GOODBYE!
Longtime columnist Chris Schulthies is retiring and offers his farewell thoughts I began selling cars in 1986 at Grant Brown Pontiac Buick GMC Cadillac in Toronto. At 22 years of age, this was not a mindful career decision, but a …
Category: Columns
Tariffs, trade and Trump
The politics of trade could be disruptive for Canada’s auto industry Recently during an interview in Chicago, former U.S. President, Donald Trump noted that “tariff” was his favourite word in the dictionary. Looking back at his presidency, his use of …
Performance Group 101: insider secrets (Part 2)
In the second of our two-part series, we present an Insider’s View of how to get the best results from a Performance Group Last issue, I gave you a glimpse into the very first Performance Group I ever attended and some …
Difference makers
Car dealers provide more than employment and vehicles — they support their communities Franchised new car dealers in British Columbia and across Canada are pillars of their respective communities — providing economic investment and a key source of employment and …
Staying above the fray
Associations have to avoid getting swept up in the political chaos of Ottawa election season The return to Parliament has always been a period of excitement for the people who are genuinely interested in the process of politics and also …
A look ahead at 2025
It will be an interesting year for F&I. The nimble and flexible dealerships could do well. As we wrap up 2024, it’s been a year of contradictions for F&I managers — a mix of the predictable and the unexpected, all pointing …
Auto policy in the spotlight
BC election pivotal for new vehicle sector As you read this column, British Columbia will be nearing the end of a provincial election campaign during which BC’s New Car Dealers (NCDA) highlighted a number of issues of concern to our …
How are you paying your techs?
Let’s explore the pros and cons of the Flat Rate Pay System Dealers are always looking for creative ways to drive profitability. This is especially true in fixed operations, where your service department generates approximately 70 per cent of the total gross …
Lean principles can apply to service
The lean philosophies used to build cars can also be applied to servicing them. If done right, everyone wins. We sell time. In our service departments that’s what we sell, time. For every dollar of time we sell in service …
Performance Group 101: insider secrets
In the first of our two-part series, we present an Insider’s View of how to get the best results from a Performance Group The first time I attended a Performance Group, or 20 Group as they are sometimes called, I …
EV lessons learned
To boost EV adoption, dealership teams need to own and operate them too In October 2022, I shared my initial impressions of the transition to owning a battery electric vehicle. With 24 months of ownership and over 42,000 kms travelled, …
Take care of customers and employees will thrive
A customer experience mindset is good for business — and employee engagement and retention Retaining employees has long been a costly challenge for automotive dealerships. The 2024 CADA Workforce Study reports that after three years, only 45 per cent of Service Advisors, …
