All posts by Bill Lang

GONE TO THE DARKSIDE: WE BOUGHT A DEALERSHIP!

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GONE TO THE DARKSIDE: WE BOUGHT A DEALERSHIP!

Well, we bought into and are running a Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram (CJDR) store in Sealy, Texas! Brazelton’s South County of Sealy is the name (yes, it’s a mouthful). Our partners in the deal are the South County dealerships in California, one of the top 10 CJDR dealers in the country.

Why?

Buying into a franchise dealership basically allows us to serve you better, mainly on the lending side. The trend in the lending world has been to cut off independent dealers, and we’ve lost all our best lenders over the last couple of years. Unfortunately too many sketchy dealers ruined it for the good ones.  However, if you are tied to a franchise they think you are golden!  So now we have access to more lenders which gives us more lending power and even more competitive rates to pass on to our customers.  It will also speed up our process as well.  As many of you have seen, the process of handling loans went from taking an hour or so to process to taking a couple days (at least).

Some other benefits are access to more pre-owned vehicles through franchise dealer only sales. Of course, this is only to CJDR products, but we sell a lot of used Wranglers and Grand Cherokees.  We’ll also be building up the fleet department and CJDR has a great fleet program. Please let us know if you or any of your friends are looking for a very aggressive fleet program!

 

What about Brazelton Auto?

Brazelton Auto is still here to help with ALL makes and models with an UNBIASED approach to car buying, though many of you have known we have praised the Grand Cherokees for some time (just ask Lewis’ wife). As mentioned before, we’ll have even better lending potential with both leasing and conventional financing.  Lewis will be splitting his time between Sealy and Brazelton Auto, particularly in the early stages.  Bill will be handling most of the day-to-day management operations at Brazelton Auto.  Hopefully you won’t notice a difference, except that Lewis might be a bit slower returning your call.

So, this is an exciting time for us, and more than a little nerve wracking. There is quite a bit more to running a new car store vs our little operation! We are drinking out of a firehose right now, but we are seeing good progress already.

New Contender: 2018 Ford Expedition & Expedition Max

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Posted in Auto Industry - General

In mid-2018, Ford’s all new Expedition and Expedition Max came onto the market to go head-to head with GMs Tahoe/Yukon and Suburban/Yukon XL. After years of a mediocre product, the new Expedition came out swinging.  It’s certainly caught the attention of our customers as well, as we have sold more Expeditions in the past several months than we have in the past several years.

So, what’s new? Everything; new sheet metal, all new interior, upgraded drivetrain, steering, and suspension. However, it shares a whole lot from its pick-up truck counter parts, so there is less worry of the first-year model issues. It’s powered by the EcoBoost 3.5L twin-turbo V6 that puts out 375 HP and 470 lb-ft torque (on the Platinum trim level it is tuned to put out 400 HP and 480 lb-ft torque) and is backed by a new 10-speed transmission that is found in the F-150s.  The technology in the Ford is just about unmatched from the simple infotainment and navigation, to safety and towing features, the car can even park itself (kind of).  Some of the features offered also seem to be unmatched, from the panoramic sunroof to 2nd row seats that can give access to 3rd row seats easily even with a car seat in them.

The big question from our clients is “how does it compare to the GM products” since that has been our bread butter for years? Well, there is a lot that goes into it.  There are things on both that are good and bad, but Ford finally has a vehicle that is bringing a lot of clients away from GM.

On the trim levels, Ford offers XLT, Limited, and Platinum. Within the XLT and Limited trims, each have three package levels.  It’s a little tricky to compare apples-to-apples, you have to compare them with certain options within trim levels, but below is as close comparison of some of the more common trim levels we sell.  There are some small differences still, but this gets you close.  You always have us to call to make sense of it all!

Price wise, they are neck and neck, but Ford may arguably have more bang for the buck. The mistake a lot make is thinking the Expedition is more expensive because they compare the Tahoe Premier trim level with the Expedition Platinum trim level (because they are the highest trim level for each) but remember Platinum level is comparable with the Yukon Denali.

In the end, Ford has a full-size SUV that is making an impact in this market. It’s long overdue after having years of an average product that was lacking power and appeal.  Now, to see what GMs next play is!