New Alliance Will Help Dealers Grow Pre-Owned Sales

CARY, N.C.--Bill Zadeits, executive vice president of Cherokee Automotive Group (CAG), has announced the formation of a new business alliance targeted at helping grow pre-owned vehicle sales of both franchise and independent dealers. Known as the Pre-Owned Automobile Dealers Alliance (POADA), the new entity has as its goal to provide dealers with such critical factors as independent certified vehicles, floorplanning (inventory financing), retail financing, parts availability and discounts on other business services.

POADA-affiliated dealers will be able to participate in benefit programs negotiated through the organization. Zadeits said that one key group that might benefit quickly from the formation of POADA would be dealers recently cut by the manufacturer.

“Although dealers knew the industry was going to downsize the number of franchisees, it’s only human nature to think it’s not going to happen to you,” Zadeits said. “However, nearly 2,000 dealers got the news last week that they would soon no longer be affiliated with their respective manufacturer.”

“These dealers are going to stay in the automobile industry, but as pre-owned focused dealers and not franchise dealers,” he added. “POADA’s goal is to make that transition as smooth and profitable as possible.”

Zadeits said POADA is already engaged in discussions with major vendors and suppliers throughout the industry. He said that since POADA’s formation a few weeks ago, there has been overwhelming interest and support from dealers and vendors/suppliers throughout the country. “One dealer even said he saw POADA as providing a lifeline as he transitions from being a new car dealer to a pre-owned dealer only,” he added.

Cherokee Automotive Group is well positioned in the industry to be the catalyst for POADA, as it already operates the industry’s leading trade publication, Auto Remarketing NewsMagazine, as well as information sites such as www.autoremarketing.com and numerous industry conferences throughout North America. CAG has been actively engaged in the industry for nearly 20 years. Other CAG executives working on the POADA are industry veterans Bruiser Mann and Mark Rothenberg.

Zadeits said POADA is not an association, but a business alliance for dealers who focus on selling late-model, pre-owned vehicles. The target market for vehicles being sold are current model plus four years. Many of the dealers losing their franchise agreement are already involved in pre-owned sales, but POADA will make the transition easier.

POADA expects to have its vendor/supplier agreements in place by late summer.