Rick's Review -- October 2014

Dear Germain of Columbus Employee,

Although the month of October provided for a slight decrease in our new car volume, relative to the previous year, a 27% increase in pre-owned volume allowed us to show a nice increase in total vehicle sales. The story was similar in fixed operations for the month seeing a slight decrease in service gross, with the parts departments and the body shop more than making up for it.

The highlights per department were as follows: Nissan and Mazda both managed the only increases in new car sales, being up 3% at each store. The pre-owned department at Ford continues to show nice growth with a 52% increase in the month of October. Ford also managed the only increase in the finance departments, being up by 19%. As it normally does, Mazda showed the largest parts and service increases with an improvement of 80% in parts and 50% in service. The body shop had a year-over-year increase of 6%, and Nissan showed the largest increase in net profit, being up by 92% for the month. Overall, October was another good month for the group, and we look forward to a strong finish to 2014.

Be sure to check out the other tabs for information relating to the month of October. In there, you’ll notice the Top Performers for the month…thanks to Anthony, Johnny, Dean, Brandon, Brian, and Damon. Also, welcome to those new associates who joined us, and thanks to those of you who celebrated an anniversary. Also, the stores are all recognizing an employee of the month, congratulations to Roberto, Ashley, Dana, Scott & Lee, and Brittany.

A special thanks goes out to Mazda, and Michelle Hill for once again being creative in ways to generate customer engagement. Trunk or Treat was an event that Mazda held where they invited customers to bring their kids for a safe Halloween Trick or Treat out of the trunks of new Mazdas. I have never heard of a dealership providing such fun events for their customers and their families. This was the second customer event like this that Mazda has held, Mazda’s Easter Egg Hunt was also a hit! Great job to all of you, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with for other holidays to come.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

Thanks,

-Rick G.