[dropcap]E[/dropcap]FG Companies and National Powersport Auctions (NPA) recently announced they have teamed up to launch a new Certified Pre-Owned Program designed specifically to grow powersports dealer business and drive loyalty through NPA auctions. We recently spoke to NPA’s Jim Woodruff and EFG’s Steve Klees about the program and its benefits to dealers.

“This is something that’s been in the auto space for quite some time,” said EFG’s Steve Klees. “But we think there’s a lot of opportunity for dealers to be able to differentiate themselves, especially for their pre-owned inventory.”

In fact, a third-party survey revealed that 95 percent of respondents said a program like this would impact their choice of dealer from which they would purchase their next pre-owned motorcycle. And 56 percent said they would drive more than 30 miles to purchase a motorcycle covered by a CPO program.

“We think there’s an opportunity for additional margin for dealers,” said Klees. “When you see what the average customer believes the value of a CPO vehicle is worth, we believe it will ultimately add margin or profitability to the dealer’s bottom line. We also know that the same customer who is interested in a CPO program is also attracted to filling in the blanks with additional coverages.”

EFG’s CPO program provides consumers with complimentary limited 90-day powertrain protection on name-brand pre-owned motorcycles. As an added benefit, motorcycles purchased by dealers from NPA with an overall Condition Report score of 75 or higher will automatically be eligible (brand, year, mileage, engine, transmission and frame score limits apply).

“Our thought was that if it is something that can take some of the doubt and uncertainty out of a consumer’s mind, in our opinion it should help increase pre-owned sales,” noted NPA’s Jim Woodruff. “The opportunity to help dealers sell more pre-owned products is, in our opinion, a good thing for the industry.”

Dealers purchasing a CPO-eligible motorcycle from NPA can simply opt-in to the program to retail the motorcycle as Certified Pre-Owned. As a result, dealers can market used inventory with quality CPO motorcycles, of which 63 percent of survey respondents place a higher dollar value between $500 and $1,000.

“One of the things that MIC data and our own research suggests is that only about 25-30 percent of the vehicles sold in the U.S. go through a dealer’s doors,” Woodruff added. “We think it should be twice that or more. But if we can all work together to help more vehicles move through a dealer’s doors, we believe that at the end of the day it’s a better experience for the consumer.”