How Checkered Flag Jaguar Land Rover is building a faster, leaner used car pipeline

Michael L. Wood, general manager of Checkered Flag Jaguar Land Rover, has been weathering the ups and downs of the business by ramping up the dealership's used car operations.

The strategy revolves around the Virginia Beach dealership's Kelley Blue Book (KBB) Buying Center, where they buy cars directly from customers instead of at auctions.

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Being intentional: “We also accepted the fact that buying a vehicle at auction…just didn't pencil out for us on the P&L (profits and loss statement). So, we doubled down, tripled down in some instances when it comes to the money that we were paying to acquire a vehicle at the door,” Wood tells Daily Dealer Live Hosts Sam D’Arc and Uli De’ Martino.

The at-the-door acquisitions could be a KBB buyer or a service drive buyer—typically acquired at a better price to market.
It affords Checkered Flag a better initial price when they bring the vehicle to the market—with a faster turn, lowering the holding costs paid on a car.

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“We're trying to create this environment where we can acquire the car at a lower value, not just to make more gross profit—but to turn the car faster by being able to offer it to the marketplace at a lower price than most dealers would with that fresh inventory,” said Wood..

Auction vs at-the-door: Checkered Flag Jaguar Land Rover is seeing a $1,500 to $2,000 in front-end margin difference between acquiring the car at the front door and an auction.

When factoring in expenses, the difference can be even higher, given the speed a vehicle is acquired at the door compared to buying at an auction.

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“The cars that we purchased at the door or on KBB typically transact two times as fast as the ones we buy at the auction,” said Wood.

Between the lines: Checkered Flag also incentivizes its sales team with a “pot of gold” challenge, which has gotten as high as $100 per car for 23 vehicles acquired among the dealership’s four-person acquisition team.

Checkered Flag’s average transaction price for a used vehicle is $47,000 to $48,000.

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“We are really trying to push that down—but understanding that…the client comes to the ‘Jagland' of our website for a reason and typically, they know the price point of our cars,” explained the GM.

On the acquisition side, Checkered Flag Jaguar Land Rover intentionally goes after lower price point vehicles.

Focusing on the controllables: He sees the dealership’s focus on used vehicles as a great way to offset tariff concerns—while working to make sure the dealership hits its new car volume numbers, leveraging Checkered Flag’s negotiation-free sales strategy.

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“At the end of the day, whatever JLR does, whatever the UK does, whatever the EU does, and whatever Trump does…has nothing to do with what Mike Wood does on a day-to-day. And that's why we're focusing on getting into the used car business because I can control that.”

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