by WES FERGUSON
Looking for a car dealership in Kyle or Buda? You better find an up-to-date phone book.
Mired by narrowing profit margins and years of sluggish sales, many local dealers have disconnected their phones, turned off the lights and walked away from their car lots. The ones who remain have adapted to survive in what they say is still a tough and scary market.
Mark Tolar of South Point Auto Sales, for example, used to sell plenty of aging cars with high miles after entering the business more than 15 years ago.
“It was a whole lot better,” he said. “It was a lot faster paced. We used to sell a lot more vehicles than we do anymore, quite honestly.”
But even as sales have slowed, he said, the business has expanded its inventory to 70 or 80 vehicles. South Point Auto, on Interstate 35 in Buda, has also found a niche selling newer, more expensive rides such as Lexus, BMW and Jaguar.
“We seem to sell a lot more of the foreign than American,” Tolar said. “The Lexuses are probably our best sellers.”
In Kyle, Nat Romo sells an average of three cars a week at the small Cash Box Auto lot, which is on the corner of Center and Burleson streets.
“I don’t know how we’re still in business,” he said, “but we seem to be doing pretty good.”
Romo was born in Kyle and says he can tell by a person’s face what family he belongs to. Because he knows so many people in town, Romo says he treats everybody right so they won’t be mad at him.
Romo manages an inventory of about 15 vehicles for Cash Box, which is owned by Travis Kilpatrick. Not surprisingly, more customers are looking for gas-saving vehicles these days, Romo said. Some people still prefer Tahoes, though.
“If they like to drive those big cars, fine,” he said. “I’ll sell them to them.”
Down the road in San Marcos, Chuck Nash began a major expansion of his dealership, the Chuck Nash Auto Group, in 2008. He built a new sales and service center on Interstate 35, and then the “whole world came to an end,” he said. Bad times and bailouts of the auto industry ensued.
“I’m glad I did everything I did,” Nash said. “It’s a great location. The timing might have been a little in question.”
Business has been picking up, though, he added. This year through June, the company has sold 105 more vehicles than it did over the same period in 2010.
“It’s still kind of relatively scary because of unemployment and everything we see in the headlines, but our business for the last year and a half has been really good,” he said. “We’re looking forward to continuing.”
Local dealers have a couple of suggestions for prospective car buyers. At South Point Auto, Tolar recommends that buyers pay a trusted mechanic to inspect the vehicle before the sale.
“I think they’re ahead of the game if they do their homework before they purchase the vehicle, rather than after,” he said. “Know what you’re buying. Know you’re buying a good vehicle.”
Romo said people should be very careful not just when buying a vehicle but when choosing a person to buy it from.
“If I see he’s a friendly person, well, I’ll buy a car and I can always take it back and then they’ll fix it,” he said.
