The program has resulted in incremental monthly vehicle sales for the store and has helped the dealership get trade-in vehicles and retain customers who weren’t able to find the exact vehicle they wanted on the Street Volkswagen lot.
Through the program, a customer can request a specific vehicle — 90 percent are for used cars, 80 percent for brands other than Volkswagen, Luciano said. A team of managers then search the Internet, wholesale auction providers, even other dealerships in a peer group, to track it down.
Many vehicles are acquired from other markets in Texas, including Dallas and Houston, as well as from Arizona and California. And the store has acquired vehicles for customers from as far away as Seattle and New Jersey, he said.
Street Volkswagen, which sells an average of 1,200 new and 1,600 used vehicles each year, charges a flat fee of $750 to find the vehicle, plus the cost of shipping, tax, titling, licensing and any reconditioning, Luciano said. He added that the amount the dealership pays for those services is the same amount the customer pays.
