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Fletcher Jones Imports is a franchised Mercedes-Benz dealership located on Las Vegas’ motor mile, West Sahara Drive, a 20 minute drive from the main strip. Neighbouring dealerships include similarly super-sized BMW, Hyundai, Toyota and Mazda showrooms, as well as a Car Max supermarket.
This is one of the main places for the city’s fast growing population of 604,000 residents to choose from thousands of new and used cars, often completing the transaction on the day of their visit and driving home in their new acquisition.
Fletcher Jones is a long established family-owned business and is Mercedes’ biggest privately-owned partner in the world. The group is run by Fletcher “Ted” Jones, the son of founder Fletcher Jones and is one of the country’s most successful luxury groups operating 19 dealerships across four states. The group also operates a Mercedes site in the city’s Henderson district 20 miles away and is in the throes of adding a Sprinter centre dedicated to the brand’s growing commercial vehicle operations.
It might be the last day of Q1 but the Fletcher Jones Imports is happy to welcome over 50 visiting UK dealers and suppliers who have travelled with the ASE delegation to Las Vegas for the 2016 Nada Convention and Expo, the biggest car dealer show in the world.
The Las Vegas site currently holds Mercedes-Benz’s much-coveted Best of the Best Dealer Recognition Award which acknowledges its outstanding new vehicles sales, servicing and maintenance work, customer satisfaction levels and management.
We’re welcomed by Mel Myers an ex-patriot Brit who has been with the group since 1956 and admitted to still getting a kick out of his job in sales and leasing. The showroom opened in 2001 and features a purpose-built and air conditioned underground area big enough to house 250 cars, the perfect place for customers to escape the Nevada sun when temperatures can reach 40 degrees at the height of the summer.
What is particularly noticeable about the site is that the Mercedes branding is relaxed, a reflection of US dealers tending to have the upper hand in their relationships with OEMs when it comes to corporate identity. For starters the site trades as Fletcher Jones Imports not Mercedes-Benz Las Vegas, which would be an unimaginable scenario in the UK. Also the model taking pride of place in its nondescript two car Smart showroom was a used BMW i8; a clear indication of the ability of US dealers to set their own standards.
The scale of the site is impressive with 50 workshop bays, operated by 30 technicians, merchandise shop, customer café and spacious showroom.
Our tour host is Shai Winograd who is responsible for maintaining the site’s high sales track record.
“We sell around 200 new and used cars a month and have around 450 vehicles in stock across our two sites,” he said.
Unsurprisingly for a retailer operating on this scale upselling is big business with finance penetration running at 60% and car care, covering paintwork and interior, on around 40% of sales for an average cost of $1,200 (£850).
The sales team is based on a mezzanine floor and operate a rotation whereby they go down stairs to meet and greet customers as they arrive. It’s a formalised but friendly approach which quickly establishes engagement and works well for the business.
The showroom boasts a new AMG facility adjacent to the main welcome desk which cost $1m (£709,000) and features cutting edge interactive audio visual system with a configurator screen and a large bank of speakers where different engine notes can be sampled.
Servicing is an important part of the business with a large drive-in service bay area where vehicle and customer details are captured by registration plate recognition. The system will identify whether the customer has requested a loan car for longer jobs or are happy to use the café while they wait for smaller jobs to be completed. All cars are washed and valeted; a service which is also available from Monday to Thursday to anyone who has bought a car from the dealership.
The site’s workshop area runs at around 80-90% utilisation with service and repair jobs carried out between 7am and 6pm on week days and from 8am to 5pm on Saturdays. The 30-strong technician team each averages four jobs a day which equates to 120 a day and around 700 a week. Every car receives a complimentary vehicle health check which has resulted in high levels of advisory work.
The site holds a large parts inventory and sources panels and major components from Los Angeles which requires a three day turnaround with just in time delivery the name of the game.
Mike Jones, chairman of ASE, said the business had a clear focus on new car sales and aftersales, with its used business playing a supporting role.
“As usual for a US dealer it was hugely new car focused with a minimal used car display. I thought the new AMG lounge was very impressive. It’s important for AMG customers to be able to hear things like exhaust notes, especially in Las Vegas where there is a rich mix of high end cars.
“The aftersales operation was just superb. The service drive was set up brilliantly whereby the customer drives in and is met by a service advisor who goes through what needs to be done with the customer then able to use the café facilities or take a loan car.
“The workshop was huge and is clearly a money making machine. They had more ramps than technicians enabling them to work on multiple cars with the next job being queued up on another ramp.
“There was also a lot of branded merchandise on sale, which is a good opportunity for a premium brand, with many of the clothes produced by the dealer which a UK dealer would not be allowed to do.
“Our delegates were impressed by their new car and aftersales operations but, as with many US dealers that we have visited over the years, UK dealers would outperform them on used car sales.”