Auto Dealer Monthly Magazine is the daily operations publication serving the retail automotive industry. This automotive publication serves dealer principals, officers and general managers with the latest best practices.
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This was due in part to a number of new faces on the list this year, three of which were in the top 10. In addition to the aforementioned second-place dealers of Rightway Automotive, newcomers to this year's list included Andrew L. Adams and David Blassingame of Autoflex Leasing, Inc., a three-location operation based in Richardson, Texas, who ranked 8th with 3,449 retail sales, and Gary Chaney and Darrell Chaney of Chacon Autos in Dallas, Texas, which has seven locations and ranked 9th this year with a total of 3,370. Figures Each year, independent retail- ers submitting applications for consideration for the Inde- pendent Dealer Awards are asked to provide data about their operations. Analysis of this data offers an informative look at the trends among the top-performing independents in the country. Other Facts and an average of 69 percent of their sales are financed through indirect sources. Thirty-six percent of this year's Top 50 have a related finance company (RFC), down slightly from the 40 percent who reported having an RFC last year, and they deliver an average of 52 percent of their sales through their RFCs. Of this year's Top 50 Independents, 72 percent reported having a service department, down slightly from the 80 percent reported last year. Down only slightly from last year's 88 percent, 86 percent of the independ- ents reported having a dedi- cated finance office while 44 percent said they maintain a dedicated special finance of- fice, four percent higher than what was reported last year. With regards to financing, 88 percent of the Top 50 reported that they offer indirect financing, up from the 82 percent reported last year. Among those dealers, The number of dealers who reported using some form of payment device such as a GPS tracker or starter interrupt saw an appreciable increase this year to 58 percent over last year's 32 percent. Goldstar appeared to be the gold standard among the Top 50, as it was named by more dealers than any other provider as their product of choice in this area. When it came to dealership management systems, there were 21 different systems being used by the Top 50. Those getting the most use were DealerTrack DMS, uti- lized by 20 percent of the Top 50 dealers, and ADP, used by 16 percent. It seems that more independ- ents are going for the additional profit provided by back-end products. Only six percent of the Top 50 said they do not sell any finance and insurance products. A whopping 92 percent of dealers reported offering extended service contracts, up from 86 percent last year, while 82 percent offer GAP and 20 percent offer credit/life insurance, up from 70 percent and 16 percent last year, respectively. Independents reported getting their F&I-related; products from 84 different providers, but no single F&I; product provider dominated the market. Among auction use for pur- chasing inventory, 58 percent of independent dealers in the Top 50 reported using Manheim, 36 percent specified that they use OVE (owned by Manheim), 36 Sponsored by 25 percent utilize ADESA, 25 percent purchase from SmartAuction and 12 percent frequent OPENLANE. When it comes to utilizing third-party classified or auction sites to market and sell vehicles, 74 percent reported making use of such outlets, up from last year's 64 percent. Of those dealers, 64 percent are using Auto- Trader.com, 52 percent are using Cars.com, 34 percent are using craigslist and 26 percent are using eBay. These were also the four most popular sites with independ- ents for marketing and selling vehicles the previous year; however, this year, craigslist, which can be utilized by dealers for free, edged out eBay in popularity. Congratulations to the Top 50 Independent Dealers of 2012, and thank you to Sirius XM Satellite Radio, corporate sponsor of the awards.