
2 minute read
Retail Markets
Georgia
Jim Thompson, owner, IQautos, Marietta, Ga.
“I’ve been in business 25 years and have been working remote for many years.
“Right now, our inventory is around 75 cars. Before COVID we had 130 or so, and as low as 50. We sell about 45 a month.
“We specialize in off-lease BMWs and Teslas. We are a BMW Group VIP dealer, there are about 35 of us. It’s kind of a wild ride when you’re dealing with Teslas. Their prices started dropping rapidly around last Thanksgiving. Have you ever been on a roller coaster?
“Right now, we’re getting down payments of around $3,000. We like to get 10% down. About half of our customers have trade-ins and we get a lot of repeat and referral customers.
“Most of what we buy still has a factory warranty. We have to put tires and brakes on, so we’ll spend around $800 in reconditioning.
“We’re looking for a threeyear-old car and around 30,000 miles.
“We advertise on thirdparty classified sites. We’re seeing what we call a ‘race to deception’ on some of these sites. It’s a huge problem.
“The sites tell the sellers to post a really good badge price. But that doesn’t include the add-on fees. We saw one recently that added an ‘infrastructure maintenance fee.’ These fees used to total around $300-$600. Now it’s gotten to the point where some dealers are adding up to $8,000.
“What has happened is that the MRA (market report value) on the retail side is lower than what the car is selling for at auction. The consumer is seeing click- bait, not a real price.
“With my dealership, we don’t want to sell the most cars, we’re a happy-sized dealership. We want to focus on a concierge-level customer experience.
“The last car we sold was a 2021 BMW with roughly 40,000 miles. We got $41,500 for it.”
Colorado
Joe Fuentes, owner, Morgan County Motors, Fort Morgan, Colo.
“I’ve been in this location for 16 years. We are in rural America.
“We have a strong repeat following. We’re selling to multi-generations of families.
“My inventory right now is between 50 and 60. We sell, between both locations, 3540 a month. Our other lot is in Yuma, Colo.
“Trucks and SUVs are our top sellers, probably 80 percent of our sales.
“We sell a lot more domestics than imports, but we seem to do OK with the Hondas and Toyotas.
“We still go to auctions. We’re trying to buy more online. We use Dealers Auto Auction of the Rockies. We buy from CarMax online every week, buying local as well as out-of-state, OVE too. We also use Manheim in Denver.
“We do buy-here, payhere. It’s kind of a hybrid, we do some BHPH and credit union financing. We’ve used PassTime (starter-interrupt) for quite a while, and now we’ve moved into their wireless units.
“We just got done with tax season so the down payments were stronger. It kind of fluctuates. We try to keep the notes short, 24-36 months.
Compiled by Ed Fitzgerald
“We probably are in the range of $1,200 to $1,500 on reconditioning. We have our own service facility and try to do 99 percent of it inhouse.
“Our advertising is online. We do local advertising like the Thrifty Nickel. We do some radio and we use CarGurus.
“We carry anything from a $6,000 car up to $35,000, it’s a wide range.
“Anyone starting up in this business should get in with their state association. They have a lot of knowledge and they’re out there to help us. They’re our voice, locally and federally. Colorado has one of the strongest groups out there. The compliance issues are not going to go away any time soon.
“The last car I sold was a 2011 Chevy 2500 service body truck, roughly 150,000 miles. We sold it for $21,500.”





