Austin Auto VenturesLas Cruces, New Mexico (575) 222-8533

Straight answers for the people who run auto businesses.

We advise dealerships, independent lots and service shops on the parts of the business that decide the year: gross, fixed operations, inventory, and what the store is actually worth.

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Based in Las Cruces, serving New Mexico and West Texas.

An outside read on your store.

Most owners already know something is off. The month closes lower than it should, the service drive is busy but not profitable, or a good offer arrives for the store and there is no way to judge it.

Austin Auto Ventures works alongside owners and general managers to find the answer in the numbers you already have. We read the financial statement line by line, walk the lot and the shop, talk to the people doing the work, and come back with a plan you can hand to your management team on Monday.

No software to buy, no long retainer to sign. One firm, working directly with you.

What we do

Six areas cover most of the work. If your problem is not on this list, call and describe it.

Store performance review

Time on site, a written read on where money leaves the operation, and a list of fixes ranked by what each one is worth.

Fixed operations

Service and parts: effective labor rate, technician pay and retention, dispatch, and getting the shop to absorb more of the store's expense.

Inventory and floor plan

Stocking to your market instead of your habits — days supply, an aging policy people follow, appraisal discipline, and the real cost of your floor plan.

Sales desk and F&I

Pay plans, desking process, product mix and lender relationships, set up so compliance is not something you repair after an audit.

Buying or selling a store

Earnings quality, blue sky expectations, real estate, and the questions worth asking before anyone signs a letter of intent.

Ownership transitions

Handing the business to family or to a general manager, with a timeline, a training plan, and a payout both sides can live with.

Where we start

Before recommending anything, we pull the same handful of numbers. Together they explain most of the gap between a store that works and one that does not.

Gross per unit retailed
Front and back, new and used, held against what your market actually supports.
Effective labor rate
What the shop earns per hour sold, versus the rate posted on the wall.
Service absorption
How much of the store's overhead fixed operations covers on its own.
Days supply and aging
What is sitting, how long it has been sitting, and what it cost to keep it.
Personnel cost to gross
Whether the pay plans reward the results you say you want.
Fixed and semi-fixed expense
The obligations that follow you into a slow month, and which ones can move.

How an engagement works

Three steps, and you can stop after the first one at no cost.

A call

Thirty minutes, no charge. You describe the situation and we say plainly whether this is work we can help with.

Time in the store

We work the statement with your controller, walk the lot and the shop, and speak with the managers running each department.

A written plan

Findings, priorities, dollars and dates, with a named owner for every item — plus check-ins until the plan is finished.

Tell us what the month looks like.

Call the office or send a short note about the store — the make, roughly how many units a month, and what has you concerned. We answer every message ourselves, usually the same business day.