UsedCarNews.com
August 19, 2019
Chain Grows with Focus on Data, Service By Ted Craig
Canadian dealer group HGreg. com is quickly growing its presence in the United States, recently adding another store in Florida. Greg Hairabedian opened his irst store in Quebec and grew from there to 25 new- and used-car stores in Canada. In 2008, the group entered the U.S. market with its irst store in Florida. Today it operates four used-car stores, one Nissan store and a luxury used-car store, all in Florida. The newest store opened in Miami at the start of the summer. The Miami store will stock 600700 units. The largest store, in Orlando, stocks between 1,400 and 1.500. The stores get most of their inventory from trade-ins and consumer purchases, said John Hairabedian, president of HGreg.com. HGreg.com really pushes its purchase program to consumers in Florida. HGreg.com uses purely digital marketing, with a focus on content such as social media posts. Hairabedian said the stores sell everything “from Mazda to Maserati.” HGreg.com inances its customers through a variety of inance sources, but does not ofer its own inancing at this time. Despite the large number of cars on ofer, HGreg.com takes an analytical approach to stocking its lots rather than just buying to ill spaces. The company has its own staf of data scientists. The most selectively stocked lot is, of course, the HGreg Lux store in Pompano Beach. This location carries only 130 units, but it sells more than vehicles. “It’s really a white glove service,” Hairabedian said. Many of the buyers for the luxury store come from out of town, drawn by its hard to ind inventory and
NORTH AND SOUTH: John Hairabedian, owner of the HGreg.com stores, stands in the showroom of one of the chain’s Florida stores. HGreg. com operates four used-car stores, a Nissan dealership and a luxury store in Florida. The latest used-car store recently opened in Miami.
making purchases online. But even the traditional stores do considerable business over the Internet, Hairabedian said. All the stores focus on treating their customers well. HGreg.com won the DealerRater award for best independent dealership earlier this year. Each store is stafed with noncommissioned salespeople. Hai-
rabedian said this means staf focuses more on the customer than the car. “Salespeople would sell a car that was right for them and not for the customer,” he said. Some of HGreg’s salespeople come from outside auto sales, but many have experience with other stores that did ofer a commission. Hairabedian said they often say
they prefer the HGreg model. He compares the HGreg model to the way Apple operates its stores. “We want to take the friction out of the transaction,” Hairabedian said. This kind of approach requires an investment in staf. New salespeople go through four weeks of training and then shadow a veteran salesperson for a week.
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