What does the 4th of July mean to you? You should think about it.
When I think of the 4th of July, it’s obviously in a patriotic vein. I think about how we became a country, and also it reminds me of the pride I have in our country. With all of our faults (which we air on our sleeve for the world to see) we are still the beacon of hope to the world. Outsiders can find fault with us, but often because they, deep down, are envious of us. All people everywhere can have reasons to love and be proud of their countries. However, the fact remains, the United States of America is by far the most desired place to live when others are asked, “If you had to choose a different country to live in, which would it be?” We are diverse, we are strong, but at the same time, compassionate and willing to help others in need. As best we can, we’ve tried always to help police the world and protect and help others.
I often think of the veterans who served in our military, many of which also fought for the cause of freedom. Consider this, how often, especially in the last 100 years, has America taken land from those that we were at war with? Consider how many Americans have died while forcibly removing tyrants, dictators, and those that employ genocide, from power.
So as you have the day off, watch fireworks, go and do what you wish, enjoying good food at the same time, remember what made us great, what makes us great, and think of how we can continue to make America the beacon of hope and the greatest nation now, or ever, on earth.
You hear a lot about going green these days. At the Birdnow Dealerships we take that seriously and were doing it long before it was politically correct or the latest fad.
About 27 years ago when I first owned my Jesup dealership I noticed an employee heading out the door with a pan of old gasoline. I asked him what he was doing and he indicated he was going to dump it outside on the gravel lot. I told him to never do that. We put it in a barrel and when full we paid to have it properly disposed of. When we began our body shop, we contracted with Safety Kleen to properly dispose of old solvents and paints. We also comply with the emission rules for painting operations.
Even before it was required, we bought an oil filter crusher and began crushing used oil filters. At first we burned the used oil in a waste oil heater. I paid nearly twice the cheapest price for a heater in order to get one that more thoroughly and efficiently burned the oil so as to create less pollution. For the last several years though, we’ve had the used oil from them and from our oil changing operations picked up by a licensed recycler. We paid to have the crushed filters properly recycled also. For years we’ve properly disposed of oil rags, wipes, and floor dry products as well as mercury switches and fluorescent lighting tubes. We also pay to have used tires hauled away for recycling.
As the years have gone by, most everything that we’d been doing became required, or the law in most cases.
How do we pay for all of this? We put a small percent charge on each repair ticket with a max cap. This money goes into a bookkeeping account and all recycling fees, and charges are put against that. So far we’re pretty close to even.
When it’s all said and done, though, if we all do our part, we’ll leave a better place for those who follow us.
We often suggest that a customer should investigate and compare the cost of insurance for a vehicle they are considering purchasing.
There is a guide that every new vehicle dealer is required by law to furnish you a copy of that compares insurance ratings of new vehicles. The government compiles this book using accident data from most accidents. The rating that a particular vehicle has can greatly affect the premium you’ll pay for collision insurance. Remember that if you finance your vehicle you’ll be required by the lender to have collision and comprehensive insurance coverage. Even if you’re not financing you should have those coverages if your vehicle is worth more than you can afford to lose if it was totaled.
So here’s how it works. A police report says that the driver was going 35 miles per hour and hit a parked vehicle. The insurance company pays the claim to fix the vehicles. That data is compiled along with possibly a million other accident claims each year and the circumstances of the accident. They are then able to spot trends where one vehicle costs more to fix in a similar accident than another. This happens because of the way some vehicles are engineered or built and also because of the cost of repair parts. A large percentage of accidents result in the insurance company paying to have the damaged vehicle repaired so they are very interested in the cost to fix a vehicle.
We once had a Mitsubishi traded in. The customer said they couldn’t afford the insurance, it was three times higher than the same size class and value Chevy we sold them. Recently we found a dash assembly required (because the air bags had deployed in an accident) to fix a Chevy was slightly more than $400.00 and a dash assembly for a similar competitive make vehicle was $3,800.00. That’s why insurance premiums can vary so much from one vehicle to another. Remember that if in a certain accident one car costs $5,000 to repair and a different vehicle costs $8,000 to repair, the insurance company is going to charge a higher premium for the second example.
Finally, when there are safety recalls, that can increase your premiums because it’s not always easy to prove if a vehicles system failed that caused an accident.
Last year as part of the restructuring of GM and Chrysler in bankruptcy, approximately 2000 dealers were abruptly terminated, or in the case of GM dealers told that they would lose their franchises no later than October of 2010.
GM and Chrysler claimed that dealers cost them a lot of money. Here’s a good way to look at this. Consider dealers as the only customer of the manufacturers. Also be aware that virtually everything we get from the manufacturer, we pay for. Canceling out dealers would be very similar to a dealer filing for bankruptcy and in the bankruptcy stating that the dealer would no longer sell to people whose last names started with A through the letter D. Less dealers mean less competition and fewer choices for getting service for consumers.
I’ll admit that some dealers might have been too close to one another, but wouldn’t it have been a better plan to allow the market (that means the customers) choose which dealers would survive? Many dealers lost franchises because the manufacturer wanted to combine their brands under one roof. Here’s an example of that: In the Waterloo Cedar Falls area, Holdiman Motor lost their Jeep and Chrysler franchises. Those franchises have already been given to a different dealer who had the Dodge franchise. Even in bankruptcy the Jeep and Chrysler franchises had considerable value yet the manufacturer took them from one dealer and gave them to another dealer. This, I’m pretty sure of, was done with no payment to Holdiman, or charge to the other dealer.
There are rules and laws that protect dealers from manufacturers using such tactics. But in the shroud of bankruptcy they were able to bypass those laws. There are also rules and laws that protect dealers from unfair competition and also require that all dealers pay the same amount for their new vehicles from the factory. Those laws and rules were created years ago to ensure that there were convenient service and price competition available to consumers and that little dealers wouldn’t be unfairly forced out of business. The alternative will be no place but large towns having auto dealers. The big dealers would like that, you won’t….
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this subject.
The Birdnow Dealerships are going to launch a first of its kind 24/7 emergency message service for our customers. All of our customers will begin receiving a card with a toll free 24/7 emergency contact number on it. We are calling this card our VIC (Very Important Customer) cars. Only our customers will have access to this number. When calling, a live operator will ask which of our locations you normally do business with, or which one of our locations you’re closest to, and, at your choice, will call a specific manager, or the emergency contact managers of that store. If no one answers, if you wish, an email will be sent to all emergency contact managers at all of our locations. As soon as possible one of our emergency contact managers will call you back and see how we can help. Each of our managers will have a complete list of contact numbers for all staff in the entire Birdnow Dealerships organization. So, for example, if you normally do business with our Oelwein location, but it’s the middle of the night, you call our VIC emergency operator, and our emergency operator isn’t getting an answer to their phone call, an email will be sent to all emergency contact managers. Early the next morning, the first emergency contact manager that sees the message will call you, find out how we can help you, and will use our master list of all employees to call the appropriate person from the store location that can help you. Our 24/7 operator will have contact information for after hours towing, etc. to help you, but our purpose is not to replace emergency services or roadside assistance. Examples of what we would be able to help with is a loaner on the weekend, or advice on where to have a damaged vehicle towed.
This is just one of many things that make our dealerships unique. We like to say that we have all the benefits of a large dealership (a lot of vehicles to choose from, many sources of lenders to get you the best possible deal, better trained technicians and equipment) but not the negative things big dealerships can have. (high service labor rates, turnover in sales staff, high pressure to buy today, don’t care attitude once you’ve purchased from them, etc.) The Birdnow Dealerships are one big family, spread across NE Iowa, if you’re a Birdnow Customer you’ll be at home at any of our locations.