What we usually see when a dealer adds a second rooftop
By Chris Greco, Founder and President.
When a dealer adds a second rooftop, the owner is the only person who understands both stores' numbers and is on the lot all day. The factory statement gets done late by someone who does not reconcile floor plan to inventory. Departmental profit exists on paper and not in decisions.
Expense creep across two stores is invisible until year-end: two of everything, two sets of vendors, and nobody comparing them. Curtailments land whether or not the units sold.
Floor plan reconciled to physical inventory weekly, a departmental P&L each manager owns, a scorecard per rooftop, and expense ratios by department in the monthly package. Chris ran finance for two dealerships for more than five years; this is what the second store needed.

Chris Greco
Founder and President, CFO Anywhere. CFO for owner-led companies since 2002. Executive MBA, Gies College of Business, University of Illinois.
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