ically, most dealerships would play the ‘Too bad, so sad’ card but John looked at her like part of the iCar family. He knew her family bought several pre-owned vehicles from us and he went the extra mile. He took care of the repairs himself and topped-off her gas tank. That made me want to work here so much more.” “Our General Manager John Murphy had a vision for unequalled transparency.” Amanda explained that not being tied-down by profit motive is beneficial, in the long run, to both the customer and the dealership. “We focus on volume, service and sales with much smaller margins thanother dealerships. We don’t have that back-and- forth with our customers. There’s no need to script an elaborate price negotiation in your head on your way down to our lot. We’re a one-price dealership and that price is the lowest price. We compare our prices with dealerships all across Canada so that our customers know they’re getting the most for their dollar. Other deal- erships don’t realize or care that people are willing to travel pretty far to get the best deal; they’d rather sell fewer cars with higher margins. That’s just not who we are.” “We currently sell anywhere between 80 and 100 pre- owned vehicles each and every month,” she continued. “One hundred sales is that invisible mark we strive for each month. With numbers like these, it’s safe to say that we dominate the pre-owned market in Northwest- ern Ontario. I think one of our strongest angles is going after the new car market. A lot of our inventory is 2015s, 2016s, or 2017s with low kilometers. For many practical car buyers, these are basically brand new vehicles. We can optimally save these customers 10 to $15,000.” iCar’s inventory is impressive. At any given time, the half- acre lot and 1,300 square feet dealership on Memorial Avenue is a temporary home to three hundred vehicles. Truck enthusiasts – and auto sports enthusiasts in general – have another reason to stop by and pay John and his team a visit: custom work. “We’ve now been doing custom work for about a year,” Derek explained. “The iCar Customs team will build a vehicle to yours specifications. We’ve installed lift kits, fender exit exhausts, fender flares, large and small wheel combinations, you name it. We also offer financing on custom work. While we don’t have an in-house shop right now, we’re more than happy to engage to local business community here in Thunder Bay and use a third- party shop. Superior Auto Body and Rust Check have been fantastic partners, just to mention two.” Back in February, iCar was the lead sponsor for an event in support of the Arthritis Society called Jailhouse Rock. “It was a live Monopoly game where we actually put up a 2014 Fiat 500 for auction. We helped raise a lot of money
811 CENTRAL AVENUE • 346-0405 centralcarwash.ca
for a good cause and it was a really fun night – every- body won! We’re really looking to do more like this. I’ll be representing iCar at an upcoming benefit at the end of March for first responders, which aims to raise awareness of PTSD in this occupation.”
iCar won the 2016 Consumer Satisfaction Award from DealerRater.ca.
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MARCH 2017 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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