Letter to Automotive Salvage Yards in Colorado

The Community

The Automotive Salvage Industry is not becoming more forgiving and easier to operate in.  Every year seems to bring about another round of facility closures due to retirement, land sales, and just plain competition.  These members of our community are closing their doors, some willingly, but many due to constraints that have reduced the profitability of their business.  For many of us, this is a sign.  It’s a sign that constant improvement and evaluation of our operations will be necessary to continue down a path of profitability.  It’s also a sign that our community is growing smaller with every year, and it’s more important than ever to strengthen the bonds within our community. We must continue to work and stand together to project a loud voice in support of our industry and all the good that we do.  CAR is that voice.  It is your voice.  CAR is the culmination of our business community, legislative lobby, and administrative action that moves our industry in a positive direction.  And CAR is the only entity in the state of Colorado that works and will continue to work for the benefit of your business and all recyclers in this community.  Whether we’re fighting to eliminate a bill that will increase your costs, or working to improve communications and trade amongst our members, we’re doing it in your interest.  If you are a current member, thank you for standing with us and supporting your community.  If you are not a member, please consider joining the fight for this great industry.  With each closure, CAR loses a % of our revenue from dues.  In order for CAR to remain strong, we need as many salvage yards in Colorado to join our community as possible.  To reach its ultimate potential, CAR would need every salvage yard in the state to become a member and support our industry locally.  Make today the day that you join CAR and add your voice to the community in support of our association.

Opportunities

The State of Colorado is booming, and job growth in the last three years is at the highest rate in our state since the 90’s (1).  Our GDP, which is an indicator of our economy, grew at the 4th fastest rate in the nation in 2016, and it’s expected to continue to grow for the foreseeable future (2).  While this growth has reduced unemployment in our state and created some challenges in hiring, it has also created many opportunities.  If you live in or near any city center in the state of Colorado, you know population growth is a very real thing in our great state.  In fact, Colorado is also the 4th fastest growing state by population migration %, according to the U.S. Census Bureau (3).  This influx of people and traffic, has created many additional collisions, vehicle repairs, and salvage vehicles.  So not only do we have increased demand for our product, but we should also be seeing more vehicles running through our auctions.  This supply increase can have positive effect on your business if you take advantage of the opportunities.  Some people may come to Colorado for the legal weed, but they stay for the sunshine, seasons, and unbelievable outdoor recreation, among other things.  The secret is out on our amazing state, and additional growth and migration are very likely going to be a continued trend.  CAR is there to work with salvage yards as they scale up their operations, get compliant with regulations, and build relationships within the association and industry.

Business is Social

At the heart of our businesses and industry, there are people and relationships.  Building bridges between our companies has never been more important.  When technology is advancing quickly and our economy is growing, it’s not too hard to fall behind.  The CAR community is an amazing place to forge business relationships that create synergy between our businesses and foster great ideas.  You can’t source information like this from the internet.  You gather it through working and conversing with companies that face the same challenges, constraints, and opportunities that you do.  CAR has hosted a number of social events and meetings that allow members to meet and exchange information on processes, vendors, and systems that have helped them grow and have increased their success.  In just the last two years, CAR has brought in nationally recognized motivational speakers, industry experts, and yard managers that have experienced explosive growth in revenue and profits to speak to our community.  Whether you are a member or not, you need to make it to these events to learn from these resources and engage with like-minded automotive salvage professionals.  The value in these meetings and relationships is difficult to quantify, but they most certainly can be beneficial if you’re willing to participate and are eager to learn.

 Let’s all work together to make this the most productive and rewarding year for our association, community, and businesses.  The opportunities are right in front of us, the community is there to support us, and we’re only limited by our willingness to take advantage of them.