$163,169 Gross Profit in October: How One Dealer Group Buys Cars From the Service Drive
One small dealer group turned its service lane into a serious profit center last October. Mike Crothers explains what made it work and why their salespeople love it.
A small dealer group in Pennsylvania made over $163,000 in gross profit in October through service drive acquisition with MOTO(drive), and acquired 54 cars in the process.
That gross number does not include deals from their MOTO(convert) website trade tool or the money they will make selling those 54 cars at auction or through recon and retail.
Adding 54 potential inventory units in a single month helps a group this size save on auction fees and transport fees.
Salespeople like service acquisition because they earn commission, and the process texts the customer and alerts the salesperson so the right conversation happens at the right time.
Every store has cars rolling through the service lane that would look great on the front line. The customer is already in your building and already trusts your shop. The hard part is figuring out how to buy cars from the service drive consistently, so it does not depend on one motivated salesperson remembering to walk the lane.
Mike Crothers, CEO of MOTO(acquire), shared what it looks like when it works. A small dealer group in Pennsylvania made over $163,000 in gross profit through service drive acquisition with MOTO(drive) in the month of October.
What the $163,000 does not include
Mike's co-founder Russ was in the office and asked how this group was doing. When they pulled the numbers, Mike says they were "really incredible." They sent them over to the owner, who was, of course, pleased.
Here is the part a used car manager should notice. That gross figure leaves out two things:
Website trade-ins. Deals coming from MOTO(convert), the trade tool on the group's website, are not in that number.
The back end on the 54 cars. The group acquired 54 cars from the service drive. The money they make when they sell those cars, whether at auction or after recon and retail, is not counted yet.
So the October gross is the front of the story, not the whole thing.
Why do 54 extra cars a month matter for a dealer group?
Mike called the group's marketing director to get her take. Her first point: getting another 54 cars potentially for inventory in a single month is amazing for a group of this size.
Every car you buy from your own service customer is a car you did not have to chase at the lane. That means fewer auction fees and fewer transport fees, which she called out directly. It also means more cars to retail without going to auction, which is the whole point if you are trying to reduce auction dependence.
How to buy cars from the service drive: connect humans to humans
The marketing director's second point was about the sales floor. Salespeople like service acquisition because they make money. They earn commission on these deals.
Mike describes the salespeople at this group as more tenured and pretty good. They were already eager to do service acquisition. What they needed was a reliable way to know which service customers were ready to talk.
That is what the process does. It texts the customer, then alerts the salesperson. In Mike's words, it "just kind of connects humans to humans and lets the good stuff that already should happen, happen."
If you are building this in your own store, the pieces look like this:
Reach the customer while their car is in for service, by text.
Alert the salesperson when the customer shows interest, so the conversation is warm, not cold.
Give salespeople a reason to care. At this group, commission does that.
Have a plan for the car once you buy it: auction it or recon and retail it.
Where MOTO(drive) fits
MOTO(drive) handles service drive acquisition using DMS data and automated texts. When a customer is ready, the sales team is alerted, and VIN and miles are pushed to your inventory tools so appraisal starts with real information.
MOTO(acquire) integrates with all major DMS platforms and many others, including Tekion, Dealertrack, CDK, Reynolds, and Auto/Mate. If your DMS is not one we integrate with yet, we will build the integration. MOTO(drive) stores consistently buy about 1% of their repair orders without dedicated service acquisition hires.
For more on this approach, see our service drive acquisition videos.
Mike's closing point was simple. If you are a dealer group that wants to add a couple million in gross profit to your annual numbers, buy more cars at service, and have more cars to retail without going to auction, book some time with us. We would love to help.
Frequently asked questions
Does service drive acquisition require hiring a dedicated service buyer?
Not necessarily. MOTO(drive) stores consistently buy about 1% of their repair orders without dedicated service acquisition hires. At the group Mike described, existing salespeople handled it because they were alerted when a customer was ready and they earn commission on the deal.
Why would salespeople want to work service drive deals?
Because they make money. Salespeople earn commission on these deals, and the process texts the customer first, then alerts the salesperson, so they spend time on customers who have already shown interest.
Will MOTO(drive) work with our DMS?
MOTO(acquire) integrates with all major DMS platforms and many others, including Tekion, Dealertrack, CDK, Reynolds, and Auto/Mate. If your DMS is not one we integrate with yet, we will build the integration.
How does buying from the service drive reduce auction costs?
Every car you buy from your own service customer is one you did not have to source at auction. The marketing director at the group Mike described pointed to savings on auction fees and transport fees, plus more cars to retail without going to auction.
Find out what's sitting in your service drive
See how MOTO(drive) stores consistently buy about 1% of repair orders without adding a service buyer. Start with our service drive readiness questionnaire.
More on Service Drive Acquisition
Full transcript
A small dealer group in Pennsylvania made over $163,000 in gross profit via service drive acquisition through MOTO(drive) in the month of October. My co-founder Russ was in the office this week and he asked what's going on with this dealer group, what's going on with so-and-so, and we looked up their numbers and they were really incredible. So we sent those numbers over to the owner and he was, of course, pleased.
Now, this doesn't include any of the deals they're getting from the trade-in tool that's on their website that we created called MOTO(convert), and that gross number doesn't include the money that they'll make from those 54 cars they acquired when they go to sell them, whether they do that at auction or they recon and retail them. So I called the marketing director and she explained a few things.
One, getting another 54 cars potentially for inventory in a single month is amazing for a group of this size, and it really helps them save on things like auction fees and transport fees. But salespeople like it too because they're making money. They make commission. The salespeople at this group, I think they're more tenured. They're pretty good, and so they're eager. They already want to do service acquisition, and so this experience that we created that texts the customer and then alerts the salesperson just kind of connects humans to humans and lets the good stuff that already should happen, happen. So if you're a dealer group who wants to add a couple million in gross profit to your annual numbers, you want to buy more cars at service, you want to have more cars to retail without going to auction, then go to motoacquire.com and book some time with us. We'd love to help you.