Velocity by Dale Pollak and vAuto

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Permalink Reply by Steve Emery on October 8, 2009 at 7:01pm

I work with many Dealers who are on it and like it. But, like anything else, it's just a tool...you gotta use it and apply some businees judgement in what you want to do. It does apply some much-needed science to the "art" of buying/pricing cars. Buying to what is selling sure beats "Using the Force"

$teve

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Permalink Reply by Omied Bagheri on October 8, 2009 at 7:40pm

That's good insight. I'm just stumped. I have a few cars left on the lot that are 90+ days old, are clean, 1 owner lease returns, good Carfax reports, price is well in line with the market. However, I can't move them. The price to replace them at auction right now (in the bank/lease lanes at least) is more than what I paid for the aged unit.

I don't own the dealership but I run it and am involved in every aspect of the day to day op's. Our owner is old school and when I presented vAuto, their response was "I don't need some stupid computer to tell me what sells well, I've been in this biz 30 years, blah blah"

I spoke with someone from vAuto a while back, don't remember the exact specifics on pricing, but I remember it was expensive as it caught me off gaurd. However, I wouldn't mind making an out of pocket investment if I feel it may help me out personally.

To those of you who have used vAuto, how long did you notice an increase in your return (from the point of buying inventory that's selling well, or unique, to the point of pricing in-line with the market.) Is this something that I have to try out for for 1 month to see results, or will it take 3-4 months?

p.s. karonel, that is a good point, sometimes making those last 2 buys to make a full load are buys that we would regret and would rather just pay the trucking company.

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Permalink Reply by KARONEL PLOTT on October 8, 2009 at 7:30pm

I AM A SMALL DEALER IN A RURAL SMALL TOWN FOR 27 YEARS. I READ HIS BOOK TWICE. HE GOT ME TO THINKING ABOUT RECON. IN DIFFERNT WAYS. ONE WAY I FIGURED FOR ONE YEAR HOW MANY CARS I BOUGHT AT THE SAME AUCTION. THEN I MADE A DEAL WITH MY TRUCKING COMPANY.TO HAVE A TRUCK THERE BEFORE THE SALE STARTED. I WOULD PAY HIM FOR A FULL LOAD EVEN IF HE DID HAVE ONE. IN THE LAST 8 MONTHS. I HAVE ONLY PAID FOR 2 CARS THAT WASNT LOADED. BEFORE READING HIS BOOK I WOULD HAVE BOUGHT CARS TO FINISH OUT A LOAD. THESE CARS WOULD HAVE LOST MORE THAN THE HAUL BILL. KNOW WHAT YOU CAN SELL AND WHAT PRICE FAST. I GOT SEVERAL GOOD THINGS OUT OF HIS BOOK. THANKS KARONEL

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Permalink Reply by Billie Sue DeForest on October 9, 2009 at 5:49am

I would like to use / try V Auto, but I think it is too expensive for a small store like ours. We stock 40-50 units, have 40 out on LTO, and sell 20/mo. Billie

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Permalink Reply by Philip Moore on October 22, 2009 at 2:00pm

Anyone notice the new AutoTrader price feature? If you used the advanced search to get specific about the car you are trying to market, then the AutoTrader search results will show you the average/low/high prices for that specific search. If you are really specific about the trim and options, then you may have to widen the search to 100 miles (but so will most consumers). This gives you good info about where you will have to price to remain in the top 5 of a low-to-high price sort. If vAuto is too expensive, then this is a tedious but necessary step to see how much you can afford to pay for a unit on trade or at auction. The attached shows what this new feature looks like at the bottom of the AutoTrader search results page.

Attachments:

• ATDPrice.jpg, 104 KB

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Permalink Reply by Omied Bagheri on October 22, 2009 at 9:20pm

A better way to view avg price on autotrader.com is the actual portal on dealers.autotrader.com However, my main interest in vAuto would be using the scarcity tool to determine what are good sellers in our area via internet advertising. I'm not too sold on it as a pricing tool

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Permalink Reply by Jeremy Lewis on October 29, 2009 at 9:10pm

VAuto is a very good tool and worth the money IF YOU USE IT!!!! To many dealers get a program and expect it to fix a problem but then they do not require their managers to use it so it fails, well I am here to tell you programs dont fail people do. VAuto will more than pay for itself in a given month, it will keep you from sitting on a unit too long it will help you in forcasting the month gross and will help with aging.

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Permalink Reply by Chuck Agner on November 20, 2009 at 2:57pm

it's a good book, and it's a good product. Any philosophy/product is only as good as your commitment to consistently use it.

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