In November, Mazda’s certified pre-owned program hit a record dealer enrollment count with 608 stores signed on.  

Over at Ford, its CPO leadership talked recently about how dealership participation has improved, and subsequently shared how dealers and other parties have, as national CPO sales manager Todd Fites put it, “embraced the challenge of growing the CPO business.”

If these trends are any indication of the overall market, it would seem like a fairly strong sign of increasing dealer engagement with CPO.

Getting the dealer body fully engaged with automaker certification programs may prove critical to following up what was a wildly successful year for the market.

As the nation’s franchised dealers soon arrive in Orlando, Fla., for the National Automobile Dealers Association Convention & Expo, Auto Remarketing reached out to CPO program leaders late last year to get an idea about how franchised dealers can make the certified segment a larger focal point of their operations.

“Dealer-wide education is the key to success of any OEM certified program, and is one of our key focal points,” said Larry Pryg, national manager of GM Certified Pre-Owned Vehicle Operations. “Our certified program’s impact on the overall business — from fixed operations to new-car sales — is connected and needs to be communicated throughout the dealership.

“For instance, our Owner Care program’s free maintenance fosters our customers’ relationships with the dealership, creating increased retention for the service department and future opportunities for new-car sales,” he continued.

Over at Kia, Brad Beer emphasized that making CPO a focal point requires a certain mindset, which starts at the top.

Beer — who is the manager of CPO and branded contracts — also noted:  “Fixed operations needs to participate in the CPO profit as well.  Reasonable pricing for internal work is fine, but it must be enough to motivate the service and parts departments to do the job quickly and thoroughly so the car is on the lot as soon as possible.”

What’s more, a dealer must distinguish the CPO vehicles from the non-certified vehicles on his or her lot. Lastly, Beer stressed: “You have to be all-in, and you have to certify in high percentages and display them accordingly.”

See Auto Remarketing's coverage here to learn more about the record-breaking year for certified sales.