Henry Day Ford
Key track systems
We are needing to replace the way we deal with keys at our store. We have always used lock boxes that are on the car but it has turned out to be a big issue lately. We have experienced a lot of theft and I chalk most of it up to us putting the keys on the car.
That being said, we are looking into key track companies to sign up with. We have had demos and gotten pricing from 3 different companies. It is a challenge to determine who will be the best option in terms of quality of product and on price.
Does anybody use a key track system that they love? If so, what is the company? I would love some suggestions so we can set up the system that is going to work out best for our store. Is there anything that you don't like about the current system?
Henry Day Ford
Key track systems
We are needing to replace the way we deal with keys at our store. We have always used lock boxes that are on the car but it has turned out to be a big issue lately. We have experienced a lot of theft and I chalk most of it up to us putting the keys on the car.
That being said, we are looking into key track companies to sign up with. We have had demos and gotten pricing from 3 different companies. It is a challenge to determine who will be the best option in terms of quality of product and on price.
Does anybody use a key track system that they love? If so, what is the company? I would love some suggestions so we can set up the system that is going to work out best for our store. Is there anything that you don't like about the current system?
No Comments
Henry Day Ford
Wholesale vehicles
I recently attended a 20 group meeting where we had a long conversation going back and forth on to what extent you should recondition and warranty a cash and carry vehicle. To me, a cash and carry vehicle is a $2,000-$10,000 car that is older with higher miles. We typically fix the major stuff on those vehicles when we sell them and usually don't worry about the small stuff. We sell them as is but fully disclose any issues the vehicle may have up front to the customer.
There were a lot of dealers that we talked to that fully recondition those vehicles and also offer some sort of a basic warranty for 6 months or so. Their argument is that you can sell the car for more money if you spend more on recon and offer a warranty. They offer the warranty because they say if a customer comes back after the purchase with a problem, they are going to fix it anyway in order to protect their reputation.
I see their point, but I feel like you can protect your reputation in most cases by fully disclosing everything that the vehicle needs at the point of sale and occasionally fixing things after the fact. I feel like we have things pretty dialed in with those cars, but they had me second-guessing the way that we sell those cars. I'm also torn as to whether or not we should put a warranty of some sort on them.
Let me know what you guys do with those cars. I would love to hear what works for your dealerships.
1 Comment
Contractor
Bryant, I will ask you the following question; Wiil a customer looking fro a $3,000 car pay $4,000 for the right one? My experience says; YES! My philosophy, evolving every day, is that I would rather run the vehicle through my shop and increase the cost by $1,000 because I spent it with myself and to simply increase the price accordingly. The Cash & Carry market is NOT a competitive market in that if you have one you will sell one.....if you have 10 you will sell ten. The C&C get more hits, generate more phone calls and more floor traffic than any other vehicle. This is a great segment to be in because most dealers live in fear of the perceived liability if anything goes wrong.....it is an irrational fear. My advice to you is spend the money, increase the price, pay a double flat and sell as many as possible!
Henry Day Ford
Wholesale vehicles
I recently attended a 20 group meeting where we had a long conversation going back and forth on to what extent you should recondition and warranty a cash and carry vehicle. To me, a cash and carry vehicle is a $2,000-$10,000 car that is older with higher miles. We typically fix the major stuff on those vehicles when we sell them and usually don't worry about the small stuff. We sell them as is but fully disclose any issues the vehicle may have up front to the customer.
There were a lot of dealers that we talked to that fully recondition those vehicles and also offer some sort of a basic warranty for 6 months or so. Their argument is that you can sell the car for more money if you spend more on recon and offer a warranty. They offer the warranty because they say if a customer comes back after the purchase with a problem, they are going to fix it anyway in order to protect their reputation.
I see their point, but I feel like you can protect your reputation in most cases by fully disclosing everything that the vehicle needs at the point of sale and occasionally fixing things after the fact. I feel like we have things pretty dialed in with those cars, but they had me second-guessing the way that we sell those cars. I'm also torn as to whether or not we should put a warranty of some sort on them.
Let me know what you guys do with those cars. I would love to hear what works for your dealerships.
1 Comment
Contractor
Bryant, I will ask you the following question; Wiil a customer looking fro a $3,000 car pay $4,000 for the right one? My experience says; YES! My philosophy, evolving every day, is that I would rather run the vehicle through my shop and increase the cost by $1,000 because I spent it with myself and to simply increase the price accordingly. The Cash & Carry market is NOT a competitive market in that if you have one you will sell one.....if you have 10 you will sell ten. The C&C get more hits, generate more phone calls and more floor traffic than any other vehicle. This is a great segment to be in because most dealers live in fear of the perceived liability if anything goes wrong.....it is an irrational fear. My advice to you is spend the money, increase the price, pay a double flat and sell as many as possible!
Henry Day Ford
Used reconditioning turn in shop
I know the industry standard for getting a used vehicle through the reconditioning process is 4 days or less. We have consistantly averaged 8-9 days for the past who knows how long. We have met with and begged the service department for a long time to fix the issue and get our vehicles through the shop faster. So far, no luck.
I'm curious to know if there are other dealers that have successfully got this number down to 4 or less days. Or do most dealers even track and hold their service department accountable?
Just to make sure we are comparing apples to apples in terms of volume, we retail an average of about 90 retail deals per month. We currently have 2 full time detailers, 1 full time tech (part of our problem) and sometimes the divvy up his work when he's really behind, and 1 internal service writer that acts as the middleman between us and service. It's also worth mentioning that we recondition to a very high standard so that may be causing to the higher average days.
Let me know how you got it done. Change in pay plans? More techs?
2 Comments
Nucar Connection
I created a small program that allowed us to create accountability for each step of process and we are averaging 4-5 days. It cut the he said she said out of equation.
Contractor
Great topic! I have NOT solved the issue but when you think about it we have a very limited "window of opportunity" on the web with each offering. At a recent 20 Group Meeting we agreed, for the lack of hard data, that the window was 30 days and the average store in that group was averaging 8-9 days from acquisition to photos. That equates to 30% of prime retail selling time with no pictures! How will that ever work out? I think it is time that the Fixed Operations get up to date with the variable needs and start playing on the digital team as opposed to sitting on the side lines!
Henry Day Ford
Used reconditioning turn in shop
I know the industry standard for getting a used vehicle through the reconditioning process is 4 days or less. We have consistantly averaged 8-9 days for the past who knows how long. We have met with and begged the service department for a long time to fix the issue and get our vehicles through the shop faster. So far, no luck.
I'm curious to know if there are other dealers that have successfully got this number down to 4 or less days. Or do most dealers even track and hold their service department accountable?
Just to make sure we are comparing apples to apples in terms of volume, we retail an average of about 90 retail deals per month. We currently have 2 full time detailers, 1 full time tech (part of our problem) and sometimes the divvy up his work when he's really behind, and 1 internal service writer that acts as the middleman between us and service. It's also worth mentioning that we recondition to a very high standard so that may be causing to the higher average days.
Let me know how you got it done. Change in pay plans? More techs?
2 Comments
Nucar Connection
I created a small program that allowed us to create accountability for each step of process and we are averaging 4-5 days. It cut the he said she said out of equation.
Contractor
Great topic! I have NOT solved the issue but when you think about it we have a very limited "window of opportunity" on the web with each offering. At a recent 20 Group Meeting we agreed, for the lack of hard data, that the window was 30 days and the average store in that group was averaging 8-9 days from acquisition to photos. That equates to 30% of prime retail selling time with no pictures! How will that ever work out? I think it is time that the Fixed Operations get up to date with the variable needs and start playing on the digital team as opposed to sitting on the side lines!
Henry Day Ford
Year end bonus?
We have gone back and forth on year end bonus' over the last few years. We currently pay our sales consultants a year end bonus based on them acheiving a certain level of sales for the year. We also pay them an extra bonus for CSI if they are in the top 10 percent. I'm curious to know what other dealerships pay in terms of an annual bonus for their salespeople.
Also, we currently don't pay a year end bonus to any of our sales managers or finance managers. They used to get an annual bonus that was linked in to their monthly one-on-ones and their average scores from those reviews. It wasn't a ton of money, but at least it was something that they could look forward to at the end of the year. Again, I was wondering if the norm is to pay year end bonus' to sales managers and finance managers? If so, what type of bonus do you pay out and how is it earned?
1 Comment
Franklin Chevrolet
We pay out a bonus on the 10th-15th of December. We pay the sales rep $12.00 for every car sold for the month and keep track until the end of the year. We expense the money monthly and if anyone quits it just becomes available for other bonuses. I believe we started this when we increased the DOC Fee back several yrs ago. It's not a lot of money, but we have some that get close to 3k a yr off of it... This bonus has endured for years with no complaints.
Henry Day Ford
Year end bonus?
We have gone back and forth on year end bonus' over the last few years. We currently pay our sales consultants a year end bonus based on them acheiving a certain level of sales for the year. We also pay them an extra bonus for CSI if they are in the top 10 percent. I'm curious to know what other dealerships pay in terms of an annual bonus for their salespeople.
Also, we currently don't pay a year end bonus to any of our sales managers or finance managers. They used to get an annual bonus that was linked in to their monthly one-on-ones and their average scores from those reviews. It wasn't a ton of money, but at least it was something that they could look forward to at the end of the year. Again, I was wondering if the norm is to pay year end bonus' to sales managers and finance managers? If so, what type of bonus do you pay out and how is it earned?
1 Comment
Franklin Chevrolet
We pay out a bonus on the 10th-15th of December. We pay the sales rep $12.00 for every car sold for the month and keep track until the end of the year. We expense the money monthly and if anyone quits it just becomes available for other bonuses. I believe we started this when we increased the DOC Fee back several yrs ago. It's not a lot of money, but we have some that get close to 3k a yr off of it... This bonus has endured for years with no complaints.
Henry Day Ford
401 K
We have gone without a 401k match here at the dealership since 2008. When the tough times came, that was one of the first things that needed to be cut to keep expenses low.
Now that we are back where we need to be, we are planning on reinstating the 401 k match soon. We used to match up to 2% as long as the employee contributed 4% or more. I'm curious to see what others dealerships out there offer on a 401k match if anything? I would like to see what the standard is in order to make sure we set up something that is fair to the employees.
Let me know what you think...
2 Comments
CrossCheck, Inc.
Bryant, congratulations on being successful enough to be able to extend the match. That's a major perk in today's economy, and I hope - whatever it is - the majority of your employees take advantage of the "free money." Will you institute a waiting period? It's one year before qualifying where I work. That seems to be the norm. Also where I work, the match is on a sliding scale (executives get a higher match than we peons!). I'm just excited to see that this is happening out there, best of luck.
Henry Day Ford
401 K
We have gone without a 401k match here at the dealership since 2008. When the tough times came, that was one of the first things that needed to be cut to keep expenses low.
Now that we are back where we need to be, we are planning on reinstating the 401 k match soon. We used to match up to 2% as long as the employee contributed 4% or more. I'm curious to see what others dealerships out there offer on a 401k match if anything? I would like to see what the standard is in order to make sure we set up something that is fair to the employees.
Let me know what you think...
2 Comments
CrossCheck, Inc.
Bryant, congratulations on being successful enough to be able to extend the match. That's a major perk in today's economy, and I hope - whatever it is - the majority of your employees take advantage of the "free money." Will you institute a waiting period? It's one year before qualifying where I work. That seems to be the norm. Also where I work, the match is on a sliding scale (executives get a higher match than we peons!). I'm just excited to see that this is happening out there, best of luck.
No Comments