Beggs: Opportunity Knocks for CPO

When it comes to the certified pre-owned market, one of the key themes Black Book’s Ricky Beggs sees is opportunity.
Opportunity in the remarketing channels to take advantage of greater off-lease volumes, for OEMs to maintain brand strength and for dealers to quickly turn their inventory.
(Not to mention, dealers will have a lot more of this CPO-type inventory, which bodes well considering that,as Beggs points out, the market has hit certified records with short supply. Now, of course, supply should be better.)
Diving deeper into the benefits from CPO, dealers “may not make any more gross, because their cost is a little higher, but it might turn that inventory quicker,” Beggs told Auto Remarketing at the NADA Convention & Expo last month.
He added: “You turn that inventory 12 times instead of nine times, look how much more income that actually is. Even though your grosses might not have increased, your total revenue does.”
So where does all this CPO opportunity come from?
“What’s helped it over the last few years are two things. One is awareness. Because they are telling the story better. And they’re telling the story better because it creates an opportunity to turn their inventory quicker,” Beggs said.
“I’m sure there are a ton of retail (consumers) who come on the lot that really don’t understand or know what CPO is,” he added. “And if a dealership does a good job at telling that story, a lot of times the consumer thinks they’re getting an almost-new car.”
Editor’s Note: Stay tuned to the Feb. 15 print and digital editions of Auto Remarketing, which will showcase “The Best CPO Dealers in the USA” and offer best practices from these leading dealerships.