By Alysha Webb, Editor and Publisher
Peter Blackstock, the owner of the Victory Dealership Group in California, is a visionary man. He sees a lot of opportunity to grow sales at his recently acquired Ford Lincoln and Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram stores. And, Blackstock envisions a luxury auto mall in Seaside, where his Toyota and Lexus dealerships are located.
“We will see if we can put that together,” Blackstock tells Automotive Buy Sell Report.
Blackstone has known Marty Franich, the former owner of the Chrysler Dodge Jeep and Ford Lincoln dealerships in Watsonville, Calif. for decades. When Franich, 70, wanted to retire, they went and had lunch and “it just worked out,” says Blackstock.
Like most buy/sell deals it wasn’t actually that simple. They had to go through the agreement “bit by bit,” says Blackstock. “We negotiated every single thing,” he says.
In order to ensure he was able to acquire all the franchises, the deal was structured so the two dealership acquisitions couldn’t be separated, says Blackstock. They were adjacent and he wanted both lots.
A few tweaks to the agreement were required to obtain approval from both Ford and FCA, but Blackstock was able to take over Franich’s stores on March 25. He changed the names to Mid Bay Ford Lincoln and Monterrey Bay Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram.
Now the real work begins. “I think we can sell more cars” at the two dealerships, says Blackstock. He is already making changes to insure that happens.
The former owner had a comfortable operation that relied a lot on fleet sales. “I don’t think they really pushed the retail business,” says Blackstock. He will.
Already, Blackstock has put the retail sales process he uses at his other two stores in place at the Watsonville locations. He has also started using his digital marketing strategy at the new stores.
He sees a lot of opportunity to grow the fixed operations part of the business. At the Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram store for example, Blackstock is putting in more lifts so the dealership can service truck models that it couldn’t with the old equipment.
“We will be a lot more prepared, he says. “We will grow every part of the business.”
As for staffing, Blackstock offered jobs to almost all of Franich’s employees, many of whom had been working at the dealerships for many years. Franich “had a parts guy that had been there 29 years and he is a damned good parts guy,” says Blackstock.
Indeed, he was “shocked” when he discovered how good the existing staff was, says Blackstock. “They had good people in there doing a good job,” he says. “We are just going to expand.”
Customer experience is the buzz word in dealership marketing these days, and Blackstock plans to improve the experience for customers at both his new dealerships. For example, he plans to put in child playrooms, as he has at his Toyota store.
Both facilities need upgrading, says Blackstock. “We went in realizing they need new facilities.”
But the manufacturers agreed to let him start improving the operations and make cosmetic changes in the near term. “Three years down the line we will have to do more on the page with the manufacturers’ image programs,” he says.
The dealerships were making money under the previous owner, but after improvements Blackstock knows he can do better. He figures he can sell 125 new cars a month between the new franchises, and boost volume in used cars.
“I think there is a lot of opportunity,” he concludes.
Alternative to playing golf
Running five new franchises might sound like a lot of work. But Blackstock, who is 74, has even bigger plans. His Toyota and Lexus stores are located in Seaside, Calif., 24 miles south of Watsonville.
There, he is working on creating a luxury auto mall on a 29-acre site. He needs to build a new Lexus store and figures that can be the catalyst for all the other luxury dealerships in town to upgrade as well, at the same site. That should attract more luxury franchises, he figures.
Blackstock is focused on changing his dealerships’ cultures to attract more young staff and customers. He completely re-did his staff a decade ago to attract Millennials, he says.
Now, the dealerships are working in getting customers in and out of the store in an hour and fifteen minutes, he says. “We do a lot of stuff on the internet.
He isn’t even thinking about retirement. That would ruin his 45-year marriage, he jokes. Besides, “I can only play so much golf.”
