Allstate Insurance Office inside Sands Chevrolet

[XDCX]

There was a car show at a nearby Chevrolet Dealership last Sunday and I dropped by to check-out all of the cars.

The car show was hosted by Sands Chevrolet in Surprise, AZ and although I'd driven by the dealership a number of times it was the first time I was on property. The dealership is only a couple of years old and the facility is very impressive.

When I was checking out the cars on the showroom I was surprised to see an Allstate Insurance Office that was staffed. The office was near the Service Department and probably occupied 400 square feet. The dealership also had an area where Hertz Rent-a-Car had an office.

I've been to dealerships that lease space to Rental Car companies but I don't recall ever being at a store that leased space to an insurance company.

I don't get the impression that an Allstate Agency could survive on the dealership's floor-traffic alone, but one could argue that having a location inside a dealership is better then being in a strip-mall.

Has anyone else seen an outside insurance company with an office inside a dealership? Are there any other opportunities for dealers to potentially offset some of their overhead and attract more floor traffic by leasing space to other vendors?

[57years]

I have heard AAA (American Automobile Association) is moving into outside facilities. In the local area, they rent space inside a tire store.

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by 57years

I have heard AAA (American Automobile Association) is moving into outside facilities. In the local area, they rent space inside a tire store.

That's an interesting thought.

To the extent the AAA has a positive association with most people I'd imagine having a AAA Office on-site would be a good thing.

The only downside I could see would be if the AAA Office was selling a lot of products that competed with the dealership's F&I department.

[XDCX]

Two states I'm familiar with, Washington and Arizona, both offer programs where private business owners can set-up a Licensing Department for customers to perform title and registration work. The businesses receive a modest kick-back for processing DMV paperwork and collecting DMV fees.

The businesses can also charge a "convenience fee" to help offset their expenses.

I knew a CJDR dealer in Washington that had a Licensing Office in his dealership and he liked the fact it brought a lot of customers to his property and made the dealership look busy.

[XDCX]

I attended another car show over the weekend - this one was at Sanderson Ford in Glendale, AZ.

The dealership is huge and I'm guessing it's about 20 years old. The facility includes a separate Express Oil Change center, a separate Performance Parts center, a museum and a restaurant.

The restaurant is open for breakfast and lunch and the word among some of the car show attendees was the restaurant was run by the dealer's daughter.

I remember a couple of other dealerships I've visited in the past tried to run a restaurant on-site. It seems like one of those ideas that's great in concept but almost impossible to pull-off in reality.

To the credit of Sanderson Ford's "Starlight Diner" it appeared the restaurant was a viable operation that added to the dealership's operation.

[XDCX]

I thought of this thread the other day when I read that Allstate Insurance had just opened a new office within a dealership at Carlisle Chevrolet in Texas.

According to the news report, Allstate Insurance now has 200 locations in dealerships across the U.S.

As before, I think it's a great concept that's potentially a "win-win" for both Allstate and the dealership.