CAR WARZ... The Legend continues.....

HOLY #@$%!!!!!!!!! Has it been that long since I've ranted; I mean written here???

Well what have I been doing you might ask??? (Or you might have just rolled your eyes as soon as you seen the post!)

I went to the "Dark Side" of the auto industry. Yep, you read that right, the "Dark Side" of the auto industry. No, not the government! I went to help friend reopen a independent used car lot. Nothing big, 8-10 cars on a good strip of road. And after seeing what he was doing I got an idea.?!?!

*** Before I go further please do not think of this as "Confessions of a Car Salesman!" This is just my experiences not some tell all, news expose' or propaganda to bring down the industry.*** There are enough of those out there!

I went and applied at a semi-local independent dealer and surprise I got hired.

I want to say first and foremost that all of my preconceived notions were dead wrong. I didn't have to buy a plaid suit, I didn't have to stand in front of rust or dents. Parts weren't falling off the cars. No spider monkeys. No yo-yo financing.

It was a very friendly place. All up to date serviced dept. A 3 bay clean up area. And most importantly 60-70 quality pre-owed vehicles. After using my "awe shucks" act to get hired, I kind of slipped up and had to sell 10 cars in 6 days.(The norm there was 10 cars a month total.) Well that started some other conversations.

Which brings us to another big idea! Why can't a independent use the same tools franchised dealers use??? Great news they can. With a few phone calls, signatures and luck. We added a few prime and semi-prime banks to the set up. Took advantage of signing up with Dealertrack. And added a DMS and CRM.

We took a 90% BHPH portfolio to a 90% indirect loan portfolio.

In my short time there I realized at least in my experience independents weren't bottom feeding, fly by night operations. They worked hard to provided quality cars to consumers too!

So all of you independents out there great job and keep plugging away.

Well I am back to franchised stores now. So until next time..................................

Come over to the dark side sometime, they have cookies ;)