Automotive News - September 21, 2020 - Best Practices Supplement - S29

SEPTEMBER 21, 2020 | 29
CA P I S T R A N O VO L K S WA G E N , CA P I S T R A N O M A Z DA , S A N J U A N CA P I S T R A N O, CA L I F.

Smiles guaranteed at Calif. stores
Capistrano dealerships'
pledge produces happy
customers, sales results
Published in Automotive News Sept. 30, 2019

Laurence Iliff
liliff@crain.com

AN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif. -
Two decades ago, Miles Brandon set
out to make his newly acquired
Volkswagen store stand out from the
crowd in the busy Southern California market.
Data-driven pricing, a deep commitment to
employee satisfaction and a money-back
guarantee weren't common then.
Now, some competitors have caught up
with the early tactics employed at Capistrano
Volkswagen and at Capistrano Mazda, which
opened next door in 2015. But Brandon's
dealerships continue to thrive in the increasingly impersonal environment of car buying
because of the human touch. In fact, human
emotion is part of the group's origin story.
It started with a married couple who found the
process of purchasing the newly released New
Beetle - which was red hot and often selling
well above sticker price - unusually pleasant.
These satisfied customers worked in marketing,
and they convinced Brandon that he should
leverage the VW store's friendly vibe.
And so was born the Smileage Guaranteed
pledge, core promises that continue to attract
customers despite intense competition in a
market where research and negotiations generally start online. "Smileage" is a play on Brandon's first name and the word "mileage."

'Happy people'
"They just saw happy people," Brandon said in
an interview. "They loved their car, they loved
us; they just felt something very special. They
never had done work for a car dealer. To stay
fresh, they liked to work in different businesses.
They said, we'd love to work for you guys because of all the smiles you put on people's faces."
Smileage Guaranteed, which is registered as
a service mark to keep other automotive businesses from using it, begins with the dealership employees themselves.
"Obviously, you have to start with a great
team of happy employees. Otherwise, you get
disgruntled people that turn over left and
right, and you never have that kind of experience," Brandon said. About half of the staff

The success of the two Capistrano stores is built upon teams of carefully picked and trained
employees. New hires generally come from outside the auto retailing business.

Capistrano Volkswagen and
Capistrano Mazda stand out
thanks to the core promises of the
Smileage Guaranteed program.

members he inherited at the VW store in 1997
are still there. New employees generally come
from outside the auto retailing business.
There are exceptions, but Brandon doesn't
want to inject bad practices into a business
where respect and transparency are paramount to its mission statement and survival.
"It just seems to be easier to start with somebody that has a great personality, has some
passion for cars, obviously some aptitude for
basic selling skills, but then we teach them our
way," Brandon said. He acknowledged that
more dealers are following that path, but Capistrano has a long legacy it can leverage with
staff and customers.
In fact, that experience was helpful in attracting Mazda to the Capistrano name. The
stores share a property along the busy Interstate 5 corridor between Los Angeles and San
Diego. Brandon says there are probably 25 VW
and Mazda dealers within an hour's drive in
light traffic, which means competition is stiff.
"Mazda was excited to add us ... because of
everything we've done taking care of our customers, our employees, everything that kind
of falls under the Smileage Guarantee. That's
what we're about, so we brought it to the party
when we became a Mazda dealer," he said.

The Volkswagen and Mazda dealerships
easily outpace factory targets. Sales of new
and used vehicles at both stores combined
run about 250 per month, Brandon said.

Tangible benefits
The promise includes benefits such as a seven-day guarantee to replace a new or used vehicle for any reason. While a return only happens every couple of months, Brandon said
it's the peace of mind that makes the policy
attractive for anxious buyers.
"If somebody makes a mistake, maybe it
was a color. They saw it in the sunshine for
the first time. Or they get home and it was too
tight in the garage. They thought they had
plenty of room. Whatever it is, it's a lot less of
a problem for me to have that car on my lot
than for them to live with it for the next three
or four years."
Brandon said his stores can offer a high level
of service while being very competitive in a
market where people will shop outside their
immediate geography for a good deal.
"We do big volumes, we have a big selection
of cars, we have pricing you expect to see from
a big-volume store and all that," he said. "But
we've never lost that small-family feel inside."
Each August, Brandon leaves town - usually to return to his hometown of Portland, Ore.
- for the annual "Boss is gone" sale.
"Many years ago, my ad agency said, 'You
don't really have to be gone.' " Brandon responded: "Yes, I do. We are the dealer where
we do what we say." n

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