Book Details Efforts to Maximize Dealers’ Investment Return, Profitability

OAK BROOK, IL –  vAuto founder Dale Pollak announces the release of Velocity Overdrive: The Road to Reinvention, a book that addresses efforts by dealers to increase profitability in a market where tighter margins are the ‘new norm.’

“In the past two years, the margins on used vehicles have been squeezed by a variety of market forces,” Pollak says. “At the same time, some dealers are thriving in this environment while others continue to struggle. Velocity Overdrive explores this disparity and details the operational changes necessary for dealers to compete effectively and increase the returns they expect from their dealership investment.”

Pollak’s research for Velocity Overdrive included interviews and visits with dozens of dealerships across the country.

“I was struck by a recurring theme,” he says. “The most successful dealers show a greater willingness to rethink and reinvent the people and processes that touch every used vehicle. They understand their profitability and investment return now require a greater degree of in-store efficiencies and market transparency to preserve margins and appeal to today’s Internet-enabled buyers.”

Like Pollak’s previous books, Velocity: From the Front Line to the Bottom Line and Velocity 2.0: Paint, Pixels & Profitability, Velocity Overdrive discusses the evolution of the Velocity Method of Management™, highlighting improvements in technology and tools that help dealers access real-time market intelligence and metrics to guide their used vehicle acquisition, reconditioning, merchandising and pricing decisions.

“When I was a dealer, we ran our used vehicle departments largely by the seat of our pants,” Pollak says. “Velocity Overdrive shows how the sharpest dealers now deploy technology to create a market-based strategy and proactively monitor its execution to achieve maximum efficiencies, investment return and profitability.”

In addition, the book reveals an emerging challenge for dealers—the increasing pressure on their profit margins due to increased competition, market volatility and higher facility/operational costs.

“Velocity Overdrive discusses how auto retailing has arrived at the crossroads many other businesses have faced,” Pollak says. “The book shows how dealers are becoming more e-commerce friendly to reduce operational costs, increase efficiencies and satisfy buyers who want to speed up the buying process and spend less time in showrooms.”

Velocity Overdrive: The Road to Reinvention is available for purchase at www.amazon.com. Proceeds from book sales will be donated to charity.

About Dale Pollak
Dale Pollak’s career in the automotive industry spans more than three decades. As a dealer, technology entrepreneur and best-selling author, Pollak has helped many successful auto dealers make dramatic improvements in the performance and profitability of their used vehicle operations. Pollak pioneered the Velocity Method of Management™. It maximizes a dealer’s used vehicle sales volumes and profitability through the use of market metrics—an approach Pollak crafted as a Cadillac dealer in Chicago who could not physically observe his used cars. With this approach, Pollak founded vAuto, Inc., in 2005. During the next five years, Pollak published two industry best-sellers, Velocity: From the Front Line to the Bottom Line and Velocity 2.0: Paint, Pixels and Profitability. The books help dealers adopt velocity principles and increase their used vehicle performance. In late 2010, the AutoTrader Group (ATG) acquired vAuto. Pollak now guides strategic product development and integration for vAuto and other ATG companies.

About vAuto
vAuto provides innovative technology, tools and business intelligence to help dealers improve their used vehicle department sales and profits. vAuto’s Provision Suite offers premium products that guide used vehicle acquisition, appraisals, pricing, merchandising and transparent sales processes for dealers based on real-time supply-and-demand data in their markets. vAuto’s Genius Lab provides smart, simple and stand-alone solutions that address everyday used vehicle management challenges. Today, thousands of dealerships across the United States and Canada rely on vAuto’s industry-leading solutions. vAuto’s visionary founder Dale Pollak has just released Velocity Overdrive: The Road to Reinvention. The book is the third in his best-selling Velocity series, which guides dealers to greater success through the Velocity Method of Management™. Headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook, IL, vAuto maintains a research and development center in Austin, TX, and field office in Longmont, CO. vAuto is a wholly owned subsidiary of AutoTrader Group. Additional information about vAuto is available at www.vauto.com.

12/12/12