Regarding pre-owned vehicles – in a recent article by Auto News, Erich K. Gail, CEO of Cardinale Automotive Group, said he likes to view not just new but pre-owned vehicles as if they were oranges. They arrive on the lot fresh, but every day that they sit, they become drier.
The Cardinale Group has long valued used vehicle sales and has pinpointed the precise time and price point to sell a used car using the ZMOT Auto proprietary online marketing platform. Cardinale aims to turn used cars before 45 days, while still “ripe”. If a car is on the lot for longer than 60 days, Gail deems the fruit to have gone bad. Cardinale’s policy has been to cut, auction or wholesale the vehicle, instead using the money towards a higher performer.
Across 22 stores in California, Arizona and Nevada, Cardinale has earned a used-to-new ratio of 1.67, ranking third highest in the country in 2018 among franchised retailers, with 26,068 used vehicle sales.
To accomplish this, the group’s aim is to prep, photograph and list online every used car within 72 hours of arrival on the lot. Additionally, some of the Cardinale’s locations boast as many as 25 service technicians devoted to reconditioning preowned vehicles.
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The company started Cardinale Connect in 2010 to help with how to price its vehicles and attract online buyers. In 2014, Cardinale Connect was rebranded as ZMOT, or Zero Moment of Truth, referencing the exact moment when a buyer decides to purchase a specific vehicle. Through ZMOT’s analytics, Cardinale can measure how many vehicles of every make and model are in the market as well as an estimate of the price to acquire each. ZMOT also monitors shopper behavior data, from figuring what messaging brings a customer to the site, to what actions they take while onsite, in order to determine where a customer is in relation to the zero moment of truth.
ZMOT also works with dealers outside of the Cardinale group, providing pay-per-click advertising, automated inventory listings, social media marketing, automotive SEO and much more. ZMOT works exclusively with one dealer or group in any given market.
At the end of the day, used cars is managing money, and Cardinale constantly monitors inventory levels, days’ supply, acquisition costs & transaction costs to ensure as close to perfect timing on turning over these vehicles.
