by Jon LeSage, editor, Used Car Market Reports
Three of the nation’s largest publicly traded dealership groups have reported their 2013 earnings (and more of them will announce their results later this month). It was a great year for new vehicle sales, and used vehicle sales also saw strong results. Retail used vehicle sales saw very profitable results in the fourth quarter and for the entire year. Used Car Market Reports will soon be asking these – and other – major dealer groups what worked well for them. Here’s earning results for AutoNation, Group 1 Automotive, and Asbury Automotive Group…….
AutoNation:
- Q4: AutoNation’s retail new vehicle unit sales increased 1% on a same store basis and 5% overall, while retail used vehicle unit sales increased 10% on a same store basis and 15% overall.
- Full Year 2013: AutoNation’s retail new vehicle unit sales increased 5% on a same store basis and 9% overall, while retail used vehicle unit sales increased 9% on a same store basis and 13% overall.
Group 1 Automotive:
- Q4: New vehicle revenues increased 16.9% on 17.4% more unit sales. New vehicle gross profit increased 14.6%. Retail used vehicle gross profit increased 7.8% on 18.9% higher revenues, as the company retailed 18.3% more units.
- Full Year 2013: New vehicle gross profit increased 17.2% on 21.8% higher revenues, as the company retailed 155,866 new vehicles in 2013. Retail used vehicle gross profit was 10.2% higher on a 16.1% revenue increase, as the Company retailed 98,813 used units in 2013.
Asbury Automotive Group:
- Q4: Retail used vehicle gross profit increased 7.8% on 18.9 percent higher revenues, as the Company retailed 18.3% more units.
- For Full Year 2013: Used vehicle retail revenues up 24% (while new vehicle revenue went up 10%)
- Parts and service revenues up 10%
- Finance and insurance revenues up 21%
- Total gross profit up 14% with double-digit increases from all business lines
How did they do it? Used Car Market Reports will be interviewing some of the largest dealers in weeks ahead. Here are few of the questions to be asked:
- Certified pre-owned – how is that going? How profitable are the transactions compared to traditional used car sales? How is CPO affecting other late-model unit sales in your inventory?
- How have things changed in the past six years in your used/pre-owned department? How many staff work in this department now? What types of investments have you made in technologies and systems for your used vehicle department?
- What’s working best for used vehicle resale valuation? What sources are you using? How are you factoring in your local market conditions?
- How is inventory management going in your company? If you have multiple stores, how is your system working on the corporate level and for each store?
- What channels are you using for used vehicle sales – physical auctions, upstream such as online auctions, automaker remarketing programs, wholesale brokers, and retail used vehicle sales?
- How is competition in your market for used vehicles sales between franchised and independent dealers?
- What are you watching for in the future with used vehicle values and volumes? Does off-lease volume concern you?
- What’s working best for you in advertising and promoting used vehicle sales? How does it differ from new vehicle marketing?
Am I missing anything? If there are more questions you’d like to see asked, please email them to me at [email protected].
