CARY, N.C. -

At Roger Beasley Mazda South and its sister stores within the Roger Beasley Imports group, certified pre-owned is not a last-ditch effort or a “save-a-deal” strategy. 

In fact, it’s presented right up front as a viable option — even when the customer is looking for a new car.

“On the first or second pencil, however you would like to look at it, with a new car or a used car, the salesman will go out and get a comparable bid,” Jim Bagan, who is vice president of the group, said in an interview with Auto Remarketing.

“So, if they’re looking at a new CX-5 Touring edition, we will show them that same Touring edition that we have available in the CPO,” he said. “One, to show the value walk proposition between new and used. And two, just to make sure that you don’t throw it in as a save-a-deal. 

“We want to talk about it right upfront as a value proposition to them,” Bagan said. “If you bring that suggestion up after the third for fourth pencil, it loses a little credibility. So, on every new-car customer, they’re presented a lease option, purchase option and a CPO option.”

That’s just one of the strategies driving CPO success at Roger Beasley Mazda South, which is Auto Remarketing’s 2021 CPO Dealer of the Year, an award presented by KAR Global.

The dealership, located in Austin, Texas, routinely ranks among Mazda’s top five dealerships for annual certified sales, including finishing in the top three the last six years. 

Roger Beasley Mazda South will be recognized during the Used Car Awards luncheon, also presented by KAR, on Nov. 16 at Used Car Week at Red Rock in Las Vegas. 

Making CPO a priority

A greater emphasis on CPO happened when an “upscale” shift in pricing strategy years ago diminished the options in the entry-level vehicle segment, Bagan said. 

“We, a few years ago, implemented the CPO into our new-car sales force and our used-car sales force, and treated it as … if Mazda’s the absolute brand you love or the affordability or value is not as high as you need it to be, we found that CPO was a very good switch opportunity versus just trying to put them into a used car for simple affordability,” Bagan said.

“We pipe people to the department, but more importantly, every new car customer’s exposed to it also before they leave … We direct new-car and used-car personnel to sell CPO and we’re also an organization that pays flat rates, so that it doesn’t create conflict of gross or (a situation where) they can make more money on one car versus the other car,” he said. 

“And then anybody in the dealership that sells Mazdas or used has to be fully Mazda new-car certified,” he said. “So, the secret to us, candidly, it’s a new car segment just at a value proposition level for us.”

Securing CPO supply

In terms of finding CPO-worthy inventory, the dealership has a few options in its toolkit. 

The company, as a whole, has four buyers who are dedicated to purchasing CPO vehicles for the respective Roger Beasley brands, which also includes Hyundai. 

The group’s three Mazda dealerships and two Hyundai stores are all located in Central Texas. 

Part of the acquisition strategy is working together as a group to monitor inventory coming in.

“We do that every Monday morning … we track what cars we sell, what traffic we get. Our used cars run off one platform, all five stores,” Bagan said. “So, if we trade for a beautiful truck, let’s just say at (Mazda) Central, and that truck’s (got more) viability down in Kyle, Texas — a little more out in the country — it’s going to bring us a lot more money and turn quicker. 

“We’ll turn that car over to that Hyundai store,” he said, referring to Roger Beasley Hyundai Kyle. “Vice versa, all Hyundais go to the Hyundai store to be certified.

Whenever they trade for a Mazda, it comes to the Mazda dealerships to be certified.” 

There is also an appointment coordinator at Roger Beasley who will call any Mazda customer who purchased from the group more than a year ago (or that has exceeded a certain mileage) to schedule a service appointment.

“And then as they schedule their service appointment, we appraise that car and she calls them back, gives them numbers. We will generally set the appointment for the next car they’re driving for a car that they might be considering in the future,” Bagan said.

For example, say a customer with a Mazda CX-5 is scheduled for a service appointment. The dealership would arrange for the loaner car for that customer to be a CX-9 or at a level above their current ride. 

Utilizing the loaner fleet in this capacity to generate CPO-worthy inventory appears to be paying off from a used-car acquisition standpoint.

“On average, we do 28 to 35 trade-outs at Mazda South a month,” Bagan said. “On average as a platform for Mazda, we do about 75 of those a month.”

Marketing CPO

When it comes to branding and marketing, the three Mazda stores are branded as one organization, Bagan said. 

“We don’t brand against each other at all. And all our prices and all our websites all lead to the same information,” he said. 

“CPO gets its own platform from an advertising standpoint. Every month we run about a $20,000 radio campaign,” Bagan said. “On all new-car leads, we present the CPO also in the presentation … it’s a cultural change in your store. Most new-car sales people, the used-car people don’t want them selling CPOs. They tell them, we’ll sell our own CPOs. And then most used-car people don’t want to sell new cars because of the CSI ramifications. 

“We made that (a rule) if you’re going to sell any CPO or want to sell CPOs, you’re going to have to get certified,” he said. “So probably 90% of our total sales staff in our dealerships are fully certified for new and used.”