Page 29 – NextGear Capital

The NIADA Convention through a NextGear Capital Lens

June 30, 2016April 8, 2025

On June 13, the 70th Annual National Independent Automobile Dealer Association (NIADA) Convention & Expo commenced at the Mirage Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Welcoming dealers from all across the country, the NIADA Convention spanned four days, inviting guests to visit the many exhibitor booths and take part in a number of breakout sessions.

As NextGear Capital, we have participated in the NIADA Convention since the inception of Dealer Services Corporation (DSC) in 2006. NextGear Capital exhibited in the Mirage Events Center along with other Cox Automotive business units, including Autotrader and Dealertrack.

This year, NextGear Capital was given the opportunity to create a “Winners Circle” in the Mirage Hotel’s rotunda space. On branded racing arcade games, convention attendees were able to race towards the virtual finish line in hopes of placing within the top five participants and receiving a prize. Better yet, the first place winner was a NextGear Capital dealer!

NextGear Capital also partnered with NIADA to award four deserving students with $3,500 scholarships and one with the top honor of a $10,000 scholarship. Randy Dohse, Senior Vice President at NextGear Capital, represented NextGear Capital and addressed the evening’s crowd in addition to presenting scholarships to the award recipients.

Along with many other exciting facets of the NIADA Convention, NextGear Capital’s first meeting with the 2016 Dealer Advisory Council (DAC) was held. This is the council’s second year, and the second time the inaugural meeting was hosted at the NIADA Convention. Additionally, NextGear Capital’s Vice President of Development, Susan Moritz, led a breakout session Wednesday afternoon for attendees. Her presentation highlighted how to partner through positive disruption, which was presented to a packed room of engaged dealers.

With the excitement of this year’s convention, NextGear Capital looks forward to attending the 2017 NIADA Convention & Expo!

CANstruction for the Cause

June 29, 2016April 8, 2025

In 2007, Cox Automotive’s “Drive Away Hunger” campaign launched to support Feeding America, one of the organization’s more established community partners. Since its inception, Cox Automotive team members across the globe have participated in the week-long campaign which culminates with CANstruction, after which all canned food items are donate to a local food bank.

“It’s very sad when you know the people who typically go hungry in our communities are also the most vulnerable: children, the elderly and veterans. With Cox Automotive’s Drive Away Hunger campaign, it educates our team members about hunger in our communities while also showing everyone that you can have some fun while giving back,” Daisy Hibbard, Manager of Internal Events and Community Relations, said.

CANstruction volunteers work together to build Olympic rings out of canned goods — NextGear Capital volunteers work together to build the Olympic rings for their CANstruction submission.

This year marks the second year of participation for NextGear Capital and as a company, we set a goal to raise 10,000 pounds of food among team members around the world.

While the food drive itself is Drive Away Hunger, the campaign ends with CANstruction, an exciting event team members take part in at the corporate office or at their nearest Manheim auction. Team members are grouped by department and create structures using only their collected donation items. Each team competes for the judges’ approval and to be able to call themselves the CANstruction champions.

In support of NextGear Capital’s efforts to collect food and raise money for their local food bank Gleaners, Cox Automotive matches two dollars per pound of food donated. Last year, Cox presented Gleaners with a check for $13,670 and NextGear Capital made a global impact by donating over 7,000 pounds of food. With the recent release of this year’s numbers, we are thrilled to report that we exceeded our 10,000 pound goal.

For the past two years, these numbers have contributed to the story of NextGear Capital’s commitment to community. CANstruction would not have been possible without NextGear Capital’s compassionate and slightly competitive team members. All teams fully immersed themselves in the campaign and at NextGear Capital’s corporate office, one team raised over $1,000 before the campaign even launched. The winning team raised an unprecedented $1,900 for their CANstructure throughout the duration of the campaign.

This year, 13 teams participated in CANstruction, with the winning team for Judge’s Choice being Team CanUDigIt. Their structure was judged on its all-around great use of props, space, color, creativity and its ability to catch the eye. Team Waggoneers came in second and won the award for Most Wanted. This structure was judged based on its ability to use the food items that are most needed and its attention to detail.

Winning CANstruction team CanUDigIt with their canned good castle — Winning CANstruction team CanUDigIt!

“This is an annual food drive that every single team member gets behind and gets excited about because they love the friendly competition of donating for the cause and building for the prize,” Hibbard said.

All of the participating teams successfully collected items that are most in need. These items include canned fruits and vegetables, canned beans, canned soups, rice, granola bars, and much more. With the efforts of the teams here in Carmel, Indiana, over four tons of food were donated to Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana.

If you are looking for more ways to get involved with Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana, click here to visit their website and explore more volunteer opportunities.

The Distinction of a NextGear Capital Floor Plan

May 19, 2016April 8, 2025

Every dealership is unique, with its own needs, priorities and goals. So when it comes time to seek inventory financing, you need a floor plan provider that understands your dealership’s goals and can create a flexible plan right for you. At NextGear Capital, we know that being able to procure vehicles from multiple sources, at your convenience, is crucial to your dealership’s success. With a NextGear Capital floor plan, your line of credit is accepted at over 1,000 live and online auctions, in addition to inventory sources such as trade-ins, off-street purchases and loan payoffs. And to make sure you have the buying power you need right at your fingertips, NextGear Capital offers 24/7 account access, through our mobile platform myNextGear. With myNextGear, dealers can floor units, make payments and view titles all from their hand-held device.

Flexible Terms to Help Increase Your Buying Power

Inventory Financing, often referred to as floor planning, provides you with the necessary cash flow to run your business without stretching to cover operational expenses. A NextGear Capital floor plan gives you the buying power you need for added inventory on your lot, increasing revenue while keeping cash on hand for other business expenses.

NextGear Capital is equipped to offer flexible terms and competitive pricing along with solutions tailored to your unique business needs. While the avenue in which you source your vehicles may change, your inventory finance company should be your rock. Not only should your inventory finance provider understand the nature of your business and the flexibility you need, but it should mirror that flexibility in its relationship with you. This includes providing insight on potential market opportunities for your business, improving income opportunities and counseling you on the latest and greatest industry tools. NextGear Capital’s local representatives are in the field every day doing just that.

Industry Expertise that Benefits Your Business

NextGear Capital’s leadership team, boasting over 100 combined years of auto financing experience, has positioned the our company as one of the foremost thought leaders in the industry. A NextGear Capital floor plan is more than a flexible finance solution, it is also backed by local representatives and a knowledgeable support staff, all dedicated to your dealership’s growth and success. NextGear Capital is committed to going above and beyond what you would expect from a financial provider. Darren Vivolo, Owner of Bayshore Automotive, put it best saying, “NextGear Capital is like having another staff of employees.” The support team at NextGear Capital makes time to understand what is driving your dealership’s business and what matters most to you.

Cutting-edge Technology to Simplify Buying and Selling Inventory

NextGear Capital’s unparalleled speed of service and real-time technology offers dealer account access from virtually anywhere – online, on the go and on the phone. Advances in technology – such as the use of mobile devices – have made floor planning an easier to use and more powerful tool for dealers by saving time and simplifying the process of buying and selling inventory. With this rise in technology, you now have the ability to browse and purchase inventory from the comfort of your desk or home, meaning you can conduct business on your own terms.

Access to the Industry’s Leading Network of Brands

As a Cox Automotive brand, NextGear Capital is part of the strongest portfolio in the industry, made up of more than 20 brands that together provide end-to-end solutions for dealers like you. Cox Automotive is a leading provider of products and services spanning the automotive ecosystem worldwide. With more than 40,000 clients, Cox Automotive strives to better understand clients’ needs in order to create efficiencies and alleviate challenges, providing a wealth of resources to its customers. When you choose a NextGear Capital floor plan, you gain access to the industry’s leading network of brands, a power backing which can give your dealership a valuable, unique advantage.

A Non-Traditional Road to a Sale for Independent Dealers

April 27, 2016April 8, 2025

Re-evaluating the Appraisal Phase

Looking for ways to find more inventory, or ways to get more customers through the door? This non-traditional road to sale for independent dealers may be just what you need! NextGear Capital recently hosted a webinar for independent dealers featuring Joe Lescota, a veteran of more than 25 years in the automotive industry, as the NIADA Director of Dealer Development. Through Lescota’s suggested detour in the road to sale, your dealership could see more business, more trade-ins and greater net-profit.

When evaluating the traditional road to a sale, Lescota found that most of the issues being faced by independent dealers are occurring in the appraisal step.

See the full webinar with Joe Lescota’s on the Non-Traditional Road to a Sale for Independent Dealers here.

Traditional Steps

1. Meeting and Greeting
2. Needs Determination
3. Selection
4. Feature Presentation
5. Demo Drive
6. Trial Close
7. Appraisal
8. Close
9. Finance
10. Delivery
11. Follow-Up

Make Appraisal Step-Two

So how do dealers get past this road block? Consider moving the appraisal step up to the second step in your selling process! Once a representative gathers information about the potential trade-in from the consumer, this information should be handed off to a manager to determine the value. This will allow the manager more time to gather better numbers for the appraisal. The manager can spend more time investigating and strategizing during the appraisal process, while the sales rep continues through the remaining steps in the sale – selection, demo drive, etc.

Understand the Appraisal You Present

Independent dealers also need to understand and adapt to today’s consumer. Most customers who have a trade, arrive with a value already in mind. Today’s consumer already has a pretty good idea of what the vehicle is worth through sites like AutoTrader and craigslist. Lescota says a typical used car dealer spends 18 hours online.

Make sure you do not lose your credibility with a customer because your sales rep cannot explain the process and reasons behind the trade-in price they are presenting. There should be no mystery as to why the number is what it is. In today’s market, transparency is key. Encourage potential buyers to do business with your dealership. Ultimately, providing information and making the trade process easy could make the customer more likely to commit and buy!

Going Beyond Your Average Automotive Finance Company

April 19, 2016April 8, 2025

So you can harness the passion behind your dealership

At NextGear Capital, we are not just another automotive finance company, our support staff is helping dealerships harness and build upon the passion that drives a successful business. From the matchbox cars he owned as a child, to the cars he is selling on his lot today, Darren Vivolo, owner of Bayshore Automotive, has that passion. Like so many of us dream of doing, Darren has turned his childhood passion, into his profession and his customers can feel that excitement when they walk into Bayshore Automotive. Darren explained, “Every day I look forward to coming to work because I think – What am I going to create? What am I going to build? What am I going to buy? Every day is a new experience and it’s a lot of fun.”

Bayshore Automotive is every Jeep enthusiast’s dream. Located in Tampa, Florida, Darren and his staff are designing and building one of a kind Jeeps that have everything from custom matte paint jobs and embellished grills, to tubular doors or no doors at all! One look at Bayshore’s inventory is evidence that Jeep life is real, and it’s overtaking historic Ybor City.

Darren has been flooring vehicles with NextGear Capital for over two years and said, “Ever since I started with NextGear Capital, things have just been going up.” “I love the mobile app. It’s easier to floor and unfloor a car than it is to order a pizza. If I guy like me can do it, anybody can do it!” NextGear Capital goes beyond what you’d expect from an automotive finance company. We are consultative partners, and our business model places relationships and people first. We’re a proud partner to dealerships both big and small, because we know that regardless of the size or location of your lot, at the end of the day nothing drives business like the passion behind it.

NextGear Capital supports dealers worldwide with the buying power and flexibility they need. But our representatives are also taking the time to figure out what’s really driving their business. “NextGear is like having another staff of employees. They make it so simple, it allows me to do the things that I want to, which is be with my family.” Darren explained that his family is what matters most to him and they ultimately drive his business success at Bayshore Automotive. Darren is balancing multiple priorities in his life and when he is not customizing Jeeps with his team he spends his time on the ball fields with his kids. Darren is a father of four and manages to coach his kid’s baseball and soccer teams in the area, despite the challenging schedule of an independent dealer. NextGear Capital helps to make that possible through cutting-edge technology, industry expertise, and resources you won’t find anywhere else.

NextGear Capital Makes No Excuses

April 8, 2016April 8, 2025

Life can get busy. We all have priorities and expectations set upon us. When these expectations start to pile up, it’s easy to forget to think about others, and needs outside of our own.

Here at NextGear Capital, we strive to make time to give back and help our community. However, despite our best efforts, we all need a reminder when life gets hectic, to make giving back to our community a priority.

To keep serving our community as a top priority, NextGear Capital once again participated in a No Excuses campaign during the month of March.

No Excuses is meant to encourage Cox Automotive team members to avoid making excuses as to why they can’t volunteer or serve within their community. NextGear Capital, along with other Cox Automotive companies, participated in this initiative to make a difference.

At the NextGear Capital corporate office, we organized several different volunteer projects for team members and their families to get involved with throughout the month. Through those events, NextGear Capital team members contributed –

$3,600 for Special Olympics Indiana through the Polar Plunge

50 blankets made for Project Linus that will be donated to Camp Little Red Door

10,000 meals packed for Stop Hunger Now

48 pints of blood donated to the American Red Cross

278 dog and cat toys made out of donated t-shirts for the local Humane Society

$27,709.64 worth of coupons donated and sorted for military families living overseas

9,392 pounds of food inventoried and sorted for Gleaners Food Bank

Collectively, NextGear Capital team members volunteered more than 1,500 hours in the month of March for 80 different organizations, locally and across the nation.

NextGear Capital team members are proud to have the support of the local communities we live and work in, and there is no better way to show how grateful we are than by supporting those communities in return. Thanks to the team members and organizations that made No Excuses possible!

NextGear Capital Wins People’s Choice Award at Hackathon

March 4, 2016July 19, 2021

Demonstrating its commitment to new and innovative technology solutions, earlier this month Cox Enterprises hosted the first-ever all division Hackathon. This event brought together bright, imaginative minds from across the Cox Divisions to collaboratively use technology, transforming innovative ideas into working prototypes. Teams were encouraged to think outside of the box to generate new product ideas.

We are proud to share that NextGear Capital’s own “Team Beef” walked away with the People’s Choice Award for their prototype, HapTrends! The Hackathon included 19 teams, made up of roughly 140 total participants representing brands across Cox Enterprises, Cox Communications, Cox Media Group and Cox Automotive.

The Hackathon’s theme was “Smart ______.” and Team Beef chose the topic “Smart people,” focusing on employee engagement. HapTrends enables employers to measure the happiness and engagement of their team members by leveraging a richer employee profile coupled with dynamic happiness assessments.

HapTrends Screen Demonstration

Team Beef was inspired on their chosen topic after seeking some valuable advice. As other Hackathon teams broke into conference rooms to develop their “Smart” solutions within the 24 hour time limit, Team Beef hung back to chat with Ed Wagner, Director of Enterprise Architecture at Cox Enterprises, and Ed Smith, CTO at Cox Automotive. Team Beef interviewed Wagner and Smith about potential overarching themes to decide what would be a productive focus for not just one Cox brand, but for Cox Enterprises as a whole. They found that Wagner and Smith wanted to better understand and engage employees, ultimately increasing retention. Team Beef concluded that employee engagement is often discussed yet seldom measured, and set out to seize this opportunity with HapTrends!

Team Beef was the only team to initiate conversation like this, actively working to discover the needs of Cox Enterprises as a whole, rather than focusing on their NextGear Capital niche. This led to a project that everyone could relate to. Some great ideas were presented, but in the end, only four Cox Hackathon championship belts could be won – Best Overall, Product/ Business Innovation, Engineering Innovation and People’s Choice. All Hackathon attendees and participants voted for the People’s Choice award, validating HapTrends versatility across Cox Divisions.

In addition to their conversation with Wagner and Smith, Team Beef felt inspired coming off the recent successful Innovation Days at NextGear Capital’s Corporate office. The energy and motivation built by the event’s production of innovative ideas put Team Beef in the right mindset to produce meaningful solutions at the Hackathon.

Member of Team Beef and NextGear Capital Product Manager, Blake Weishaar, was impressed by Cox Enterprises commitment to producing innovative technology solutions. “It was pretty incredible to see the effort and investment put into the Hackathon. With events like these, it’s very easy to see how much Cox values technology, and it’s incredibly exciting to know we’ve established ourselves as a leader across the entire organization,” said Weishaar.

Congratulations to Team Beef!

Jeff Lindholm, Development Manager – myNextGear
Blake Weishaar, Product Manager – myNextGear
Brandon Scolaro, Developer – Big Data
Austen Lacy – Developer – Ngen
Nick Taylor – User Experience Designer

More about HapTrends

HapTrends is a solution for measuring employee happiness. Through HapTrends, employees would each have a unique user profile built through survey engagement with additional supporting data drawn from LinkedIn to create user profiles. It would also work alongside “My Career Bio” and other Cox initiatives. The profiles would identify certain personality types for team members, and allow individuals to search a floor plan of their office space for specific personality qualities. Team Beef described HapTrends as a “Match.com” to help individuals better work with their peers. In addition to building better working relationships, HapTrends aims to “humanize” team members.

Staying Best-in-Class in the Automotive Floorplan Industry

February 17, 2016January 31, 2025

Accelerate 2016

To remain the industry’s leading automotive floorplan provider, NextGear Capital has to attract and retain top talent. A primary strategy supporting our ability to build the team of impressive, dedicated employees we have is investing in their advancement and growth. Employee engagement and development helps us build a team of local and remote support staff that are committed to your dealership’s growth and success.

Recently, many NextGear Capital team members spent their week gathered together for Accelerate 2016. This annual leadership conference is an opportunity for NextGear Capital employees from all over the country to come together and review the prior year’s accomplishments in addition to the coming year’s goals. The conference allows employees the opportunity to brainstorm new ways to work together in an effort to enhance the automotive floorplan services NextGear Capital is able to offer our dealers.

This year’s event consisted of sessions led by NextGear Capital and Cox Automotive leadership, in addition to automotive sales experts. These sessions focused on building relationships with dealers, driving value, selling excellence in the automotive floorplan industry and leveraging the resources of Cox Automotive.

The conference provided an opportunity for team members to see what Cox Automotive has in store for the coming year, and left many, including NextGear Capital corporate office Team Lead Andrew Ramey, optimistic for the future of our business. “It’s really inspirational to see all of our leaders up on stage talking about what a successful year we had in 2015, and how they plan to continue that momentum this year. There were so many wonderful speakers, not only from NextGear Capital, but also from other companies under the Cox Automotive umbrella. It is truly exciting to see what an advantage our company has because of the products and services we can offer our dealers as a part of the Cox Automotive brand!”

Being surrounded by top talent and celebrating the success of their peers brought many employees back to work feeling a heightened level of inspiration and engagement. Business Development Representative Michelle Spencer said, “the speakers showed us their vision and goals for 2016. It was very inspirational and shifted the gears for everyone who attended the conference.”

All in all, Accelerate 2016 was another huge win in the books for our company and the Community Events Team that puts it together. But more than that, the conference will be an even bigger win for the 20,000+ dealers that NextGear Capital serves annually as they directly benefit from the discussions and lessons learned.

Innovation Days

February 9, 2016January 31, 2025

Bringing New Ideas to Life at NextGear Capital

The energy was high at the second ever Innovation Days final presentations at NextGear Capital. Seats were full with around 100 spectators and participants, waiting to see what ideas their fellow NextGear Capital team members were able to put into concept.

Innovation Days is an event dedicated to bringing new ideas to life at NextGear Capital. From technology for dealers to technology to better acclimate new NextGear Capital employees, this event helps keep the company on the cutting-edge by bringing the Technology team and Business team together to develop new technology solutions.

This is the second Innovations Days, but the first time the event was open to all NextGear Capital employees as an opportunity to identify pain points in their daily processes, and develop and present innovative solutions. Tiffany Coulter, Director of Floorplan Services proposed an idea during Innovation Days and was excited about what this event could do for the company and for dealers. “NextGear Capital has some really innovative people here. Putting all these heads together can only benefit our dealers!” said Tiffany.

The Technology team was happy to see 52 amazing ideas submitted from NextGear Capital team members over the two weeks span. Of those ideas, about 20 were pitched for creation. Following pitches, teams broke from their normal work for about two days to focus on bringing these innovative ideas to life.

Each team had 5-7 minutes to present their final work. Presentations ranged from early-stage prototypes to fully-developed solutions. These solutions focused on ways to improve the work NextGear Capital employees do on a daily basis, as well as technology solutions that can be utilized by dealers, auctions and the entire automotive industry. It is likely that a number of these solutions will be seen into fruition in 2016.

Tiffany explained what this event offers to NextGear Capital employees, saying, “Innovation Days made it possible for everyone to be involved. It allowed those who deal with problems and issues to be a part of the solution.” Employees are excited to have this new touch point, working together to identify and ease day-to-day pain points and striving for continuous improvement here at NextGear Capital.

NextGear Capital Employees Give Back

November 12, 2015April 8, 2025

With Thanksgiving around the corner, the holiday season is officially upon us. For many, this is truly the most wonderful time of the year. It means spending time with friends and family, giving and receiving gifts and sharing meals with the ones we love.

However, the holiday season brings with it much colder weather here in Indiana. With temperatures regularly dropping below freezing, the snow and ice are here to stay for the next few months. Being outside for more than a few minutes can become an unbearable task.

And while not a pretty fact, there are hundreds in our community who have nowhere to go during this season to escape the brutal temperatures. Indiana’s homeless population is primarily comprised of veterans, senior citizens, mentally ill, disabled, and even children. They are people like you and me who simply want to get back on their feet and support themselves and their families.

For some here at NextGear Capital, they just couldn’t sit by knowing a way had to exist in which they could directly help these individuals.

In March, a few employees began meeting twice a week during their lunch breaks to knit and crochet scarves and hats for the homeless. Thus, the NextGear Capital Knitting and Crochet Circle was created.

CRblog1 — Right to Left: Robyn Taylor (leader of group) along with Tiffany Coulter and James Kubecki knit hats during their lunch break.

Since then, many have joined this movement. Over 25 employees, in addition to family and friends of NextGear Capital team members, began to help knit and crochet items for our community’s homeless residents. For some, this was the first time they had ever picked up knitting or crochet needles, but they took time out of their busy lives to learn a skill that would make a positive impact on those less fortunate.

In total, the group has logged over 500 volunteer hours this year to make not only hats and scarves, but blankets, gloves and other needed items.

CRblog2 — Members of the Knitting and Crochet Circle show off some of the items they have made this year.

On October 24, the group’s hard work paid off as they spent the afternoon in Tent City passing out the 60 items they had worked hard to make this year. Additionally, they passed out snacks, water and toiletries that were donated by other NextGear Capital employees. Their contributions will help make the winter months a little easier for those who do not have a permanent home or are turned away from a full shelter.

CRblog3 — Members of the Knitting and Crochet Circle pass out items to those in Tent City, a small homeless camp in Indianapolis.

So while giving thanks, we also encourage you to give back to those who may not have a home or a warm meal. Commit to supporting the homeless in your own community this holiday season, even if it’s just a small gesture. This is truly what being thankful and giving is about.