Stop Treating All Used Cars The Same | ASOTU Edge Webinar

If you still look at “used inventory” as one big bucket, you’re basically flying blind.

In this ASOTU Edge Webinar, Derek Hansen of vAuto and Cox Automotive and Drew Hall, Used Car Director at Cloninger Auto Group, walk through how they reworked used-car strategy across 5 rooftops by focusing on where every unit came from and what that source really delivers.

Same VIN, different acquisition channel, very different profit stories.

Know Which Channels Actually Make You Money

Cloninger pulls cars from trades, service drives, street purchases, auctions, and rental fleets. Instead of grouping everything under “used,” they now track each source separately and set target mixes for every rooftop.

When they did that, the patterns jumped out. Trades and street buys delivered the strongest ROI. Service drive units were underutilized. Auctions filled gaps but quietly ate up profit.

Try This:
Pull a 90-day lookback and separate every sold unit by source. Track units sold, average front-end, and days to sell. Circle the two channels with the best margins. That’s where your process and staffing should concentrate first.

Use Daily Huddles to Keep Everyone Aligned

Every morning, all five rooftops meet for a short, structured check-in. They review yesterday’s sales, service volume, trade-ins, grosses, and close rates. It is not complicated, and it is not optional.

The benefit is discipline. Problems surface quickly, wins get shared instantly, and no one gets to hide behind monthly averages.

Try This:
Start a 10-minute “yesterday review” for one store. Cover sales, trades, gross, and any deal you would not repeat. Keep it simple and repeat it daily.

Treat Trade Appraisals Like a System, Not a Guess

Cloninger tightened their appraisal process because sloppy appraisals lead to sloppy grosses. They require an “interactive trade appraisal,” a three-to-five-mile test drive on a defined route, odometer photos for confirmation, and detailed notes that explain both positives and recon needs.

This creates transparency for the customer and eliminates surprises for the technician.

Try This:
Add one non-negotiable to your appraisal process. For example, mandate a minimum test-drive route with documented mileage. Enforce it for 30 days before adding anything else.

Make Coaching Obvious and Fast

Every appraisal from the previous day gets tagged as green, yellow, or red. Greens follow the process cleanly. Yellows are small misses. Reds are shortcuts or gaps.

This allows managers to coach in minutes, not hours, and gives the entire team a shared definition of “done right.”

Try This:
Review the last 10 appraisals daily for two weeks and color-code them. Use that to guide one coaching conversation a day. Small consistency creates big lift.

Use Auction Cars Intentionally

Auction and rental units aren’t villains, but they behave differently. Cloninger treats them as gap fillers, not profit drivers. They watch their auction mix closely, and if it starts climbing, they redirect their acquisition efforts back toward trades, service, and street buys.

Try This:
Decide on a reasonable cap for auction inventory. If your store is at 25% today, aim for 20% and track it weekly.

Let the Winning Store Teach the Rest

With five rooftops, there is always one store outperforming the others in a specific area. Instead of letting that advantage stay siloed, Cloninger shares processes openly. A daily huddle surfaces wins, and weekly meetings unpack how those wins happened.

This prevents each rooftop from reinventing the wheel and speeds up group-wide improvement.

Try This:
Find one metric where one store excels. Ask that manager to document their process and share it with the rest of the group this week.

Demand More From Your Tools

Much of this work started in spreadsheets. Over time, Cloninger leaned on vAuto’s Global Search, appraisal effectiveness reporting, and performance management support to operationalize what worked. The technology didn’t replace the process; it made the process easier to stick to.

Try This:
Ask your IMS or appraisal tool a simple question: “Show me gross and turn by source channel.” If they can’t, you know where to push for better reporting.