The future of
vehicle acquisition
vehicle acquisition
“VETTX has helped us in many ways. When inventory was tight, and most of our competitors had no inventory to speak of, our lot was full. We were able to maintain over 100 used cars at all times.”
Chuck Patterson Toyota is a great example of the potential that private party acquisition has for dealerships. By utilizing our platform and buying tactics, they could reduce their reliance on trade-ins, increase their Total Gross Profit for the year, and gain new customers in the process.
Chuck Patterson Toyota is a franchise dealership in Chico, California. Winner of numerous awards, including Toyota's highest honor, The Prestigious Presidential award. They have been Family owned and operated since 1966.
The management at Chuck Patterson Used Cars knew there had been a rise in private-party auto retail in their market. Buyers were no longer making their purchases from dealerships, and the for-sale-by-owner market was absorbing the customer base.
Chuck Patterson Toyota wanted to expand its acquisition model beyond relying on trades for its used car inventory. It was hard to track or predict the number of trades that came in on any given month. They were tired of playing defense and wanted to take an offensive approach.
Chuck Patterson Toyota understood that the other dealers in their market weren't their only competition; “Bob” and “Larry” down the road buying and selling their cars from each other were a more significant threat. The solution was to absorb the market and become their area's primary source of used cars.
VETTX helped them build, scale, and perfect a team of buyers and bookers so they could be self-sufficient and not have to rely on anyone for the success of their store.
Learn how they added over $4.5 Million in gross and over 1,000 vehicles to their used car department’s bottom line with VETTX.
McGovern Auto Group is located mainly in the New England area with 15 stores. It is one of the largest auto groups in their part of the country, with the largest private party vehicle acquisition operation. We spoke with Tom Kilgarriff, the Pre-owned Director for the McGovern Auto Group.
McGovern Auto Group didn’t know where to start. They knew they needed to pursue private party leads but weren’t sure how to do it successfully without hiring an army. Before VETTX, the only private party cars they were buying were ones that came to them.
When leads did come in, there wasn’t any organization. They didn’t know if they should integrate them into their main CRM or keep them separate. Many of them eventually ended up falling through the cracks.
On top of that, there was growing competition at the auctions. Prices were becoming too high for their taste, and there were high associated fees. Also, when they did buy a car, they would get a “cookie cutter” car, according to Kilgarriff. The cars also weren't the cleanest he had seen. They would have to spend time reconditioning. And when you add all that up — the increasing prices, the little-to-none variety, and the high recon — you can understand why Tom and his team weren’t satisfied.
“It’s safe to say that these cars gross more on the front end than cars that come from most other sources, certainly the auction. In terms of turnaround time, these cars turn more quickly on average than cars that we get from other sources.”
When Tom first signed on with VETTX, he was a one-man band. Once he understood this tool's potential and put dedicated employees on the platform, they started putting up some impressive numbers. Today, they continue to buy upwards of 30 cars per month. They are doing so well on the platform because their team is committed to this acquisition strategy. They are going all in, even hiring a whole fleet of drivers that appraise and pick up cars across multiple states.
In this game, good organization is critical. As Tom said, sometimes, these sellers aren't ready to sell right away. They might need a week or two to come down on their asking price. Without diligent notes and organization, that lead slips away. But with VETTX, when that lead comes back, they know exactly what was offered, when they offered, and all additional notes particular to that seller. With this method, Tom and his team absorbed many vehicles that most dealers couldn’t.
Tom also mentioned that they can communicate better within the platform. He and his team can be on the same page regarding what cars they want, don't want, or need and what they are willing to offer to each seller.
A lot of these sellers actually turn into buyers. The ones that really enjoyed selling their vehicle to us will come back when looking for their next vehicle. We’ve also seen people sell their car to us and then refer their friends or family to us to sell their vehicles or buy one of ours.
“It takes the question mark out of it. I know what I’m getting.”
Learn how Royal Moore Metro Single Point Made Close to $100k in only one month using the VETTX Private Party Acquisition Platform.
Royal Moore is a franchise dealership with four locations just outside of Portland, OR. We came in contact with them at the 2019 NADA Show in Vegas. We interviewed Karen Wood, one of the buyers at Royal Moore. Karen explained that one of the reasons they were looking for other sources of used inventory was because, at any given time, they can have 650 cars on the ground that will need constant replacement.
Karen was frustrated with going to auctions because they never really knew what they were getting. The pictures she sees of these vehicles at the auction are what they want her to see. And when these vehicles would show up at her store, there could be a plethora of issues — hail damage, front bumper missing, etc.
Karen told our team that the vehicles at the auction tend to have a slower turn rate than vehicles acquired off the street. She explained that it's because the vehicles acquired from auctions have to spend more time in recon than private party vehicles that can “be on the line in a matter of a couple of days.”
VETTX allows Karen to spend her time on more important tasks rather than searching classified ads in hopes of finding a vehicle that meets her parameters. VETTX can pull vehicles into Karen's platform from multiple marketplaces with a click of a button.
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