RICHMOND HILL, Ontario -

Three months into the program and Bryan Leaitch — Mazda Canada’s manager of certified pre-owned — has already seen some progress and good signs from dealers.

Since debuting Mazda Canada’s CPO offering in March, the automaker has sold 941 CPO units, including 360 certified sales in May alone.

As the program continues to grow, Leaitch recently talked with Auto Remarketing Canada about its initial three months as well as its formation and benefits.

He called the strides by Mazda Canada’s CPO program, “very encouraging,” noting that 97 percent of its dealers are enrolled. The main emphasis now, he said, is to increase dealer engagement. More than 60 percent are “active” in the program, and Leaitch would like to bring that up to 80 percent of its dealer body.

Though he counted dealer engagement as the more pressing goal, Leaitch also mentioned that the company’s target is 5,000 annual CPO sales.

“One of the things we are focused on from a brand point-of-view … is to help us with our residual values,” he shared. “We want to keep those as high as possible to help out our new-vehicle purchasing – obviously higher residuals mean a lower payment for the new-vehicle buyer – and help our dealers with profitability.”

“So it gives them another tool they can use to really help their dealership grow and expand their business, which is something Mazda Canada, specifically,
didn’t really look into on the used-vehicle side; it was more new-vehicle-focused,” he noted.

Longer-term, the company hopes to increase CPO sales and engagement, Leaitch said, “but we also want to control the remarketing aspect of our business a lot more diligently than what we did previously.”

In developing the program, Mazda Canada talked with the company’s remarketing board — comprised of group of “go-to dealers” across the country — as well as its dealer council. The company also turned to its U.S. counterparts to compare notes on the Mazda CPO program there, and examined what others in the Canadian CPO industry were doing.

Additionally, Mazda Canada consulted with industry experts like training companies and advertising companies.

One piece of feedback that came back from dealers and experts was that it needed to be “easy for dealers to get on board” and that it needed to be “competitive with the marketplace from a customer’s standpoint,” in terms of things like the CPO warranty, inspection process and financing rates.

He added: “When we were going through developing this program … one of the things we wanted to provide to our dealers and to our customers, was to build confidence and value in this certified used-vehicle purchase experience.

“That was something we kept in mind through the whole process. And you see that evident with the Mazda advantages and the pillars of our program,” he noted, then sharing what exactly those benefits are:

—Seven-year/140,000-kilometer powertrain warranty from in-service date (which Leaitch said is “industry leading” in the country)
—160-point inspection
—24-hour emergency roadside assistance
—30-day/3,000-km exchange guarantee (also “industry leading,” he says)
—Zero deductible
—CarProof Vehicle History Reports
—Transferrable benefits
—Available Extended Warranty/Coverage

“I think it really allows our dealers to offer the customer something they never had before until this point, because it is brand new. It really gives the customer that confidence,” he added.

Dealer reaction so far has been “positive.” In speaking with some of the highly engaged dealers, Leaitch — though emphasizing there is much room to grow, as it’s still early — has found they’ve been quite pleased with a few items so far. For one, it has helped stores speed up the turn rates on some of their older aged inventory, which of course, is something they “have loved,” he noted.

“From a profitability side, a lot of our dealers have expressed that they have seen an increase, specifically for their CPO vehicle sales. And obviously that in itself — turning the inventory faster, getting more profitability — helps increase the confidence of their sales staff,” Leaitch said.

Automakers Share Results

Continuing on, other automakers in Canada also shared May CPO results with Auto Remarketing Canada.

Volkswagen Canada, for one, had its “biggest month ever” for CPO sales, moving 1,510 units (up from 1,026 certified sales a year ago). The automaker has sold 5,386 certified units thus far in 2012, compared to 4,468 in the year-ago period.

Toyota Canada also had its best month ever for Canadian CPO sales, moving 2,647 units (up 7 percent) and marking the "33rd month in a row record for TCUV sales." Through May, it has sold 10,966 CPO units for a 14.9-percent gain.

Likewise, Audi Canada had its best-ever CPO sales month, selling 431 vehicles for more than a 23-percent increase. Through May, it has moved 1,783 units for a 9.2-percent uptick.

“May was another great month for Audi certified pre-owned sales,” said Jonathan Breton, the company’s manager of CPO and corporate sales. “We concluded our Certified Pre-Owned Spring Sales Event at the end of May, and that two month period saw sales rise 13 percent over the same two months last year.”

Volvo Canada moved 120 CPO units in May for a 0.8-percent gain, while its year-to-date sum was up from 381 sales to 511 sales.

“Volvo Canada’s industry-leading certified pre-owned program continues to build momentum each and every month since its introduction,” said Emanuel Lichtinshtein, national fleet sales, CPO & remarketing manager. “Sales continue to meet or exceed projections and show no signs of slowing.”

Mercedes-Benz Canada sold 1,406 pre-owned units for the month, its best May on record. It was an 11.4-percent uptick, as well.

So far this year, it has moved 5,941 pre-owned units for a 24.2-percent gain.