The top 3 ingredients for used car management during tough market conditions

Welcome to this week’s episode of Used Cars Weekly, the original CBT News show dedicated to bringing car dealers best practices and tips for the used car department, in-depth dealer interviews, hands-on dealership strategies, as well as vendor analysis. Today, host Jasen Rice, founder of Lotpop, is joined by Tommy Gibbs, President of Tommy Gibbs & Associates. 

Gibbs specializes in coaching car dealers regarding their leadership skills and used car management processes. Additionally, he has over 23 years of experience as a new car dealer. In part one of their conversation, Rice and Gibbs tackle the top used car areas that dealers can focus on right now to combat current market conditions.

Your used car franchise is your best franchise

If car dealers have strong used car sales and management processes, then they can always make money regardless of market conditions. Car dealers have started to really improve their used car processes, and Gibbs hopes that they will continue to do so even when conditions become more favorable. Some key components to keep in mind include:

1. Don’t miss a trade: Gibbs says that while car dealers are doing a decent job of handling trades, it’s wise to include more than one manager in the appraisal process. It’s also important for dealers to evaluate the trades they worked that didn’t turn into deals. Part of the daily save-a-deal meeting should include assessing those missed opportunities and then designating a manager to reach back out to those consumers.
2. Dealers need a buying center: Dealers need some sort of operation dedicated to buying used inventory that covers private sellers, proxy bidding at auctions, as well as some trade-ins. Dealers that had this operation, whether internal or at a separate facility, were ahead of the game once the pandemic hit. After the outbreak, more car dealers started operations of their own, and now the onus is on them to continue amping up their centers.
3. You make the most money in the first 30 days: Car dealers should strive to be disciplined in monitoring the age of their used car inventory. A short life cycle on those cars is crucial, especially auction vehicles. While vehicles at 45 days or 60 days have gone up in value, those market conditions won’t last in the long run.

Stay tuned to CBT News for part two of this great interview with Tommy Gibbs coming your way next Thursday at 1:00 pm Eastern time.

Did you enjoy this episode of Used Cars Weekly? Please share your thoughts, comments, or questions regarding this topic by submitting a letter to the editor here, or connect with us at newsroom@cbtnews.com.