Byline: Jim Leman

Many dealers are looking at non-traditional revenue sources to bolster their bottom line.

One notable example is Frank Kent Motor Co., a two-dealership, five-franchise Fort Worth, TX, operation owned by 30-year-old twins Will and Corrie Churchill.

They opened two new revenue centers: Frank Kent Pit Stop and a General Motors Corp. Accessories Distributor Installer (ADI) center.

Frank Kent Pit Stop is a 23,000-sq.-ft. stand-alone detailing, reconditioning and accessories sales and installation business that opened in 2001. It services vehicles from its own dealerships as well as conducts retail business. In 2005, it reported sales of $2.1 million of which $750,000 was retail.

The ADI operation generated $6.9 million in sales. It handles GM accessories for nearby GM dealers. It started in 2004 as a 25,000-sq.-ft. facility. A 20,000-sq.-ft. expansion is in the works.

GM created ADIs to stock, distribute, and provide installation support for its dealers and to speed up deliveries for accessory customers. The ADIs are owned independently. Many owners are dealers. GM divides the country into 85 markets and it has 41 unique ADIs.

Will Churchill talks with Ward's about how and why his family dealership ventured into the separate operations, and what it's been like.

The mother of invention - necessity - created Frank Kent Pit Stop. With space squeezed at the Cadillac store and nowhere for the body shop and service departments to expand, going upwards was the only option. A parking garage was considered for customer, employee and inventory parking.

"That garage would be a $300,000 investment and after deliberation we decided that was not the best use of that money," Churchill says.

Being fascinated by accessories, he suggested that the money be used to open an accessory business and move the dealership detailing and reconditioning operations from the crowded dealership into the new facility. A vacant Western Auto Store adjacent to the Cadillac dealership was purchased and remodeled for $300,000.

Part of the motivation for the Pit Stop was that profit margins were shrinking on new car sales and the finance and insurance operation was under profit pressure as well.