Swanson, a sales associate, said that customers arrive as early as 7:30 a.m. to wait until Nice Cars opens its doors at 10 a.m. “We are kind of like a doctor’s office,” Swanson said. “Customers line up at our door, and we have a sign-in sheet. As soon as they come in, they sign in, and we start calling their names one at a time.”

When their name is called, the customers begin what could be called a sales assembly line. Together, the Nice Cars employees form a swift and efficient machine, each part relying on the next to keep the operation running effectively.

Swanson is the first stop. He puts the customers through the “asphalt qualification process,” which actually occurs indoors to avoid the hot Georgia sun. He retrieves all the necessary information before approving a customer to purchase and finds the appropriate monthly payment suitable to their financial situation. “If we get [the customer] qualified at $75 a week, we don’t want them out there looking at cars that are $100 or $150 a week,” Swanson said. “We try and keep them in the ideal range and out of the hot sun.”

From there, the customer goes outside to Kenny Livingston, the reconditioning agent, who ensures the customers find vehicles within their price range, and he sets them up with test drives

After the test drive, the customers park the car upfront in an area that signals they intend to purchase the vehicle. Then, Livingston directs the customer to Christina James, Emily James and Melody Ogles, who handle the remaining financial paperwork to complete the transaction.

At Nice Cars, there is no effort to “sell” vehicles, which Company President Ray Lyle believes sets Nice Cars apart. “Our customers buy cars from us. We don’t sell cars to them,” Lyle said. “They make the buying decision. We don’t make it for them. That’s the biggest difference compared to what we do and what other people do.”

After their incredible month of May, Nice Cars moved reconditioning agent Tyson Bomar to sales to assist Swanson in moving the large number of customers through the “asphalt qualification process.”

Nice Cars knows their customer demographic well and how to quickly get those customers into a vehicle. With their efficient system, Swanson and his team at Nice Cars put 261 people in used cars for the month of May. Needless to say, Lyle was pleased with the effort of his Marietta location. “I don’t know of any one single lot ever in the history of the buy here pay here business that ever sold, at one location, 261 cars in a month,” he said.

When Swanson, the point man of this highly successful operation, isn’t turning over inventory at Nice Cars, he is spending time with his six kids, working out at the gym or riding his motorcycle. He even occasionally wrestles in the American Wrestling Federation as “Ironman.” The name comes from his affinity for weightlifting and his previous occupation as an ironworker. Swanson has wrestled off and on ever since he was 18 years old. However, with such a demanding job, Swanson would rather focus his available attention on his top priority—his family. “My job takes the majority of my time, and I’m not going to spend too much time away from my kids,” he said.

Like most employees, Swanson spends quite a bit of time with his other family—his Nice Cars family. He understands, and stresses, that he needs all of his family members doing their part to produce 261 sales. “Without the rest of the staff, I couldn’t do what I do,” he said. 

We congratulate Shane Swanson and the rest of the Marietta Nice Car family, and thank you to Ray Lyle for nominating such an exceptional sales team.