Featured Employee: Darnell Granberry

While I'm waiting for Darnell to get back to me on the five featured employee questions, I figured I would get started.

I chose Darnell as this month's featured employee due to his recent promotion from salesman to sales manager. Darnell was recently transferred from his position selling used cars with Braeger Ford to managing the entire used car department at Braeger Chrysler and Jeep. Everyone was excited to see him join the Chrysler/Jeep team, as his positive attitude and team spirit were nothing less than contagious.

He's been part of the Braeger team for 4 years now, and even though he had been with the Ford store exclusively through that time, it's no surprise he's been noticed by all three of our dealerships.

It's rare to see him without a smile on his face, and he'll always do his best to get one on yours too. If you see him, make sure to say "hi" and to congratulate him--he's definitely worth knowing.

I'll add his answers to the questions as soon as I get them from him!

Quick Update

I just changed the settings so that now anyone can post a comment. The default was to only let people with "Blogger" accounts leave comments. Since most people don't have accounts, it didn't make sense to limit it that way--I want your comments!

So, if you're reading this, comment away!

New feature, what do you think?

Starting tomorrow, I'm going to add a new regular feature to the Braeger Blog:

The Braeger Featured Employee of the Month!

I'll ask one employee each month a series of five questions, and include a short biography of their time with Braeger. (I'll even include a picture, since at Braeger we're a pretty good looking bunch!) I think we should all get to know each other better, and think this is a great way to start.

Between updates, anyone who wants to email me their answers to these questions, or wants to include their answers in comments here, should feel free to do so. If your answers are good, I'll post them here too!

Here are the questions I'm going to use:
1) What would you like the world (or at least Braeger) to know about you?
2) What makes you proud of Braeger and of working here?
3) Why do you think I chose you (or should, or would choose you) as a Braeger Featured Employee?
4) What are you driving right now?
5) When you're not at Braeger, what do you enjoy doing?

I think that's a great overview. Like I said, tomorrow will be the first installment, featuring Darnell Granberry who was just promoted from used car salesman at our Ford store, to used car manager at the Chrysler and Jeep location. Congratulations!

New Logo! What do you think?

I just received a copy of a proposed new logo for Braeger in my email box this morning:

Click on the new logo to send me an email about it

I think I really like it! With Braeger's involvement with veterans' affairs, supporting our troops overseas, and our focus on driving the American economy and supporting the men and women who support us every day, I think the logo is very appropriate.

But more importantly, from a purely aesthetic standpoint, I think the logo just looks good. It's clear, easy to read, and powerful. It gives you a feeling, and not just a message.

What do you think? Is it a good new face for Braeger, or do you prefer the older Braeger logo:

Click on the old logo to send me an email about it

Brutal Truth Motors

Brutal Truth Motors

Open for business

I would like to welcome everyone to Brutal Truth Motors. First, let me start by saying this isn’t going to be your usual column about great customer service or the largest selection or all of our great deals. It also won't be a column about daisies or tulips or anything nice like that. It’s going to be about things that bother me, things about the car business that bother me, consumer perceptions that bother me, and anything else that just ticks me off.

The best part about it, is that you, the reader, will be privy to some of the most brutally honest content about the car industry ever available. You probably won't like most of it. But all of it will always be true. For example, here's a small sample of things to come:

• Unless you want to finance your new $35,000 dollar pickup truck for ten years your payments will never be $300 dollars, and there is not a thing we can do to get you there.


• Yes, a GMC truck is the same as a Chevy, no matter how much more they charge for it.


• No, it's not excessive for a car dealership to hope for a 3% profit margin on a new car when furniture stores happily rake in 200%, 300%, or 400% profits!


• Yes, if you don't change your oil for two years and your car breaks, it is your fault!

So, I would hope you continue reading. But I understand if you don't. Brutal honesty is honest, yes, but also brutal.

Today's episode: Yes, the employee price is the bottom line; no we cannot “do any better”

On June 1st General Motors made a monumental move in the automobile industry by offering nearly all of their vehicles to the general public at their employee prices. How this works is that most auto manufacturers have a special price on every vehicle that an employee of the company can buy it for. It is highly discounted off the vehicles sticker price, and employees of all auto manufacturers have enjoyed it for some time now.

Well GM ruined it for all us employees. Our price isn’t special anymore, anyone off the street can buy a car for that sweet, low, price that we could. I don’t like it, but you certainly should take advantage of it. Here is what really bothers me though: for the first time ever, cars are thousands of dollars cheaper then they have ever been, and you still want more. “Is that your best price?” I quiver when I hear those words. Do you realize that GM has to send us, the dealership, a check to reimburse us for the hit we take on a vehicle that is sold at an employee price? That’s right, we actually sell the vehicle to you for less than what we paid for the vehicle. GM then sends us a check to cover that amount, plus a small commission so it makes sense for us to continue to sell cars. So the answer to your question is YES, the employee price is my best number; NO I can’t take another thousand dollars off the price.

Don’t worry though, employee pricing will be ending soon, and then you can go back to begging, pleading and demanding for another three thousand dollars off that brand new car. You might get it, you might not, and at least car buying will be fun again right? Stay tuned for next week when I explain just why those three thousand dollars more you want off is just an insane number and why it usually just won’t happen.

Big Gains for the Big Three!

JD Power reports impressive quality gains for domestic manufacturers
_{Steve Erich}

More good news came out this week about the state of the American automobile industry. GM and Ford grabbed 7 of the 18 top spots in the JD Power and Associates initial quality surveys. GM also swept the North/South America plant quality awards. This shows exceptional work by the American manufacturers in a climate of intense competition over initial quality. In the past 5 years the entire auto industry has shown a remarkable 25% increase in initial quality from 154 problems per 100 vehicles in 2000 to 118 problems per 100 vehicles in 2005. To underscore how much better quality is across the board, every manufacturer and every nameplate this year was better than the industry average 5 years ago. The results of the long-term vehicle study were also released, with more good news! The Vehicle Dependability Study follows 3-year-old vehicles as opposed to the 90-day window for the Initial Quality Study. The industry as a whole showed impressive gains here as well with a 12% improvement over last year. Ford, Chevy and Chrysler did very well in this survey, with all three nameplates beating the industry average. In fact, both Ford and GM had more vehicles at the top of their respective segments than Toyota! Chevy winners include the Prizm, Malibu, S-10, and Silverado HD. Ford winners include the Thunderbird, Windstar and E-Series Vans. This will come as welcome news to owners of American vehicles as it is estimated that being better than the industry average can help resale value by as much as $1,000. For the average consumer, there have never been more choices, quality has never been higher, and manufacturers and dealers are offering better service than ever in order to provide a leg up on the competition. There has never been a better time to look at a newer car, and it has become very hard to make a poor choice based on quality, reliability, and service. This means that you can get back to making your decision about the things that really matter: will it do everything you need it to do, is it in your budget, and most importantly, do you like it?

2006 Models Here!

After Christmas and my birthday, this is my favorite time of year.

Why?

All the exciting new models we've been waiting for are beginning to arrive in our showrooms. Besides new versions of some old favorites, there are definitely some fresh new faces in the crowd this year.

Chevy HHRs, with their distinctive retro-styling, have already appeared at our Braeger Chevrolet dealership, and they are definitely worth coming in to see, even if you're not in the market right now.



If you click on the image, you'll open a window to the Chevy Website devoted to the HHR, for more pictures and specifications.

On the Ford side of things, the new Fusion is already showing itself around the country as Ford's new entry into NASCAR, see the story here.

Finalizing the phase-out of the venerable, and popular Ford Taurus line, the Fusion looks like a great addition to Ford's lineup, on or off the race track. Click on the picture below to visit Ford's official Fusion site.



And from the Jeep store, we have the most amazing 4x4 to roll out of a Jeep assembly plant in a long long time. The new Jeep Commander is set to re-open the doors to Jeep customers looking for something bigger than the Grand Cherokee. With three rows of seating, and the most advanced stability and four-wheel drive systems available on the planet, the Commander will be at home driving the soccer team to practice, or conquering the untamed wilds of the Yucatan.



If you can, now is the best time of year to come by, chat, pick up a cup of coffee, and see the cars everyone will be talking about for the next year!