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INDUSTRY TALK

Why fit in? 2017 NADA Chair on CPO, Standalone
Used-Car Stores

Your dealership was born to stand out. BY JOE OVERBY, SENIOR EDITOR, AUTO REMARKETING

Year-to-date certified pre-owned sales stood and peace-of-mind, because it’s a CPO car. tively. In October, AutoNation revealed
at 2.41 million units at the end of November, Sometimes those cars come with finance plans to begin rolling out its own.
according to Autodata Corp., and this was programs and low interest rates,” he said. “It’s
up 3.6 percent and all but certain to break a great thing for a consumer.” “It’s all about the fleet that’s out there and the
the 2015 sum of 2.55 million units sold. cars that are coming (back into the market),
That would extend the streak of best-ever Perhaps another smart move by franchised whether trade-ins or lease programs,” Scar-
years for CPO sales to six. dealers in the pre-owned space has been the pelli said of the benefits to this model.
launch of standalone used-car stores.
So what is driving this CPO momentum? “There’s a supply of them obviously. And
Penske Automotive Group announced in in our case, it’s brand-building, wheth-
“From the CPO perspective, it really — be- December that it had signed a deal to buy er you’re an independent dealer or a large
ing a car dealer for many years — gives the CarSense, a Northeast-based standalone dealer group,” he said. “It builds loyalty
consumer the peace-of-mind and legitimiz- used-car retailer whose no-haggle model fo- and brand-building to some of those deal-
es the fact that that car has been, if it were cuses on late-model units. er groups that you had mentioned and it’s
out of spec or something needed to be ad- also an opportunity to hone and drive home
dressed, it’s put back within factory specs Sonic Automotive and Asbury Automotive certified pre-owned sales. It’s just another
for that year, that model, with that range of Group each have used-car standalones in avenue to sell that automobile to the buying
mileage on it,” said Mark Scarpelli, the 2017 EchoPark Automotive and Q auto, respec- public.” n
chairman of the National Automobile Deal-
ers Association.

Scarpelli serves as president of Raymond
Chevrolet and Raymond Kia in Antioch, Ill.
He is also the co-owner of Ray Chevrolet
and Ray Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram in Fox
Take the Lead in Your Auto Market with Lake, Ill.
Social Media Mojo He talked with Auto Remarketing in De-

cember about, among other things, two of
the top trends in the used-car retail space:
If your team doesn’t understand the opportunities CPO sales and the emergence of standalone
in social media, doesn’t know what to post or used-car stores.
have the time to execute a well-thought out Commenting further on CPO, he said,
strategy to put your dealership ahead of the “You’re looking at it from the manufacturer
pack, you need to call us immediately. perspective and it gives people great peace-
of-mind. And in many cases, it gives them
Don’t follow the crowd. additional warranty benefits and it’s a real-
ly thing to put people’s minds at ease, if you
Make the crowd follow you. will.”

Scarpelli added: “And many of these cars
that become CPO cars … have come out of
short-term lease programs, factory program
type cars. And that supply of cars continues
professionalmojo.com | 866-611-2715 as the market turns.

“It’s a great place for a consumer to get an
awesome deal with an extension of warranty
GIADA Independent Auto Dealer FEBRUARY 2017 | 55