Photo courtesy of Wondries Fleet Group
After Ford discontinued the Crown Victoria, fleets and Police Departments around the country began testing other vehicles to find a replacement and/or stockpiling Crown Vics to delay the decision. One dealership in Southern California decided to help out its customers by stocking up on 1,500 Crown Victorias to sell. That's a photo of just some of these vehicles above.
On a recent rainy day, I visited this group, the Wondries Fleet Group in Alhambra, Calif. John Oviyach and Joe Connell, both fleet sales managers, focus on law enforcement vehicle sales. They said they sold the Crown Vics in 16 months, with the last group of 80 vehicles going to an agency in Ohio.
Located in a Kia dealership, the group is unique in that it isn’t tied to a specific manufacturer, but instead sells from various manufacturers. I often see the group’s name in many bid documents in Southern California, although they also sell cars outside the area. They describe themselves as one of the most dominant fleet sellers west of the Mississippi. The group sold 36,000 vehicles in 2013, 5,000 of which went to government agencies.
Police vehicles wait at the Wondries lot for delivery.
Its size allows the group to keep vehicles in stock for quicker delivery – when I spoke to staff, it had a stock of about 50 Ford Police Interceptors (both sedan and utility) and 120 Chevrolet Tahoe PPVs. It also stocks various light- to medium-duty trucks.
Oviyach and Connell said the police vehicles they’re selling in California mirror national averages in terms of vehicle makeup — that is, mostly Fords. About 75-80% of patrol vehicles they sell are Fords, and of these, 80% are the utility vehicles.
They also introduced me to Clarke Cooper, fleet sales manager, who oversees advanced technology vehicle sales. He said while he sells a good number of hybrids and all-electric vehicles to fleets, the most expanding market is dedicated CNG vehicles.
(L-R) Joe Connell, Clarke Cooper, and John Oviyach, fleet sales managers, make up part of the Wondries Fleet Group.
Finally, the group also houses the National Auto Fleet Group, which holds the National Joint Powers Alliance (NJPA) contract for 1,224 different makes and models of vehicles. The group got the contract in 2012 and has sold a couple thousand vehicles so far, Jesse Cooper, account manager, said. Light-duty trucks have been the most popular vehicles sold, and fleets usually purchase a small number of vehicles through the group — usually one to five.
Oviyach, like some of his colleagues, has been selling vehicles for decades. He started in government accounts 10 years ago, and Oviyach said what is most frustrating for him is when the group puts out a bid and doesn’t win it even though it should.
“There are set concessions, and there is a definitive cost to the vehicle,” Oviyach explained. Experience allows him to recognize when bids come in too low to make sense. When it’s done on purpose, the winning bidder isn’t covering the cost of running the business. When it’s done accidentally, the public agency may not get what it requested, he said.
Staff at the National Auto Fleet Group, which manages the National Joint Powers Alliance (NJPA) contract. Pictured (l-r) are: Alfred Gonzalez, Jesse Cooper, Miranda Rodriguez, Neil Carroll, and David Dao.
