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Old 05-07-2012, 05:40 PM   #1
XDCX
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Default Maine Car Dealer consolidates four locations into one in the span of two years

News reports indicate that Bournival Jeep in York, Maine will become the sole dealership for the family that once had four dealership operations. Here's a link to the report - click here

I'm not familiar with the market in Maine and I'm not familiar with the Bournival's operation but it appears there were four separate new car locations when the Dealer Principal, Dick Bournival, passed two years ago. In the span of the past two years two of the stores closed and the final remaining store is being consolidated into the Bournival Jeep dealership in York.

While the news report seems to be consistent with the challenges our members identified in the thread about rural dealers, I thought the following quote from Bournival's General Manager also provided an interesting perspective. Here's the excerpt from the report:
The economy could not support four operations, he said. In previous years, he added, Bournival Jeep was named No. 1 in Jeep sales in New England. "The car business has changed and evolved a lot in 20 years," Claus said this week. "Basically, we're not here to sell products, it's to service customers."
To the extent the Internet and services like TrueCar have lowered gross profits on new cars and OEM programs like GM's Essential Business Elements and Chrysler's Dealer Standards have dictated how the dealer's facilities should appear and what sales practices should be employed, the comments above capture how the car business has changed in the past 20 years.
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Old 05-08-2012, 08:40 AM   #2
79LilRedExpress
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We have commented several times in posts that most D/P's come from the sales side of the dealerships.
With this new trend of service first, maybe we will see more dealer canidates from the service side of the house.

On another topic that is somewhat related, has anyone noticed the "huge" margins on the new Dart?

SE ~~> $21.00 ($15,995)
SXT ~> $321.00 ($17,995)
LTD ~> $445.00 ($19,995)

We had more mark up in Omni's that sold for $3706.00 !
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Old 05-08-2012, 09:16 AM   #3
XDCX
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 79LilRedExpress View Post
We have commented several times in posts that most D/P's come from the sales side of the dealerships.
With this new trend of service first, maybe we will see more dealer canidates from the service side of the house.
That's an interesting thought.

If the business continues to change and dealers need to derive more of their profits from the Fixed Operations side of the house it stands to reason that more dealers in the future may come from a Service and Parts background.

Quote:
Originally Posted by 79LilRedExpress View Post
On another topic that is somewhat related, has anyone noticed the "huge" margins on the new Dart?

SE ~~> $21.00 ($15,995)
SXT ~> $321.00 ($17,995)
LTD ~> $445.00 ($19,995)

We had more mark up in Omni's that sold for $3706.00 !
That's amazing - how's a dealer expected to meet all of the demands of Dealer Standards if he/she doesn't have a decent margin of profit?

This is a great topic - I'm going to split it off and create a new thread.
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