Articles by Kimberly Long - Assistant Editor

SF Newsletter

SF Newsletter

Kimberly Long - With 15 used car stores in Michigan and Illinois and about 650 employees, RightWay Automotive Credit as it exists today is a far cry from where it began.

At Charlotte Honda VW in Port Charlotte, Fla., the dealership received a complete overhaul and a new marketing strategy, and it has since tripled sales.

Gili Lopez’s knowledge, enthusiasm and dedication to customer service have won him an extremely loyal following, as evidenced by his 85 percent repeat and referral rate. Lopez averages 21 vehicle sales per month at Lithia Toyota of Odessa.

Over the course of about seven years, Grappone Automotive’s business development center has evolved into a centralized operation that is responsible for 50 percent of the dealership’s monthly sales.

Tim Howell, who has earned the title of Auto Dealer Monthly’s 2011 Sales Professional of the Year, is a die-hard Chevrolet man whose solid base of repeat and referral business has helped him consistently average 46 units a month at Sharpnack Chevrolet Buick.

Three dealers discuss the causes they hold close to their hearts. While it’s not unusual for dealers to donate to good causes, these three men are giving much more than money, and their efforts are impacting the lives of others in very real and very positive ways.

If there’s one word to best describe Tim Howell, it’s probably “modest,” but there’s certainly nothing modest about his sales numbers. He averages 46 units per month and maintains at least 50 percent repeat business at Sharpnack Chevrolet Buick.

Lee Auto Malls, the largest volume dealer in the state of Maine, includes two buy here pay here operations. John Isaacson, CEO of Lee Auto Malls, explains the day-to-day operations of the two operations, which average 375 to 400 sales per month.