For the past four years, Auto Remarketing has published a magazine each February that recognizes the best-selling certified pre-owned dealers in the U.S.

Essentially, the top 10 CPO dealers for each participating program (based on the previous year’s sales) are recognized.

Bill Luke Chrysler Jeep Dodge & Ram did not make its automaker’s top 10 list the first year, but has since placed fourth among the automaker’s dealers for 2012 sales (683) before notching back-to-back years as the OEM’s top-selling CPO dealer.

And all signs point to that streak extending to three consecutive years of certified sales leadership.

The dealership sold 1,520 certified vehicles in 2013 and then sold 1,771 last year.

According to numbers from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles U.S., Bill Luke moved 1,577 certified vehicles through nine months of 2015 to lead the automaker’s dealer body yet again.

It’s this kind of consistency that has earned Bill Luke Chrysler Jeep Dodge & Ram the title of 2015 Auto Remarketing CPO Dealer of the Year, which is presented by NCM Associates. 

The dealership sells roughly 500 used vehicles a month and certifies every Chrysler vehicle that it can — “Period,” says dealer principal Don Luke.

“To us, it’s a marketing tool; it’s not necessarily like some people do it, to try and get more money for the car. To us, it’s strictly a marketing tool,” Luke said. “When they look at a Chrysler product … if we’re competitively priced and they also get a certified car — with warranty, etc. — then they come to me.”

This year, Luke said, the dealership is “running a little ahead on CPOV, because our volume’s up a little,” with certified sales reaching between 190 and 200 a month.

“And we’re carrying more inventory. And, of course, that’s driving more sales,” he said.

Oddly enough, though, Luke said supply was actually a bit tight when Auto Remarketing talked with him in mid-October.

“It’s a conscious effort to get out and have buyers constantly searching, working five, six different auctions at any given time,” Luke said. “I would say that they’ve put a lot more energy into buying cars.”

The dealership also has two people dedicated simply to go online and buy cars. What’s more, Luke says, used-car director Jody Knaub will often have two screens up at the same time, buying cars online.

“So, it’s really a conscious effort of going out and literally buying cars,” Luke said. “But you’ve got to seek out vehicles that will work for you in your market and are priced right. And that’s a real key thing. You can always buy cars. But they have to be priced right or you’re dead.”

If fact, Knaub said that “sourcing has been the biggest struggle” on the CPO side this year.

The dealership is a big supporter of the Velocity Method of Management program from vAuto and its founder Dale Pollak — which vAuto’s website describes as an “investment-based inventory management philosophy.”

With that in mind, the price-point is particularly important for the store, Knaub said.

“So, I can go out and buy 150 cars today, but that doesn’t make them 150 good cars, if you will, that fit our model,” he said.

The dealership aims to turn at roughly a 30-day average, Knaub said, and the challenge is to find enough inventory that would allow them to turn as fast as possible.

For help in decision-making when it comes to market day supply, price-to-market and general exit plans, the dealership turns to vAuto data, he said.

Knaub emphasizes the importance of discipline in sticking to this turn-time, “aggressive” as the business model may be, he says. Averaging a 30-day supply and average day-to-sale means the store has to be especially mindful of purchase price.

“If you pay too much, you’re just buying loss,” Knaub said. “And that’s what I tell my guys, every time you do that, you buy a loss … that’s obviously not the goal here.”

And that, Luke says, is why the dealership has such resources devoted to buying the right cars.

“We’re looking at auctions everywhere,” Luke said. “We’re looking for stuff that’s priced right.

“We’ll buy cars that won’t get here for a week, and they could be coming from three states away,” he added.

In fact, that actually “just happened,” Luke said.

The store didn’t have much in the way of reconditioning work to finish, and the shop was able to catch up and slow down, Luke said.

Then, more than 100 units arrived from earlier purchases.

“We went from famine to feast,” Luke said.

As far as education and discussing the features and benefits of CPO, Knaub said the store does hold sales staff meetings regularly on that, and may have a representative visit to discuss the topic, plus the monetary value CPO can bring.

But he said the store focuses more on efficiency than it does CPO amenities.

“When you run on that turn, it’s all about us being efficient,” Knaub said. “I think CPO fits right into the program.”

The sales staff has also appreciated the reconditioning that goes into the CPO vehicles, Knaub said. The dealership aims to recon the car so that it’s “above-average” quality.

“I think a lot of the employees actually appreciate and benefit from the fact … that once it hits the road, we don’t have to have that car coming back for further reconditioning, because it’s a good quality car that we’ve got in to a place where we shouldn’t have to see it until its first oil change,” Knaub said.

Don Luke and the dealership will be presented the CPO Dealer of the Year award at 4:05 p.m. on Nov. 16 during the CPO Forum, which is one of four industry-leading conferences making up Used Car Week in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Luke will also be among the panelists for the “Top 10 Best CPO Ideas” discussion taking place at 10:30 a.m. on Nov. 17 during the CPO Forum.

And at the National Remarketing Conference portion of Used Car Week, Luke will participate on “The National Panel: Opportunities and Hurdles Facing the American Used Car Industry in 2016.”

That panel is scheduled for 11:15 a.m. on Nov. 19.