“We do not see our transactions as being single transactions,” he said. “We see them as being long-term, multiple transactional relationship-style partnerships. Going into March, we benefited from that. We had a very high level of pre-sold units that were due to hit in April. That has continued through this time period.”
Still, the gravity of the unfolding COVID-19 crisis gave Strayhan pause on April 1.
“I said something that I would never say to myself on the first of a month which is: I wonder how many of these pre-sold units I’m actually going to sell?” he recalled.
By April’s end, each of the pre-sold new vehicles had been delivered. Strayhan declined to specify how many, but noted it was in the double digits, making it a robust month for the store, he said.
On the used end, Strayhan said the price of some pre-owned vehicles has shot up.
“With the ’16 to ’19 model pre-owned cars, we’ve seen values increase dramatically, upwards of 20 to 25 percent, in certain segments, as a function of the supply of new cars,” he said.
