For 45 years, LAR has been helping dealers earn big money on their purchase savings
It should come as no surprise that now more than 3,200 dealers across Canada have become shareholders in Leader Automotive Resource Inc. (LAC). That’s because dealers are accustomed to writing cheques to their suppliers but instead — they get cheques from LAR.
Robert Issenman, President & CEO, LAR
“We bring a cheque, and when you bring a cheque, everybody wants to see you,” said Robert Issenman, President & CEO, LAR.
The company, a dealer-owned and directed purchasing consortium, turns 45 in December, and is celebrating the milestone with events across Canada.
It’s a made-in-Canada success story for the Montréal, Que. headquartered company, that has branched out globally with shareholders in DealerShop, a U.S. based firm with 800 dealerships on their roster, and TECAR International, a European-based partnership, that serves more than 15,000 dealerships in 13 countries.
The business model is straightforward: dealerships purchase a vast amount of products and services every year. Instead of dealerships engaging with each of those companies and negotiating pricing and service agreements, LAR’s expert procurement experts do it on behalf of all the dealers in the consortium.
The company has large warehouses and distribution centres across Canada and the U.S. where they house and ship thousands of products from hundreds of suppliers.
This group buying power gives LAR more clout in negotiating better pricing with suppliers, and they are also able to extensively vet all the suppliers and products to ensure dealers are being well served. “We like to say that we are the procurement arm of a dealership without any charge whatsoever. It reduces paperwork, it reduces accounting work, it eliminates the need for an in-house purchasing department because we’re providing all those services.”
LAR keeps tabs on the net savings dealerships save by being part of the group, and four times a year they deliver cheques directly to the dealers reflecting their savings.
“What distinguishes LAR from everybody else is it has a singular focus on the dealerships we serve,” said Issenman, in an interview with Canadian auto dealer. “So when everybody gets up in the morning at LAR, they have only one focus — it’s how can we improve the life of the dealer principals we serve and their managers.”
The company has large warehouses and distribution centres across Canada and the U.S. where they house and ship thousands of products from hundreds of suppliers.
Issenman said that the more goods and services the dealerships buy through LAR, the more they earn back. “Over the years, Dealer Principals have amassed considerable amounts of money, which we track,” he said. “The way we operate is that this is the dealers’ money. Our task is to increase their share as much as possible, give it back to them and let them spend it as they see fit.”
Issenman said a more recent turn of events has resulted in a major sea change for the company: its relationship with the global multinational Robert Bosch, which has resulted in LAR getting involved with OEMs for the first time. “This changes the profile of LAR to a great extent,” he said. It’s a major sea change — it’s transformational for LAR.”
One example of that new relationship involved having LAR provide Ford dealers with EV chargers, and now the company is offering many other EV related products and services. “We’re selling high voltage gloves, the kind of thing a hydro worker would use on power lines,” said Issenman, adding the company now offers a whole bevy of products and services related to the transition to vehicle electrification.
Issenman says, though, that dealers need not be worried that the OEM dealings are changing LAR’s primary focus. “Our focus remains that of the dealer, but what we do now is align the interest of the OEM and the dealer together so they’re working together and arriving at proper solutions,” he said. “We have not sold out by any means. We’ve kept a very level playing field and we have stayed true to our Dealer Principals and we continue to shovel enormous amounts of money back to the dealers — and not at the expense of the dealers.”
