We have had BDCs at our four locations for a year. Our BDC people operate in conjunction with salespeople. We hire young, computer-literate people, and they follow up on all Internet-generated leads. You have to have a BDC in today’s world; it’s a growing source of business for us.
William Fox, Fox Dealerships, Auburn, N.Y.

We don’t have a BDC. We’re in such a small community, we don’t have much turnover, and it’s important our salespeople do their own callbacks. I want them to do callbacks because in our market, it’s the personal touch that matters. Two sales reps are in their 70s, and I’d feel guilty if a BDC took callbacks away from them. I’m out of step with the industry on this, I know.
Ralph Tucker, Morristown (Tenn.) Honda

We don’t have one. To put more man-hours and manpower into it just wouldn’t be beneficial right now. We’re not hiring in any way, and we’d have to hire people to staff a BDC. It just doesn’t make sense in today’s market.
Brett Wendling, Business Manager, First Chrysler, Manitowoc, Wis.

I don’t have one, frankly. I’m not that smart. It involves hiring more people, and this isn’t a good time to hire. I’ve also seen the failure rate. I have four locations, and I’d have to hire at least one person at each store to make it work.
Larry Merriam, Key Auto Group, Wallingford, Conn.