Article from the November issue of UCD
Robert Rainey likes to say he’s patterned his business after another Georgia company famous for its customer service.
“I manage this business in such a way that we could be called the Chick-fil-A of the car business,” said Rainey, the owner of Rainey Used Cars in Albany, Georgia. “That’s always been my goal because I know service is the heartbeat of the buy-here, pay-here operation.”
Growing to 10 locations in Georgia within a 135-mile area, service has remained at the top of priority for each store. Rainey points out keeping cars on the road keeps the customer paying and brings them back to buy cars in the future. The dealership has invested heavily into its service departments, with 20 service bays and 1,500 vehicles in its private salvage yard for parts for the inventory of Toyota, Honda and Chevrolet models. The salvaged parts allow Rainey to control parts costs and cut down time waiting for parts to arrive.
Rainey said they are prepared to get a car in the bay and repair it as soon as possible.
“If you can’t service what you sell, your business is not going to prosper,” Rainey said. “It’s easy to make a customer happy when you sell a car. The difficulty is making them smile when they leave the service department. That is the difficult thing to do. That is something my father insisted on. I have certainly followed the same path.”
Robert’s father sold his first car in 1957, just a year before he was born. Rainey has been a part of the business his entire life, enjoying the multiple facets of the industry and operations. He’s seen his dealership grow over the years, which he credits to his staff.
“We’re not better because we’re bigger. We’re bigger because we’re better,” Rainey said. “In the BHPH business, you can outgrow your infrastructure so quickly. You’ve got to be careful with that. I always tell people, it’s not the brick and mortar of these walls in these buildings that we operate out of. It’s the hearts and souls of our people.”
Rainey employs 275 people at the 10 locations.
“We put a lot of emphasis on our customers but we also take that same emphasis and put it on our employees,” Rainey said. “We certainly try to create a great work environment. We try to make this as close to being a family experience as we can.”
In the past few years, the Rainey dealership has used its social media with a creative marketing campaign to highlight many of the employees. That campaign was in addition to videos capturing testimonials from customers about the service they received from Rainey Used Cars. Some pointed out how they took a chance on them and helped them out. It reinforces his approach to the dealership and the importance of service to their segment of customers.
“We live and work in the credit-challenged community. I think one thing that people don’t understand is the importance of what we do,” Rainey said. “It is being able to provide transportation to the people with less than perfect credit. That’s a risk we take every day. It’s important…There’s a lot of credit-challenged people and they need a car to get to work. Buy-here, pay-here keeps the economy going.”
As part of his approach to service, he’s also changed his strategy. He points out he didn’t have a website until six years ago. He’s realized the need to make it easy for customers to buy a car with the ability to apply for loans, get approved and search inventory all on their website.
“There is no friction. That’s the way you’ve got to make your car business because people are going to go the easiest route,” Rainey said.
Rainey enjoys the opportunity to pass on the knowledge he’s gained over the years to other dealers. He invites them to come to the dealership and spend the day observing and asking questions.
“I got smart in one spot and that was in the buy-here, pay-here world,” Rainey said. “That’s the spot I’m going to stay around…We do have people that have called and come to visit. We are certainly open to that. I find a lot of joy in it. Don’t think that when they come and visit us that I don’t learn something from them. It’s a two-way street.”
