’s the Thief?  - Must Read

  

  Emily Beck

  A couple of years back, I wrote an article about a little experiment I conducted using “Google E-Mail Alerts.” As part of this nifty program, I typed in “car dealer fraud,” and some similar search terms in “Google E-Mail Alerts,” and Google e-mailed me daily about any Internet news articles discussing dealer fraud. (’Cause if it’s not on Google, it doesn’t exist, right?)

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• - 3 ratings

  Missouri Proposes 3,000 Percent Increase in Records Fees  - Must Read

  

  Peter Salinas

  A proposed 3,000 percent increase in the current price of individual vehicle records by the Missouri Department of Revenue has Experian Automotive on a public relations and legal challenge campaign to the move which would effectively eliminate vehicle records coming from the “Show Me” state.

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• - 5 ratings

  Are You Considering Changing Your BHPH Underwriting?

  

  Peter Salinas

  While the economy is going through extraordinary changes and, in some cases, tribulations there’s one sector of the used vehicle marketplace that may be in for its best run in many years — the buy here-pay here business.

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• - 4 ratings

  Economic Concerns, Lackluster Sales Only Emboldens Team Southern Trust

  

  Peter Salinas

  Rick Potts and the team from Southern Trust Auto Sales had plans to move 30-35 units during a two-day off-site Tent Sale on a piece of property he owns north of his two Fort Myers, Fla.-area locations.

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• - 4 ratings

  Fill Your Showroom This Summer

  

  Cathy Nuccio

  It was standing room only in the car dealer’s showroom. Last Tuesday night was hot, humid with cloudy skies and the threat of an epic downpour. The crowd size was no less than 200 in the small, not-so-modern showroom of a suburban auto dealer. This small storefront does not resemble the phenomenal stores that are springing up everywhere.

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• - 2 ratings

  Summer Doldrums Got You Down?

  

  Peter Salinas

  Charles Cain, owner

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• - 3 ratings

  Is Your Dealership In a Holding Mode?

  

  George Dans

  The word on the street is that a lot of dealerships are in holding mode.

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• - 4 ratings

  Some Thoughts About The Evening News

  

  Chris Leedom

  I have just finished up almost a month on the road of Twenty Group meetings, onsite consulting visits and just a few hours ago the NIADA Annual Convention. It has been interesting taking this whirlwind tour and finding out what is happening on the front lines. I do not think I have seen a time like this in the used-vehicle market during my 20-plus year tenure.

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• - 3 ratings

  Zen Marketing And a .357

  

  Robert Boulware

  With the tightening of the auto market along with the purse strings of your ad budget comes an inevitable Catch-22. You have to hit customers twice as hard to draw them in, but now you have half the resources. This is not the time to “spray and pray.” You need to know exactly where your target market is and make each shot count.

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• - 7 ratings

  Why Do Buy Here-Pay Here Sales Seem to Slow Down in the Summer?

  

  Chuck Bonanno

  Now that tax refund season is a memory, we must keep in mind that the summertime blues may follow if we are not prepared. What are the summertime blues, you ask? Simply put, it is at this time every year (June, July and August) where sales volume retreats to normal levels. Customers start missing payments, (June), delinquency rises, (July) repossessions and charge-offs begin (August). This is an annual occurrence and yet every year it becomes more maddening.

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• - 2 ratings

  Lease Pay Offs And Ten Foot Poles

  

  Thomas Hudson

  OK, you take a trade-in vehicle, you call the lienholder for a payoff, and you do the deal based on the number the lienholder provides. What happens if it turns out the lienholder quoted you a number that is lower than the actual balance due from the customer.

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• - 4 ratings

  Are You Still In That Same Old Box?

  

  Butch Moore

  Here we are, half way through the year and more market changes have taken place in the past six months than at any time in my 30 years in this business.

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• - 2 ratings

  Ouch! Experts Predict More Bad News for Trucks, SUVs

  

  Peter Salinas

  There was a lot of negative news on the automotive retail front last month, especially for new car sales, as reports from Edmunds.com and CNWMarketing Research pointed to significant declines in June sales and manufacturers facing huge residual losses on SUV lease returns.

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