Jim Norton Toyota goes from 0 to $75K in used EV gross
How one Oklahoma City Toyota store went from selling zero used EVs to selling 25 per month in just four months, and the playbook behind it.
0→25
used EVs sold per month, in four months
$3,100
average gross per EV, against $1,500 for gas, on auction-sourced units
25%+
growth in the store's total used vehicle business
The opportunity
Grow your used vehicle business and win customers you would never have seen.
Used EVs reached a record 3.3% of all used-vehicle sales in September, with a 35-day supply against 46 days for gas, according to Cox Automotive.
Jim Norton Toyota saw the opportunity to grow its business with used EVs and pounced. The store went from selling almost no used EVs to 25 deals in September, growing its used vehicle business by over 25%.
On vehicles bought at auction, those EVs averaged $3,100 in gross, more than twice the $1,500 the store makes on a gas car. That adds up to about $75,000 in used EV gross a month.
“Our EV customers are net new customers for us. It's not like we're switching them from gas to EV. These are shoppers that would have never been in our showroom if not for our used EV business.”
Ryan Rentschler, General Manager, Jim Norton Toyota OKC
The playbook
5 areas Jim Norton Toyota focused on to grow its used EV business.
1. Acquisition: understand what sells and what you are buying
Teslas are more than half the used EV market, so more than half your EV inventory should be Tesla. Round it out with a few other models, like the Ford Mustang Mach-E, Hyundai IONIQ 5 and Cadillac LYRIQ, so shoppers have options to try and your store becomes a destination for EVs.
Understand what you are buying at auction. Teslas are more like computers than cars, and shoppers care about the specs:
- Infotainment chip. Newer cars run the faster AMD Ryzen processor, which can run Grok AI.
- Hardware version. The Autopilot computer (HW3 or HW4) determines the level of Full Self-Driving the car can run.
- Battery health. The battery score can affect how fast a vehicle sells.
2. Marketing: become the EV experts
The store markets itself as the EV experts in Oklahoma City, online and on the showroom floor, so EV shoppers know where to go before they start comparing listings.
Jim Norton Toyota ran ads highlighting its EV expertise, including being the only store in Oklahoma City offering a free Battery Health Certificate with every used EV.
It also features itself prominently as a Lyteflo Certified Dealer. Every used EV it sells comes with a Battery Certificate, so shoppers can trust what they are buying.
3. Merchandising: put the details on the VDP
Standard vehicle detail pages are missing what EV shoppers want to know: range, charging, savings and battery health. The store added Lyteflo to its EV VDPs to answer those questions in place.
8.1% of shoppers on VDPs engaged with Lyteflo, and those shoppers were 2.9 times more likely to convert into a lead.
Every EV on the lot also gets a Lyteflo Battery Certificate. Battery health is the first question a used EV shopper asks, and the certificate answers it before they have to.
4. Training: certify every salesperson
Every salesperson must complete EV certification training before they can handle EV customers. When a shopper asks about battery health, range, charging or technology, they get a confident answer. EV shoppers are informed, and your sales team needs to match their EV acumen.
5. Reporting: run used EVs as their own business line
The store tracks and reports on used EVs separately from the rest of used inventory, with turn time and gross broken out by EV platform. That shows which models to buy more of and which to pass on at auction.
The results
- From almost no used EVs to 25 deals per month in four months.
- Used vehicle business up more than 25%.
- $3,100 average gross per EV, against $1,500 for gas, on auction-sourced units.
- About $75,000 in used EV gross per month.