Opinions On Location Needed

odinn7 · Apr 2, 2012, 06:47 PM

Wondergirl...My partner is still unsure about the whole Ford thing. Meeting them, for her, would probably be out of the question. Thank you for your help...if I go with that place, I may just get up the nerve to go over there.

Fr_Chuck...You bring up some good points and I thank you for that. My father was a car salesman for about 30 years so I have some inside help from him with his guidance.
The market I would be using for the majority of my cars would be the dealer auctions around here. There a 3 within 2 hours of me, one of them is fairly close. I have not been to them as I am required to have a dealer license before I can do so. I can't get the dealer license until I have a place picked out and set up.
As far as the mechanic part of it...I have 2 ways to handle it. I was a mechanic for 15 years. I also was a detailer in a business for 2 years and did it as a side business for about 5 years. So, I can handle much of that stuff. The main thing I will do though for mechanical situations, I have numerous contacts in shops around here. I would probably try to set up an account with a shop to handle oil changes and safety inspections on all cars that I take in. I figure that this is a selling point as many used dealers around here don't offer that. One dealer here (who would be my main competition) gets his cars from the auction and puts them right on the lot...no inspections, no repairs, no detailing....And it looks like you're in a tattoo parlor when you walk into his office. Very unprofessional.

odinn7 · Apr 2, 2012, 06:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wondergirl

And customer service is everything!

It sure is. See the last part of my previous comment. The part about the other used dealer in my area...doesn't know what customer service is!

Fr_Chuck · Apr 2, 2012, 07:22 PM

Talk to a dealer perhaps in a town close to you and see if they will take you, or put you on a list to go to several of the sales. Of course there are always some issues with auction cars you find when you get them back ( or the ones that break down on the way back) Do you have a small auto transport to haul them back from the auction if you go and buy two or three ?

What we did in the past of course was a dealer finance, and the down payment was the price we paid for the car. If we bought it at auction for 1000 and the Kelly price was 3500 we might price it at 4000 and carry the loan with 1000 dollar down. That way we never really lost money. And of course often made the extra money on the car if they could not pay and we took the car back and sold it two or even three times. Then we had some "cash only" cars, the very bottom end cars that we may have bought for 500 to 1000 we sold out for 2000 to 2500. ** was a some years ago, guess that would be a high price now.

Latter we sold some of our papers to ( I think General Financeor one of the local companies) for about 70 percent of value but we got all the money up front.

But honestly, across from another car dealer sounds just perfect to me, people looking for cars will be driving past there, but the main thing is, the traffic flow of the road, how many 1000 people travel that road a day Busy road and big sign the best advertising you can get.

odinn7 · Apr 4, 2012, 03:45 PM

Thanks for the information Fr_Chuck.

I don't have a transport to get cars from the auction...it is going to be done the old fashioned way, with hired part time drivers.

This whole thread might have been a waste,,,I keep calling the number on the place and keep getting voicemail. I've left messages to call me back but I'm not getting anywhere.

Opinions On Location Needed

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