Agree, and we have that in place, which I shared some details in that post Monday afternoon. The other item we have in-place is a policy on "we have someone on that car" excuses. A CRM scheduled appointment or a deposit to hold (all stores can see all stores CRM) must be in the next 24 hours on a unit in order for a store to not relinquish a unit for show to another location. If the appointment is outside of 24 hours, the other store can get it to show but agrees to have it back for the other appointment in-time if it doesn't sell.
Shared Used Car Inventory! Who should get the lead?
- Thread starter Rick Buffkin
- Start date
I don't think CarMax will transport a vehicle just to demo/drive. Don't all the numbers need to work out before they will get the vehicle from the other store/location/state/etc? Yes, subject to inspection upon delivery - however that is a whole 'nother post about transparency on what is not perfect on the vehicle and displaying in photos and/or describing.
I have one group where the pick-up is more like a dealer-trade - the store picking ups OWNs it once picked up. Payment made, pulled into your inventory, etc etc.
And yes - problems are 10x if you have stores over 250 miles vs. owning 2-3 points in the same automall.
Sounds like we all have the same problems - and no one has a perfect solution. Need to work out what works for your store. And, as you pointed out, it is really what the OWNER wants -- they are his/her vehicles' after all, not the "stores".
Back the the OG - I am still a firm believer that the website that the customer was on should get the lead. They spent the time/money to get that customer there - need a shot at that reward.
We've created a bit of a monster there so not as simple as the site gets the lead. This is true on our "forced OEM DDC sites" but our main traffic sites (WP) are our market-level sites. There are up to three stores represented in each of those. All Used are on all sites and all New are on all sites as long as that Make is in the market. For instance every market has at least one Ford store so all sites have all New Fords. Lincoln, NE market doesn't have a Kia point so there are no new Kia's listed on that market site, etc. Here are the rules we have built in:
For example on andersonoflincoln.com, it represents Anderson Ford Lincoln of Lincoln North, Anderson Mazda of Lincoln, and Anderson Ford of Lincoln South. The rules on our native forms for Used are:
1. If a Used car is at a Lincoln, NE store, the lead selection defaults to that store but the shopper can select the other two manually if they desire to work with another store in Lincoln.
2. If a Used car is at a market outside of Lincoln, NE, the shopper has to select "Choose your dealer" from one of the three dealers in Lincoln, NE.
For New on native forms:
1. If a New Ford is at a Lincoln (city not brand) store it'll default to that store but the shopper can select the other store in Lincoln, NE if they so choose.
2. If a New Ford is outside of Lincoln, NE store, it forces the shopper to pick one of the two Ford stores in Lincoln, NE
3. If they pick a new Mazda or Lincoln (brand), it only goes to the Mazda store or the Ford/Lincoln point with no other option.
We just replaced UpStart/Prodigy with Accelerate as the DR on the sites so working to code the same rules on their 3rd party script.
I've been at stores that had issues, and ones that don't.
Shared inventory, lead at multiple rooftops with appointments? Whoever has the first appointment gets the car first.
Have a standardized cost directive, $X below selling price for cars with $Y profit, otherwise, at selling price.
If you see a store that constantly has issues, silo that one.
In my days as a vendor, I was in a Hendrick Auto Group GM meeting, and a couple GMs were arguing over who should be able to sell "their" cars - Mr. Hendrick stood up, grabbed a mic, and said two simple words: "Who's cars?" and sat back down. Issue closed.
Shared inventory, lead at multiple rooftops with appointments? Whoever has the first appointment gets the car first.
Have a standardized cost directive, $X below selling price for cars with $Y profit, otherwise, at selling price.
If you see a store that constantly has issues, silo that one.
In my days as a vendor, I was in a Hendrick Auto Group GM meeting, and a couple GMs were arguing over who should be able to sell "their" cars - Mr. Hendrick stood up, grabbed a mic, and said two simple words: "Who's cars?" and sat back down. Issue closed.
