Acquiring vehicles efficiently is one of the highest-leverage things a dealership can do, and most stores are sitting on the team to do it. The question isn't whether to build a Business Development Center (BDC) around acquisition—it's how to structure it so your people buy the right cars, fast, without drowning in steps. Here's how VAN's founder and CEO, Tom Gregg, thinks about it.
Buy volume should dictate how you staff. "For dealers looking to buy 40 cars a month, having a dedicated BDC manager or a couple of buyers is essential," Tom says. At that scale, acquisition is a full-time discipline—not a side task. One Texas dealer used that exact structure to scale from 40 to 112 private-party acquisitions a month.
At lower volume, you don't need a dedicated hire. "It's too few to warrant a dedicated buyer, but it's achievable for a sales team or BDC," Tom notes—and with the right process, leaner teams can punch far above their weight. One store even hit 50 cars a month with a single buyer and no BDC at all. The differentiator is never headcount. It's process and tooling.
The fastest-moving BDCs win on speed and clarity. "Success comes from having the right tools in place—like access to efficient offer products that align with what the dealer will pay," Tom explains. When an agent can put an accurate number in front of a private seller in minutes—not after three internal approvals—close rates climb.
The killer of acquisition BDCs is friction. "If the process involves too many steps, like constantly needing input from the used car manager, the success rate tends to drop," Tom emphasizes. Every handoff is a chance for the seller to go cold. (We broke down the quiet ways this happens in three ways your buy center kills its own offers.)
This is where dealers get the wiring wrong. VAN isn't a replacement for vAuto, KBB, or your CRM—it's the private-party acquisition layer that sits on top of the stack you already run. VAN sources private-party vehicles from 20+ marketplaces and pushes the most promising opportunities—and the appraisal data behind them—straight into your existing CRM, so your BDC works the most profitable cars without logging into yet another system.
"By pushing favorable strategy actions and stocking grades directly into your CRM, your BDC can focus on the most profitable cars in the market, without needing additional resources or logging into separate systems," Tom notes.
Done right, sourcing from the street beats the lanes on every line that matters. VAN-acquired inventory averages $3,525 in gross profit per vehicle versus roughly $1,050 from the auction, and it turns faster—about 31 days versus 43+ for auction cars. That's the whole thesis behind "never go to the auction again": a BDC that buys from private sellers builds cheaper, faster-turning, higher-margin inventory than a buyer standing in an auction lane ever could. And when your team needs reinforcement, VAN's Managed Buyers™ and Acquisition Coaching™ fill the gap.
Ready to turn your BDC into an acquisition engine? Book your demo or grab a free market assessment to see how many private-party cars are within reach in your market.