New car sales may be slowing, but dealerships are still making money if first quarter results from several of the publics are any measure. Lithia and Asbury both had net income gains on the back of strong increases in finance and insurance, fixed ops, and used car operations despite slowing new car sales. Those have long been important profit centers for dealerships. Dealers can look to areas such as customer experience to make them even stronger.
In this week’s issue, I profile David Griffith, a dealer I have known for several years. David just sold his Toyota and Honda franchises. His reasons for selling will be familiar to many, and his willingness to leave a business he loved, but perhaps just a little too late, may be a lesson for some dealers. I’ll leave it up to my readers to decide.
Also this week, George Taylor looks at negotiating an asset purchase agreement with the seller’s best interest in mind. Just one of the important points he brings up: When determining the value of a dealership’s fixed assets, having a full appraisal done may yield a higher valuation than using book value. Read more such tips in his column.
And of course we have Transaction News.
Enjoy!
