Emich continues to be #1 in Colorado

Congrats to all departments for a very strong March. The new vehicle department was once again first in the state. We were once again in the top 10 for Certified Pre-Loved sales in the nation. The parts department was ranked third in wholesale dollars per installer for the entire US. Both sales and service had great customer satisfaction ratings as well. Thanks for all your hard work and dedication teams!

It looks like the economic storm is starting to settle as we are seeing increasing activity on the retail front. That should be a good sign for all of us.

Thanks Denver Daily News

Thank you to the Denver Daily News for a very nice article about our dealership.

http://www.thedenverdailynews.com/article.php?aID=3763

Still #1 in Denver

Emich VW finished #1 in Denver and Colorado in new VW sales for the 13th straight month. Congratulations to the hard work from the New Car Team. We are currently ranked 55th in the Nation for new Volkswagen sales which is a tremendous improvement over last year.

New Cars and the Stimulus Bill

The recently enacted Federal Stimulus Bill will give tax incentives for the purchase of new vehicles. These tax credits can still be combined with the previously existing $1,300 tax deduction for any 2009 Jetta TDI or Sportwagen TDI. Here's how it works:

Effective 2/17/09-12/31/09

Deductible taxes: State or local motor vehicle sales (use tax) or excise taxes imposed on the purchase of a NEW motor vehicle.

Who qualifies? Individuals with modified adjusted gross income of less than $125,000 or joint-filers making less than $250,000 in 2009. The deduction is allowable for the alternative minimum tax.

What New vehicles qualify? Any new vehicle under 8,500 lbs GVW of any model year. Only the first $49,500 qualifies for the full deduction.

For example:

A person purchasing a 2009 VW Touareg for $45,000 would pay $3,474 in taxes if they lived in the city limits of Denver. Hypothetically if they were in a 30% tax bracket they would save $1042 in federal taxes and additionally more on their Colorado state income taxes.

Emich up in down market

Despite the troubling economic times Emich VW triumphed in January. In a new vehicle market that was down 37% to the lowest figures in 27 years Emich VW was up 56% year over year. We were also able to increase used vehicle sales and parts sales by over 17%. The service department was flat year over year which is truly a testament to their execptional level of service creating loyal customers.

Great January!

Congrats to John Morse and the Parts Department for being one of the top 10 performing VW parts departments in the nation. Dave Guttenberg and the used car department should also be recognized for finishing 9th in the nation for Certified Pre-Owned VW sales. Chris Kelley and the new car department was once again number one in the region for new Volkswagen sales.

To a successful 2008

Emich VW finished as the 20th largest Certified Pre-Owned VW dealer in the nation. We also completed the year as one of Generation VW's Best. Actually finishing 7th in the nation as a Dealership. We are also sending three employees to the VW Guild event in Las Vegas. Congratulations Dave Guttenberg (Sales Manager), John Morse (Parts Manager), and Karl Riedell-Reynolds (Parts Associate). Dave Guttenberg has also won a trip for two to Cabo San Lucas for being the 4th ranked Sales Manager in the country for 2008. Congrats!

Parts #30 in USA for 2008

Congratulations to the parts team for being ranked 30th in the nation by selling just short of $2,000,000 parts in 2008. This was a huge increase from the previous year.

State of the Automobile Industry

I predict that 2009 will be even harder for the auto industry than 2008. The reason I think this is the major changes we are seeing in the credit markets. In previous years creditors loaned customers thousands of dollars more than vehicles were worth. With great credit it was possible to borrow almost twice the vehicles value or easily 140%. Now these creditors have began to realize serious loses with the contracting economy and staggering job losses. They are also having a hard time borrowing at decent rates based on their increased lose ratios. Within the last month we have seen rates jump several points and advances shrivel to below 100% of the vehicles value. This has made it difficult to finance anybody with a trade-in which they owe money on. In previous years lenders extended loan terms to 84 plus months and allowed for large advances in terms of loan to value. Therefore these customers have paid more interest and less principle during the first years of the loans. This coupled with the lowest used car values in recent history has created greater inequity for customers who have not paid off their current vehicles. Now if they want a new vehicle banks have reduced allowed terms, increased rates, and decreased the amount they will finance in terms of loan to value (LTV). Literally overnight some banks have gone from a 130% LTV advance policy to 100%. That is the difference between a customer being able to finance $6000 in inequity or $0 on a $20,000 vehicle. Some banks are now even charging up to 3% to finance up to 120% LTV which was a minimal amount a year ago. In the long term these policies are not bad because they will put customers in a better equity position than what was allowed previously. However this year many people who are used to financing vehicles with trade-ins for $0 down might have to fork over more down payment than expected. With swelling new vehicle inventories the manufactures are going to have to figure out a way to loosen credit with their captive finance sources. Just wait a week and this will probably all change....

Luckly VW has a large customer base that lease vehicles. They will be insulated from this phenomenon because the lease company assumed the risk of the future value of their vehicle. Therefore they will not have inequity at a time when used vehicle values are at their lowest and lenders are tightening up.

#1 for 2008

Hats off to the Sales Department for being the top new VW dealer in CO, NM, and UT for 2008. They also finished within the top 25% in the nation for Customer Satisfaction. I am still waiting for the final parts and service numbers, but those departments also had a tremendous 2008. Keep up the hard work!