Oranje opened a new Automark outlet in Bloemfontein’s busy Church Street, which is famous for all its new and mainly used car dealerships located in and around the centre of the city. Read that article here.

The Automark outlet was set up right next to the Autoteam dealership, also part of Oranje Toyota, but without OEM branding. Autoteam specialises in selling older, cheaper vehicles with higher mileage and is a franchise within the CFAO Motors SA group, the owners of Oranje Toyota.

The original Automark franchise is located next to Oranje Toyota in Langenhoven Park.

“We wanted to sell a hundred used vehicles before the end of this year through our three outlets. Although our sales were on the rise since June, shortly after the re-opening of business with lower levels of lockdown restrictions, we did around 80 cars during October. The new Automark outlet only opened its doors for business on 2 November and pushed us to where we wanted to be,” says Jacques.

He reckons the dedication and commitment of his sales team help them to reach this magic figure and the aim will now be to maintain that kind volumes and to build on them in the months to come.

“All my sales team members achieved their targets, which made it possible to reach this milestone. A positive mindset, clear goals, chasing every prospective sale and looking forward to incentives such as bonuses are encouraging people to go beyond the call of duty.”

Asked about December and January, which can be tricky financially for many potential buyers, Jacques says the 60-day payment holiday assists many in this regard.

“We can already see a slowing down in traffic because of the holiday season. Despite this, we are on target with good sale volumes so far. Our payment plan helps buyers to make the choice before going on holiday or even in the new year without the complication of a vehicle instalment during this period,“ Jacques tells Dealerfloor.

And what are the customers looking for when buying a used vehicle?

“We have an excellent reputation, which makes us one of the preferred choices when it comes to buying a pre-owned vehicle. Even our Autoteam outlet has earned a solid reputation. With these two dealerships next to each other, targeting different buyers, we cover a wider range of potential buyers. We have vehicles on offer from R80 000 to R600 000.

“About 60% of the sales last month were Toyotas with other vehicles like VW Polos also in demand. I am not even talking about bakkies. We basically have a waiting list for used bakkies, and we sell them before we even have the opportunity of advertising them. Our popular Hilux bakkie is very scarce on the used-vehicle side and its popularity goes without saying,” Jacques tells Dealerfloor.