Client Spotlight: Brian Lee, White Mountain Auto Broker, Inc.

Brian Lee opened the first White Mountain Auto dealership in 1994. Today, this thriving family of four Buy Here, Pay Here dealerships in Vermont and New Hampshire earns the loyalty of rural New England customers with a simple promise, according to Lee.

“We make buying a good used car as simple, affordable and straightforward as possible. And, we back this promise with a comprehensive inspection of each vehicle and generous warranty support,” he said. “More than half of our customers return to buy again when the time comes.”

A big part of the reason for White Mountain’s success is more than ten years of participation in NCM’s services for Buy Here, Pay Here dealerships. Lee attended the NABD convention for the first time in 1999 to learn more about the business and find resources for funding to help him grow his dealership. He also was one of the initial members of the BHPH 20 Group upon its creation in 2003. In the end, the ideas and relationships Lee gained from his convention and 20 Group participation led him to quadruple the size of his operation without taking out a loan.

“Once I began participating in the 20 Group, my business really took off,” he said. “The networking opportunities were invaluable to getting us where we are today.

“The beauty of NCM is you get to know people who have operations similar to yours, and you get to see their numbers. You have the chance to talk to them about what has and what hasn’t worked for them, and you can save a lot of time, money and wasted effort by avoiding ideas others have already tried that don’t work. You also can bring ideas home that make sense for your business model and apply them in your dealership.”

One great example of just such an idea was a warranty structure that helped him add $400 gross to each car he sells.

“I had watched another dealer work on this warranty deal for two years. It was a bold approach, and I didn’t dare try it at White Mountain Auto,” he said. “I eventually decided to test his warranty program in my own dealership for two months. It was incredibly successful and grew my bottom line significantly. When you multiply $400 by the thousand cars we sell in a year’s time, it adds up to a lot of profit.”

For the immediate future, Lee is working toward becoming as efficient as possible in the four dealerships he currently has.

“My goal is to become debt-free, and I’m very close to reaching it,” Lee said. “My business model is built around trying to capture more cash out of my business, and NCM—especially my 20 Group membership—has helped me come up with ideas to do just that.”

	“I remember going to my first NABD conference eight years ago and everyone on the panels saying the best thing they ever did was join an NCM 20 Group. I figured NCM was paying them to say that! Then I joined one and now I’m the one saying it’s the best thing I ever did for my business!” – Todd Robertson, The AutoFinance Center on why you should team up with NABD and NCM
Visit NCM Associates at NABD 2010 in Booth #117/218 where you may be eligible to win a 37” LCD-HD television!

Staff Spotlight: Brent Carmichael, BHPH Executive Conference Moderator

Brent Carmichael—Buy Here, Pay Here executive conference moderator and NCM’s resident expert on BHPH sales, collections, reconditioning and operations—plays a big role in helping BHPH 20 Group dealers improve their businesses and their bottom lines. Following are a few of his thoughts about BHPH market challenges and his role as an NCM 20 Group moderator.

What are the biggest challenges facing BHPH dealers right now?

“Without a doubt, inventory acquisition and capital availability. The economic crisis pushed new car dealers who lost their brand franchises into the used business. With new car sales being down, there are fewer trade-ins for us to buy. In our 20 Groups, we approach members to find new sources for inventory, as well as encouraging them to try new avenues—such as acquiring cars from private buyers, or recycling repossessions rather than selling them at auction. Another economically smart source for inventory is the online auction, which saves the cost of traveling to auctions. All of these different approaches supplement inventory levels while helping the BHPH dealers manage their inventory on a shorter, leaner cycle than in the past.

“From a capital standpoint, we focus on helping our members be better cash managers. Rather than locating new sources to borrow money, we help them effectively manage the cash they have to pay down debt and run smarter and leaner. For those dealers looking for additional capital, we’ve been helping them get smaller loans at small local banks and credit unions. Our composite has been a good tool for helping some of our dealers prove their numbers to banks when they’ve applied for loans.”

What’s your role at NCM?

“I moderate eight 20 Groups, six of which are BHPH dealers. I also do consulting work in the BHPH space, including full operational sales and collections training. Just lately I’ve been working a lot with new car dealers and others who are getting into the Buy Here, Pay Here business. As a moderator I’m very hands-on, and I stay closely involved on a monthly basis with our dealer clients. I play an active role in the composite review for corrections each month.”

What did you do before joining NCM?

“I started in 1989 as a branch manager with a subprime lending company called Security Finance in Tahlequah, Okla. I was with them until 1996, when I went to work for a company called Auto Master in northwest Arkansas, which was a Buy Here, Pay Here dealership. I had never done anything with cars before, but I knew the clientele, because it was the same people I had served while working in subprime lending. I started as their finance manager and was fortunate enough to be promoted to VP in ’99. I later moved to Louisville, Ken. to take a job as the general manager of another BHPH dealership, and eventually ended up at NCM. At the time I left Auto Master, I was an NCM client in a 20 Group.”

What’s the best part of your job?

“I really enjoy the people I work with. I do miss the day-to-day life at a BHPH dealership sometimes, but I get to live vicariously through our dealer clients, so being with NCM and working with those folks on a daily basis really is the best of both worlds.”

NCM and BHPH Dealers: Driving Profitability Together

Did you know that on average, NCM BHPH 20 Group member profitability has improved by 24% since 2007? In addition, NCM BHPH clients enjoyed the following average performance improvements over the same period:

Collection Dollars: Up 13%
Charge Offs: Down 12%
Adjusted Gross: Up 8%
Expenses: Down 2%

To learn more about opportunities in BHPH, download Brent Carmichael’s article on “BHPH—The Key to the Future.” To find out about all of NCM’s BHPH services, visit us online at www.ncm20.com/BHPH or call NCM Business Development
at 800-756-2620.

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