ProfitTime GPS in Practice: ‘Start Small’ to Adopt ROI-Minded Used Vehicle Management

Tim Hlavenka, national sales director for the Rick Case Auto Group, says the adoption of ProfitTime GPS and the ROI-minded Variable Management strategy it supports didn’t come easy or happen overnight.

“There was push-back in that roll-out,” says Hlavenka, who oversees new and used vehicle sales for the group’s 12 stores in Florida and Georgia. “People don’t like change. They have to see it work. They have to see it’s useful.”

The group started its transition to ProfitTime GPS and the system’s investment-minded strategy in 2023. Hlavenka joined the group in June that year and, by January of 2024, all Rick Case stores had the system in place. By then, Hlavenka’s work to make the transition to help store-level managers manage used vehicles as investments had begun to take hold.

His approach to build buy-in: Don’t drop the hammer, start small to build acceptance and trust in a gradual fashion.

“I picked one store where I knew they had the potential to sell more used vehicles,” Hlavenka says. “We kept a few cars that we would have wholesaled for retail. I told the manager, give it a try on five cars. Just do it on a few of them and do an A/B test. Price five vehicles and price them using ProfitTime’s recommended ranges and take five cars and do it your way. Then, look at the cars that did better. You know what we found? The data always wins.

“From there, the store started selling more cars and making more gross. Then, we started seeing stores slowly raise their hands and say, ‘I’m ready for ProfitTime.’”

Mid-way through 2024, Hlavenka and his team are glad they made the transition. The store’s year-over-year volume has gained momentum as the year unfolded. In January and February 2024 showed a 10 percent increase. It increased 35 percent in March, 25 percent in April, 30 percent in May and more than 40 percent in June.

“March, April and May were three record months of used cars sold and profitability for our organization,” Hlavenka says. “We’re seeing some really nice increases. And you know what? It hasn’t hurt our new car volume. As the stores see the results, they buy in more and more. It’s been really good.”

On the gross profit side, Hlavenka notes that overall profitability has also improved. “Our gross has gone up with the sheer increase in volume,” he explains. “Our PVR (Gross Profit per Vehicle Retailed) hasn’t gone up but it hasn’t gone down. It’s stabilized. I’m good with that. None of us gets paid on PVR. We get paid on a pool of gross at the end of the month. We’re focused on that.”

I share Hlavenka’s story because it matches the experiences I see at other dealerships and dealer groups as they make the transition to become more prudent managers of their used vehicle investments with ProfitTime GPS and the Variable Management strategy it supports.

It’s smart to start small to help individual used vehicle managers see how data science can challenge and complement their thinking and help their used vehicle businesses grow. The start small approach is especially useful when your inventory and retail sales suffer under the weight of too many aged or distressed vehicles. ProfitTime GPS will help you move those vehicles quickly as you clean up your inventory.

But the best part comes soon after as your managers, like Hlavenka’s, understand how to treat every vehicle according to its investment value, and your gross and volume start heading in the right direction.