Still Leader Of the Pack

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The final numbers are in and Galpin Ford has once again beat out the competition to be the world’s highest-volume Ford dealership – but this time by just 12 cars.

It’s the 20th consecutive year the Van Nuys dealership has captured that title, but not without a fight that involved massive marketing and heavy discounting.

“It was too close for comfort,” admitted Beau Boeckmann, vice president of the dealership owned by his father, Bert Boeckmann.

The tension started in August when Galpin realized it was significantly behind a Detroit dealership for the title it first won in 1990. So, enlisting the aid of vendors and employees, the company came up with a plan.

It began aggressively stocking Ford’s three most fuel-efficient models – Fusion, Focus and Escape – which it thought would be good sellers. It then bombarded customers with mailers and launched a catchy radio ad campaign on the theme that Galpin was the No. 2 Ford dealer in the nation and needed help retaining its title as No. 1.

Finally, the dealership started its annual year-end sale two weeks early with deep discounts and incentives, including free oil changes and detailing for the next several years.

“Basically we were making every and any deal that we could,” Boeckmann said. “We didn’t lose a deal over price.”

In the end, Galpin edged past Detroit’s Bill Brown Ford by ending the year with 4,370 vehicles sold to Brown’s 4,358. But the victory may have come at a price.

“It was like winning the Super Bowl, but I’m afraid to look at the financials coming out next month,” Boeckmann said. “I don’t know if we made any money; some cars were sold for under cost.”

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