Edd Kirby's Adventure Chevrolet Chrysler Jeep

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Click here to read what he posted on his own blog site.

While many automobile dealers are struggling to survive, Edd Kirby Adventure Chevrolet, Chrysler, Jeep is experiencing record sales.

Joe Kirby, owner of the Dalton, Ga., dealership, has turned his attention to used cars, which reached all-time sales highs in April and again in June.

"I've never seen anything like it," he said. "We used to celebrate after (selling) 125 cars and throw a party after 135."
Edd Kirby Adventure sold 200 used cars in April and 220 in June. Mr. Kirby said."If we hadn't run out of cars, we would have sold more than that," he said. "When you sell 20 a day, they don't last long." Mr. Kirby said he is replenishing his inventory as fast as he can, which he termed his biggest challenge.

   Paul Taylor, chief economist with the National Automobile Dealer's Association, said Mr. Kirby is not unlike dealerships all across the United States that are focusing on used car sales while the economy remains in a slump.
   According to a National Automobile Dealers Association report, average dealership sales are down more than 25 percent nationally.
   Mr. Taylor said dealers in the past have sold about 16 new cars for every 12 used cars. The average now is 10 new for every 12 used.
   "For some dealers, the ratio can be as high as two new for every 12 used," he said.
   Used car sales will remain the best sellers until the credit crunch improves and there is a dip in unemployment, which Mr. Taylor expects will peak at more than 10 percent in 2010.
   The general state of the economy is highly affected by the stagnant housing market, which also will steer consumers toward used rather than new cars.
   "There are 31 states, including Tennessee, seeing an end to the home price decline," Mr. Taylor said. "Chattanooga has better news than most because of the arrival of the VW plant and other enhancements to manufacturing and employment."
   Mr. Kirby set his April used car sales record after purchasing about 120 used cars from Prebul Auto Group, which sold the inventory as part of Joe Prebul's bankruptcy proceedings.
   He later purchased another 150 cars from Chrysler, which also came from Prebul.
  
CHANGING MARKET
On average, new car sales made up 56 percent of total auto sales in March 2008. In March 2009, new car sales made up 48.9 percent of sales.
   Source: NADA Average Dealership Profile
This story was published Saturday, July 04, 2009

   Joe Kirby almost decided not to bid on nearly 100 used cars on Joe Prebul's Dalton, Ga., lot, but he now knows that would have been a mistake.
   "Most dealers looked at that and thought 'That's too much work," he said about appraising the inventory. "I looked at it and at first thought the same thing, but I'm very close - just a couple miles away."
   Mr. Kirby, owner of Edd Kirby Adventure Chevrolet Chrysler Jeep, appraised the vehicles, crunched some numbers and entered a bid.
   A request for bids had gone out to dealers all over the Southeast after Joe Prebul was arrested and charged with federal wire fraud. His dealerships were seized and sold as part of Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings.
   Mr. Kirby usually keeps about 45 used cars on his 1501 Walnut Ave. lot, but when it appeared his bid may win, he boosted his used car inventory with several dozen more comparable preowned vehicles.
   After transferring the 94 vehicles he purchased from Mr. Prebul's operation, Mr. Kirby's used car inventory topped 211 cars.
   "Dealers are already choked with inventory," he said. "Out of fear, I cut my margins really thin, but they are just about all gone."
   All but about 20 Prebul cars have been sold, leaving about 106 used cars on Mr. Kirby's lot.
   Robert Kirby, used car manager and the son of Joe Kirby, said he was surprised by the number of customers the inventory attracted to the lot as well as by the number of cars they sold.
   "People were in the store and on the lot rather than calling on the phone or (shopping) on the Internet," he said. "People saw the price, and they were really shocked."
   The elder Kirby said he was worried that he would be stuck with the added inventory, but those fears have long passed.
   "It's going to be a record month in one of the worst months in one of the worst hit areas in the state," he said of the sales during the recession. "We're all kind of depressed now because we don't know what we are going to do for Act II."
   Most people now are buying used cars, with sales nationwide up 6 percent. New car sales are off 40 percent, but Mr. Kirby believes that soon may change.
   "Pretty soon it's going to tip and new cars will become the best value," he said, commenting that low interest rates could make payments for a new car and a used car about the same.
   Plus new cars come with a three-year warranty as well as free tires and oil changes for the life of the vehicle - if it is purchased at Edd Kirby Adventure.

This story was published Saturday, April 25, 2009

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