Moneyball Motors is Changing the Game with VINCUE
Walt White has been in the automotive industry for 46 years. He started when he was 12 years old, cleaning up cars for his father’s BHPH and wholesale car business. He knows the car business and has held every job in a dealership — from detail shop, porter, salesman, all the way up to GM. Walt especially loves working with smaller, independent dealerships, and his focus over the past few years has been helping these dealerships compete with the big boys.
In March 2020, Walt opened his small, independent dealership. Then COVID-19 hit. He had to quickly adapt and evolve to stay in business.
Dealers around the country are feeling the effects of COVID and the inventory shortage. Small, independent dealerships operating in small towns have been especially hit hard by the impact of the pandemic. Walt credits affordable access to the right data as one of his primary reasons for persevering during this time.
“I’m a little guy, across the street from Walmart in a small town,” Walt says. “One of the largest General Motors dealerships is within 45 minutes of me,” he continued. “I’m in Central Arkansas. I’ve got to give someone a reason to come see me. The inventory and market pricing data that VINCUE provides allows me to be in the best position to attract a buyer.”
Getting Back into the Game
Despite promising his wife that he wouldn’t open another dealership, Walt found himself attracted to VINCUE because of the superior capabilities of the VINCUE Inventory Management and Market Pricing solutions, compared to the industry incumbent, at a price that was affordable to him. In his wonderful southern accent, he said, “What got me back into an independent dealership was y’all’s fault. An independent dealer can compete in the market using the VINCUE tool set, and that’s why I got back into it.”
It took Walt just three days to get proficient using the VINCUE platform. He started by using a radius of 100 miles within his dealership to search for available inventory and has now expanded that radius to 850 miles, allowing him to obtain the right vehicle for his market, see who else he’s competing with, and at what price. Walt evaluates 150-300 cars per month with a goal to sell 20-30 cars per month. He’s currently selling ten cars per month and purchases almost 100% of his inventory online.
Walt really likes the VINCUE buying plan and the mobile app.
“The VINCUE buying plan is tremendous. I go into the system and list the vehicle I am looking for, and I set up my searches for the vehicles I want to purchase,” Walt said. “The mobile app is fantastic,” he continued, “I bought a car last night while driving down the freeway — which, by the way, isn’t the smartest thing in the world to do,” Walt confessed. He knew exactly what price to offer in the acquisition due to the data search he performed in VINCUE.
He prides himself on selling only good, accident-free, low-mileage cars to his customers. “We’re just happy —we’re happy to be able to be alive, we’re happy to stay in business,” he says.
Walt also mentioned that he is impressed with VINCUE’s customer service. “I’ve never had to wait more than an hour on anything,” he said. “Lynwood, my Performance Manager, gets back to me right away. I mean, it happens really fast, and I really appreciate that.”
The MVP is Better Data
Walt shared a story about an elderly couple who recently bought a car at his dealership. “The gentleman came and looked at my vehicle and test drove it,” Walt says, “Two days later, he brought his wife back —she was the heavy negotiator,” he continued. Walt was willing to drop his price a little, but he confidently delivered the following message to his customers: “I’m telling you right now I’ve got the best vehicle with the best miles at the best price within 500 miles.” And they both immediately looked at him, shook their heads, and said, “Yes, you do.”
With a smile, Walt said, “That’s the value VINCUE provides —it gives me the ability to take pricing out of the negotiation. I know my customers have done their research, but with VINCUE, I have done mine.”
Moneyball Motors relies on data, analysis, and a scientific approach to buying and selling cars. The VINCUE platform gives Walt the knowledge and confidence to offer a fair market price on vehicles he acquires or sells to his customers.
Walt loves data, and his son loves data — that’s their bond, a love for data. They are also both fans of the book and movie Moneyball —hence the name of his dealership, Moneyball Motors. Moneyball is based on a true story of assembling a winning major league baseball team using an analytical and scientific approach to evaluate each player’s contributions in a new and unconventional way, much like Walt uses VINCUE to compete and win in his market.
