I have installed several office based Dealerships in the last fews months (New Jersey, Georgia and other states)…and many of these Dealers are coming back to me most recently asking me about the Buying Service I introduced several years ago.

I called it the “Manheim Hustle”, you were essentially marketing a vehicle that you did not physically have…but you were able to get it readily from the Dealer auction. I’ll summarize it very briefly for those who are not familiar with the Car Buying Service (aka “Manheim Hustle”). A Dealer or authorized representative who had online access to a local Dealer Auction, would find a nice luxury vehicle online, available for auction that day (or even a “buy now”). You would then proceed to download several pictures of the vehicles to your computer, its description and other relevant details (condition report, etc) about the vehicle. Now you can go to Craigslist and post an ad for the vehicle that you don’t really have in your possession, but you can buy it for a person that day…if they came to you with the money. That’s the key (you canget them the vehicle)…it may feel a little uncomfortable for some people, but others can “pull” it off with no problem.  This helps solve some of your cash flow problems as well. You can charge a customer a fixed profit margin (ie. anywhere from $800 -$1500) on the sale and use the customer’s money to actually buy the vehicle. This preserves your cash flow. You don’t have to come out of pocket to buy a vehicle and then try and resale it. All you have to do now is spend relatively less money on just searching (marketing)…just to find clients who are looking to buy a vehicle. 

Now this can be a bit challenging for the average independent authorized representative of a Dealership…they don’t have the office, the Dealer license, or the ability to print off paper temp tags themselves, etc.  Typically these types of car buying transactions are for a friend, family member or referral. It’s easier to facilitate sales , with these groups of people because you have a level of trust built into those relationships. But how do you do this with a complete stranger who saw your ad on OfferUp, Craigslist, Auto trader or Social Media? How do you make the potential client feel comfortable enough to give you $6000 (or more) in advance, for you to buy a vehicle for them? You have to have a physical place of business, in this case you have to have an office. This may be out of each for some of you reading this article, but others can benefit…particularly if you are an office based used car dealer, or otherwise operating as an auto broker. The laws about this vary from state to state obviously, so check your local laws. If you are an individual authorized representative of a Dealership, you can set up an office as a marketing or lead generation company. In this case you are inviting customers into your office to show them vehicles (you are developing a lead), but are then supposed to pass this lead on to the Dealership to finalize and close the sale. 

But what if you are an office based Dealership? What if you are the lead generator or marketer operating out of an office (and you are an authorized representative relationship with a licensed Dealer ie online access to auction inventory)? What if you had a small car lot and just wanted to boost sales? You can very easily do that now with technology. The very simple solution to make money with the car buying service if you have an office, is simply invest in a smart tv and install it in your office.You can buy an inexpensive 48in or larger from the local pawn shop for around $200 or so. Get the largest you can afford and safely install. If you have the extra money, then buy new, the choice is yours., what’s most important is you are able to  “cast” or share your laptop screen right to the smart tv in your office.  Now if you are a Dealership, then you can set that up directly on the smart tv, by logging into the particular auction inventory you want to view. Many auctions (for example, Manheim OVE) have the technology already built in that allow you to view the auctions on your tv screen right in your office with the client watching with you. But as I said before, you can keep it simple and just scroll thru the inventory listings and navigate around for your client as you guys search for their vehicle.  The office gives a much greater sense of legitimacy to your operation. The big smart tv professionally installed on the wall in your office (or very large wide screen computer monitor on your desk) allows the customer to get a lot closer to the vehicle than they can from their own cellphone or laptop at home.  We as humans are generally wired to be very visual  or very feeling…and so what you want to do is provide the larger and brighter visuals  (large smart tv) and an atmosphere (office) for your client to feel comfortable to spend money with you, and they will do that…and send you a referral too. And of course if you are the Dealership, you post this in your ads…your ability to give your customer a no haggle price point (your profit is disclosed up front), a comfortable office environment, and your ability to have the car dropped at the customers house while you take care of all the paperwork (temp tags, title transfer, etc).

Let’s make money