McGeorge Toyota Scion

McGeorge Toyota Unmatched in Product Knowledge
14 Sales Professionals Achieve Master Certified Qualifications from Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A.

RICHMOND, Va. (October 16, 2009) Today, McGeorge Toyota Scion learned that 14 of its 16 sales professionals earned the distinction of being Master Certified Toyota Sales Consultants. The Master Certified title denotes the highest level of product knowledge achieved by Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A.

"McGeorge has the most Master Certified Sales Consultants of any dealership in five states and Washington D.C. and more Master Certified Sales Consultants than any dealership in the history of Central Atlantic Toyota," said McGeorge Car Company President Rod McGeorge.

McGeorge Toyota ranked first in the Central Atlantic Toyota region with 16 test takers and 14 passing grades. The 14 McGeorge Toyota Master Certified Toyota sales professionals include;

Tom Baskin
Ned Caldwell
Bob Lannon
David Lowenhagen
Joe Curran
Brian McPhail
Garland Willis
Bob Nelson
Ellis Quarles
Ed Segal
Dave Weimer
John Yeglinski

Lee Hamlin
Cliff Harvey

"We are all very proud to employ and work with such a dedicated and knowledgeable group of sales professionals, together they have more than 275 years of auto sales experience," said McGeorge Toyota Scion General Manager Bob Farlow. "The time and enthusiasm my team dedicates to product knowledge and customer service has allowed this dealership group to serve more than 100,000 satisfied McGeorge Toyota customers."

McGeorge Toyota also learned that it was named to the Toyota Customer Service Advisory Board for excellence among its part and service operations. Only 50 Toyota dealerships from more than 1,200 nationwide are named to this board. This distinction places McGeorge Toyota within an elite advisory panel where only three percent of all dealers nationally are recognized.

August 6, 2009: NBC12 Live In-Studio Interview Concerning Cash for Clunkers Progress at McGeorge Toyota

Richmond Times Dispatch: Richmond-area car dealers get 'clunkers' boost
By Louis Llovio

Published: August 4, 2009

Car buyers looking to take advantage of the "cash for clunkers" program poured into dealerships last month, helping Ford Motor Co. post its first U.S. sales increase in two years and giving Richmond-area car dealers a much-needed boost.

"This past weekend was absolutely nuts," said Dennis Ellmer, president and CEO of Hampton Roads-based Priority Auto Group, who owns seven dealerships in Virginia, including Priority Toyota of Richmond in Chester and the Priority Used Car Supercenter in Colonial Heights.

Ellmer said his stores had sold 300 vehicles during the weekend, a little more than half of which were part of the clunkers program. Many of the others came to his stores lured by the prospects of the program, he said.

"At my Chevrolet store, we sold more cars this weekend than in all of June," he said.

Congress approved the clunkers program in July, but a frenzy of car-buying in its first week nearly depleted its funding and prompted the U.S. House of Representatives to take emergency action last Friday to approve an additional $2 billion for the program. The Senate also must vote before its August vacation starts this Friday.

If the Senate doesn't approve the money, the program may not survive beyond Friday, President Barack Obama's spokesman said yesterday.

The Car Allowance Rebate System gives owners of older gas-guzzling cars and trucks $3,500 or $4,500 toward a new, more fuel-efficient vehicle. Their old vehicles then are disabled and scrapped.

The program has flooded area dealerships with customers, and it led to a big increase in sales this past weekend.

Richmond Ford on West Broad Street sold 51 vehicles under the clunkers program in July, 12 of which occurred during the weekend. It had four deals working yesterday.

Bill Talley Ford in eastern Henrico County sold 25 vehicles, six of them this past weekend.

And Sheehy Ford has made a total of 100 deals at its Midlothian Turnpike and Ashland locations, with 34 of those made this past weekend.

Nick Scola, marketing manager for McGeorge Car Co., said its Toyota store on West Broad Street "saw an extraordinary amount of traffic on both our newand used-car lot" this past weekend.

The dealership sold 22 new Toyotas on Saturday, nine of them clunker sales, he said. As of yesterday, the dealership had sold 102 vehicles under the program.

But as cars leave the lots, dealers face two problems, they said.

First, the process for them to apply for reimbursement continued to be a struggle, with dealers having to dedicate staff or come in during off hours to process the claims. Second, the low inventory levels is a concern.

"I stock about 180 cars at my Chesapeake Toyota store," Ellmer said. "But I sold 94 this weekend. They just can't make them fast enough."

The heavy sales nationally helped push sales for manufacturers in July. Sales from this past weekend will be counted in August sales reports.

The clunkers program was expected to boost U.S. industry sales overall, which were down 35 percent in the first half of 2009.

July sales of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury light vehicles rose 1.6 percent from the same month last year. It was the first year-over-year rise since November 2007.

Ford sold 158,354 vehicles, a 2.2 percent increase compared with June's figures, showing that the worst U.S. auto sales slump in a quarter-century may be easing.

George Hoffer, a professor of economics at Virginia Commonwealth University, said the incentive has created the third automotive "frenzy" of this decade.

The first came after the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks when manufacturers began offering zero percent financing to attract customers. And in 2005, GM pushed its employee-pricing program.

But it remains unclear whether customers will keep buying once the demand eases and the incentive runs out.

Mike Blades of Prince George County said he was going to go out shopping today for a new vehicle to replace his 1993 Chevy pickup truck.

"I hadn't even been thinking about buying a car, but this is a good opportunity. They're giving you free money," he said.

July 31, 2009: NBC12 Field Report Concerning Pending Budget Extension of Federal CARS Program and Sales Activity at McGeorge Toyota.

Richmond Times-Dispatch: 'Cash for Clunkers' Program Might Be Working Too Well

By Louis Llovio

Published: August 1, 2009

The federal "cash for clunkers" program, created to help drive customers to dealer showrooms, might be working too well.

A frenzy of car-buying in the program's first week nearly depleted its reserves and prompted the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday to take emergency action to approve an additional $2 billion.

The program, which has caused a spike in sales at automobile dealers in the Richmond area and nationwide, has left dealers complaining about a bureaucratic backlog that's making it difficult for them to get paid and wondering if there is enough money in the system to continue.

"I have never seen a mess like this," said Theodore "Ted" Linhart, chairman and CEO of the Dominion Auto Group, which owns nine Richmond-area franchises. Linhart, who has sold about 40 cars through the program, became a dealer in 1975.

The Car Allowance Rebate System gives owners of older gas-guzzling vehicles a credit toward the purchase of a new, more fuel-efficient vehicle. Car buyers can get $3,500 if they trade in a vehicle getting 18 mpg or less for one getting at least 22 mpg. That credit grows to $4,500 if the new car's mileage is 10 mpg higher than the old vehicle.

Congress had allocated $1 billion to the program, which was officially launched last week and has been heavily publicized by automakers and dealers.

Customers must meet certain criteria to qualify for the program, and then dealers apply to get reimbursed.

Several dealers said yesterday that the process to file claims takes about an hour and requires them to scan and upload about 15 pages of documents, as well as filling out a five-page registration on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Web site. There are complaints that the system is overloaded and crashing, losing information already punched in.

Calls to the administration yesterday were answered by an automated system that said the agency was overwhelmed.

To try to catch up and get their claims in, many dealers have workers coming in during the early hours of the morning or dedicating staff to process the paperwork.

At Dominion yesterday, several staff members began processing the paperwork at 4 a.m. and were still at it at 6 p.m.

F. Mark Wright, general manager of Gateway Hyundai in Chester, said he came in before dawn to work on putting in for the money. His dealership has sold about 20 vehicles under the program.

At McGeorge Toyota in Henrico County, two administrative workers are working full time to process the claims. The store has sold about 80 vehicles under the program.

The agency will hold a webinar on Monday to try to ease the process.

Adding to dealer burdens yesterday was speculation that the program could shut down this weekend because it had exhausted its allotted money.

At one point yesterday, Linhart stopped allowing customers to leave with vehicles they had signed paperwork for until there was some clarification on whether there would be enough money.

That concern sent customers streaming to area dealerships.

At several area dealers last night, there were more customers than salespeople, a rare problem recently.

"The uncertainty has caused a flood of people," said Nick Scola, marketing manager for McGeorge Car Co.

The government tried to alleviate some of the uncertainty yesterday.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs sought to assure consumers that the program was still running and would be alive "this weekend. If you were planning on going to buy a car this weekend, using this program, this program continues to run."

The House voted overwhelmingly to rush $2 billion into the "cash for clunkers" program. House members approved the measure 316-109 within hours of learning from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood that the program was running out of money. Senate action is likely next week.

Linhart began allowing customers to leave with their vehicles once the vote was announced.

President Barack Obama said he was encouraged by the House action to keep alive a program that had "succeeded well beyond our expectations."

Some Republicans argued that Democrats were trying to jam the legislation through.

It was unknown how many cars had been sold nationally through "cash for clunkers."

In the area, Richmond Ford had sold 34 vehicles using the program and had three deals working yesterday afternoon. Bill Talley Ford had sold 20 vehicles and expected to sell 10 more this weekend.

Still, whatever its problems, it was clear yesterday that the program was working.

"It's been a lot more successful than they anticipated," said Michael Allen, a spokesman for the Virginia Automobile Dealers Association.

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