For most automobile dealership parts departments, inventory is the single largest asset on the balance sheet. It represents hundreds of thousands — sometimes millions — of dollars in capital. Yet in departments across the country, that asset is quietly being eroded by inaccurate on-hand counts, undetected obsolescence, and inventory records that no longer reflect reality. […]
Walk into almost any dealership parts department and you will find the same scenario: a dealer management system loaded with powerful features, and a team using about twenty percent of them. The DMS is the central nervous system of your parts operation, yet most managers treat it like a glorified cash register. If you are […]
Most parts managers know the traditional levers for improving profitability — tighten up obsolescence, improve fill rate, watch your pricing matrix. These fundamentals matter. But in today’s competitive dealership environment, the parts departments that truly stand out are the ones going beyond the basics, finding creative ways to grow both gross and net profit while […]
Acquiring a new car dealership is one of the most significant financial transactions a dealer group or individual operator can make. There are attorneys, accountants, and brokers involved at every step — and rightfully so. Yet one critical piece of the process is often handed off to the lowest bidder or, worse, handled informally with […]
If It’s Not in the Bin, It Doesn’t Exist Ask any experienced parts manager what separates a smooth-running department from a chaotic one, and chances are they will mention bin checks. Perpetual bin checks — the regular, systematic process of physically counting and verifying parts inventory against what your dealer management system shows on hand […]
Special order parts, commonly referred to as SOPs in the dealership world, are an unavoidable part of managing a parts department. Not every part a customer or technician needs will be sitting on your shelf, and that’s okay. What’s not okay is letting those orders pile up unmanaged, quietly draining your cash flow and eventually […]
January is an ideal time to reflect on and evaluate the prior year. Naturally, we begin by reviewing key financial metrics such as return on investment, year-over-year revenue changes, and gross profit margins. However, it is equally important to assess the non-financial aspects of our businesses—elements that are often taken for granted, yet can be […]
EVERY PARTS MANAGERS FAVORITE COMPLAINT IS, “I DON’T HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO DO XYZ”. Well in this day and age of ‘social distancing’ and ‘essential workers’, most of us have too much time on our hands at the dealership. So let’s not forget about that long to-do list we’ve been putting off forever. Just in […]
Part 1 of this topic discussed what to do if your Parts Manager is a parts person with little training in the art of management and/or the science of accounting. As a general manager/dealer principle it is unfair of you to hire an under-qualified and NOT consider offering him/her proper training. Alright, I can already […]
What’s the difference you ask? A Parts MANAGER is someone who is skilled or has been trained in the art of managing people and resources and knows, at minimum, the basics of accounting. A PARTS manager is someone who was good at working the parts counter and when a manager job came open, got hired […]