Welcome to our business and the reflection of who we are. This is the story behind the life of R-America - a boutique pre-owned Honda & Acura dealer in Tulsa, OK.
We realize that business is tough and the automobile industry especially competitive. And we also realize that used car salespeople are not regarded as the most ethical in the business world. However, we are a moral people and enjoy sleeping soundly at night.
So considering our preferred sleeping habits, I set forth in developing an idea that provides an obvious moral compass and safety net for R-America, the people we serve, and the people we employ. I call it the list of Things That We Are Prepared to Fail By. These are the things that we are prepared to sacrifice the life of the company over, things that we won’t do in order to succeed.
1. We won’t violate the trust that our families have in us. All of us have spouses and children, realize that we lead through example, and that we don’t live in a vacuum. We don’t take their trust in our moral example lightly. That means we won’t participate in back room deals, change the price on the contract so you pay lower taxes, delay paying our bills, or sell you something that you can’t afford. In essence, we want to be the people our dogs think we are.
2. You won’t lose your family by working here. Guess what? You’re no good to R-America if you’re no good to your family. You’ll work long hours and be stretched out of your comfort zone but not so much that your spouse and children won’t know who their spouse or parent is. We want you to be proud of where you work. We want you to be happy and we believe your family is crucial to that fulfillment.
3. We won’t get involved in businesses that rot kid’s teeth. We aren’t in an industry rife with products with various addictions and we don’t produce a product that inherently harms our customers. Future business lines will follow that principle.
4. We won’t sell you something that we wouldn’t be proud to buy ourselves. We have a mantra at R-America: every car that leaves here has to be the best car that we’ve ever produced. It’s not lip service. I am that much of a perfectionist because I know that the people that buy from us, appreciate that attitude. It’s who we are. We’re proud of the steps we’ve taken to produce the cars we do and that confidence is self-evident.
As the leader of a small business, I want our employees, vendors, and customers to know that we are not a profit-at-all costs company. There are things that we won’t do.
We will fight, scratch, and kick to provide the best car possible for you. But not at the expense of the best interests of our clients, the hollowing of our souls, forfeiture of our reputations…or our precious sleep.
Did you know? Getting acquainted with the MDX Climate Control System.
Starting with the 2007 Acura MDX, to help avoid window fogging situations, the MDX’s automatic climate control system features a cabin humidity control system. This new control system, with origins from Honda’s R-Theme development process, provides greater passenger comfort and minimizes the time the air conditioning runs. Here’s how it works…
When set to operate in AUTO mode, a temperature and humidity sensor located in the front of the passenger cabin monitors the interior climate. If the system determines that there is a low probability of window fogging, it maintains a comfortable humidity level of around 20%. This more natural humidity level compared to the previous MDX makes for greater skin comfort, reduces fatigue and dehydration, and improves passenger alertness. If the system determines that potential window fogging conditions exist, it changes the climate control parameters to help keep the windows clear. In these situations, the air conditioning system is set to MAX, the air outlet mode is switched to HEAT/DEF and the fan speed is gradually increased to reduce the chances of window fogging.
Here’s an interesting story on the system’s effectiveness by Frank Pulach, the lead engineer on the MDX;
“On their own initiative, the research team made a demonstration vehicle from a previous generation MDX. They soaked the floor of this vehicle and kept it in a humidity chamber overnight, and then they asked us to arrive at 5 am. At the appointed hour, seven of our team members piled into the vehicle and took off. They let the vehicle fog up initially to demonstrate its effectiveness, and within seconds their system had cleared up the windows. We then did the same exercise without this system and we couldn’t see; it was un-drivable. Through the team’s persistence, we realized the incredible value of the humidity control system.”
The value here is four-fold:
increased driver comfort.
elimination of the cause of fog instead of just defogging the windows.
the A/C compressor turns off when not needed, which;
increases fuel economy by as much as 4%.
It’s a small system that only a select few know anything about. But it’s a great example of Honda’s attitude toward constant innovation and that Soichiro Honda’s “Do not imitate others!” demand still lives on.
It was a cool winter night on Japan's oldest Formula 1 circuit and I had just finished a lap in a '02+ NSX-R, in Championship White, with a good friend in the passenger seat. Glances and words of awe were exchanged and when I handed the keys back, I noticed that a few Honda representatives seemed to be organzing the chaos. "Who are these guys?"
I immediately went over to thank them and proceeded to have a really nice conversation with one man in particular. He was relaxed, spoke clear English, and obviously knew quite a bit about cars and motorsport. I left after about 5 minutes in order to bask in the enormity of the opportunity. Amazing - I just drove the "Unicorn" NSX around one of the, if not the, best tracks in the world; Suzuka.
Fast forward an evening at a Honda reception and I see this same guy in a suit being drowned by a sea of humanity bowing and asking for pictures and autographs. I, being respectful of the man's time and space, decided right then and there, to take the high road and not debase myself like a tweeney at a Beiber concert.
Who was the guy? Nobuhiko Kawamoto, President of Honda ('90-'98).
One Small Step for Business, One Large Step for R-America.
Installing a sign is, in the grand scheme of things, not a big deal. It’s a simple process that involves a ladder, a couple of screws, the sign itself, maybe a level, and Uncle Ray Ray to install it. Simple isn’t it?
In a word…youmustbecrazy!
It’s a process of logo design, material, layout choice, that can pit marketing vs. management, expediency vs. “doing it right the first time,” staying in budget vs. going over the top, simple vs. fancy, head vs. heart. I liken it to a pregnancy. Pregnancies happen all the time but none is as eye opening, wondrous, and fulfilling as your own. So it is with a sign – a simple tool to let people know who you are, what you do, and how to get a hold of you.
Our sign was designed to stay within specific frame of reference points that are meant to evoke:
· Professionalism (clean white background, use of border)
· Passion (red version of the logo, sharp contrasts)
· Competence (clear and direct text content, clean installation)
…and all the while keeping an eye to current Honda design trends so that we don’t step outside of the branding box of the cars we know and love. These are all of the things that went into developing R-America’s first sign. This is the first sign of our “baby.”
Yes, Bella Grace, your Daddy is a Used Car Salesman.
“Why do used car salesmen wear slip-on shoes? You need an IQ of at least 4 to tie a shoelace.”
"Did you hear about the used car salesman who wore two jackets when he painted the house? The instructions on the can said: “Put on two coats.”
It’s not for lack of opportunity, Bella. I get two to three job offers every year and have, for various reasons, turned them all down. The two other companies I manage offer great challenge and great potential for wealth. I’ve successfully completed some of the hardest academic classes I have ever been in and they have given me a confidence, competence, and business acumen that I haven’t had before. In truth and with a bit of fear of being misinterpreted as sounding arrogant, your daddy could do anything, well, almost anything, he wants to do.
So, why?
Let me tell you a story. My mother, your grandmother, was great. Scratch that, she was incredible. As a single mother of a young boy, she worked as hard as anyone to put a roof over my head, clothes on my back, and food on the table. I had a great childhood filled with playing sports, going to school, and knowing that I was very much loved. Yet for all that, we never seemed to get “ahead” and I always knew money was a problem. Sometimes, I wouldn’t eat or I’d keep wearing shoes that were two sizes too small because I knew money was tight. By the time high school rolled around, I began to seriously wonder what the future had for me. School and jobs required transportation and my usual method of two-wheeled and self-propelled conveyance just wasn’t cutting it anymore.
That’s when I was presented the wonderful gift of a car. It changed everything for me – I could now go to school without sweating on the way there, get a better job, take my girlfriend out to a movie without her father looking askance, go to the grocery store and actually come home with more than one bag of groceries – I could do…anything. A car was the symbol of freedom and the reality of opportunity. I was in love. And the car didn’t even have air conditioning.
Since then, I’ve developed a passion for automobiles. I’m captivated by the art and engineering that goes into each one. When someone talks about tuning Helmholtz Resonances in the intake manifold or asks why would anyone put drilled rotors on their car or what traction control or ABS actually does, or even the relative merits of FWD vs. AWD vs. RWD – my heart goes all a flutter and I begin a whirlwind discussion of impassioned speech that can, quite literally, last for however much time you’ll sit in front of me. I am passionate about cars.
But that’ not the real reason “why.” The reason why is that, over the course of my life, I’ve realized that serving someone else is the most fulfilling, most rewarding, and most worthwhile life changing act that anyone can ever do. You’ll learn this too. In short, I want to help people. I want to change someone’s world for the better. Now some may laugh and scoff at the idea of one person, even from inauspicious beginnings, changing the world. Well, when you hear that, hasten to remind them that Moses changed the world in his lifetime, Abraham Lincoln changed the world in his lifetime, Winston Churchill changed the world in his lifetime when the whole of Britain’s hope hung on his every word. Your great grandfathers changed the world in their lifetimes when they volunteered to save this nation from the aggression of the Axis regimes. Your grandmother changed the world in her lifetime when she chose not to end my life in the womb even though she received pressure to do so. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. changed the world in his lifetime, when out of his immortal speech on Capital Hill, he said, “I have a dream…I have a dream that someday my children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged on the color of their skin but on the content of their character...I have a dream today.”
I have a dream too. That we can build a business that captivates people with its passion, authenticity, and competence. That we can help people get to the places where they need to go, safely, reliably, and with all of the luxury and convenience they want. That one of our cars will get the new expecting family to the hospital on time, that one of our cars helps a mother take her children to school safely, that one of our cars gets the business executive to his client’s presentation without getting lost, or that one of our cars impresses a clumsy young man’s date on the way to prom. That’s the reason “why” behind R-America: to simply help people in a way that we’re zealous about. It’s an extension of what our family believes in and the practice of our highest ideals. There’s something noble about that and it’s something to be revered.
But there’s another reason, Bella Grace. Sometime in your life, your heart or ideas or dreams will be cut down, trampled, and bruised. Be reassured that you have the power to persevere, to keep following the path God has laid out for you, even when others doubt. Don’t be beaten down by naysayers or by the possibility of failure. Don’t be so scared of the odds that you don’t even try. If I can follow my dreams and enjoy a modicum of success, even with all of the negativity surrounding the industry, or economic circumstances in our nation, or the trying circumstances of my youth, so can you, Sweetheart. You are greater than no man, but no man is greater than you.
Yes, Bella Grace, your Daddy is a used car salesman. I am proud of that now. I hope you will be too.
A few months ago, I got the chance to visit the Nordschleife portion of the Nurburgring. It is everything good and bad that you've heard about it - and still nothing short of amazing. The driver, Mark something or other (I couldn't understand because I was too excited to listen for more than a couple of syllables), drives in the Le Mans GT class (ok, I heard that part). The guy was doing things in the torrential rain that I'm not sure I could do in the dry.
Almost every Honda and Acura gets tested at the Nurburgring (even the new '13 MDX). The first gen NSX went through 1500 sets of tires (that's 6,000 tires!) there during development testing. There is no better track to provide engineers feedback for developing suspension, engine maps, braking peformance, and chassis tuning. Watch the video to see why.
Have you ever been to one of "those" dealerships? You know the one I'm talking about. As you enter the lot, you notice a group of salespeople huddled at the entrance like a pack of hungry wolves. They're waiting for some poor sucker to wander in. Most of the time, you don't even have time to park before finding that one of them has reached the side of your car at breakneck speeds and begins asking you all sorts of questions like, "How do you plan on paying?" "New or used?" "Care to step into my office?"
Care to step into my office? New or Used? How am I paying? Yes, these are all asked before they have the common courtesy to say "Hello" or even ask you for your name. If they do ask for your name, it's usually insincere and they just want your info to put you into the system and start the high pressure sales process. Ah, the sales process! How much fun is it to sit in a cubicle with some guy going back and forth for hours? He acts like you are best friends and have been for years, yet he probably couldn't tell you what your first name is. It's a game to them. Sounds fun doesn't it? Why go through this when maybe all you wanted was a price or to see what payments might be on a particular car for a particular scenario? Why go through their process of hiding figures into the down or monthly payments? Who is this mysterious man that he keeps running off to see? Is he The Wizard? If he has all of the answers, can't I just talk to him?
"What's it going to take to get you into this car today?" This has to be one of the most common and cheesiest lines in the business. We've all heard it and it may have even been used on us. Do you really want to earn my business? Don't talk to me like I'm 5 years old and say things like that to me. If this salesperson can't seem to get anywhere with you, he'll pass you on to another person to try and close the deal. This guy is referred to as "The Closer". I know, clever name huh? The closer will come in and also act like your best friend. If he senses resistance from you, the pressure will turn up a few notches at a time until you are signing documents and driving away in a new car. This game of musical chairs can go on for hours on end.
The problem I see is that any resistance from the customer is created by the dealership's own environment. Sometimes someone will come in, know exactly what they want, has the money to pay for it, but still has to go through the dizzying games created by the dealership just to drive off in the car that they were there wanting to buy in the first place.
How do I know this? I've been there. It's happened to friends and family. It's happened to me personally when I was only there to buy some new brake pads for my car. When I kindly explained this to the salesman, you would've thought I insulted his mother. I've never seen someone offer to open a door for me and then turn around and not do it once they discover that I will not be buying a car that day. Nobody enjoys it and I don't know anyone who thinks they had a good experience in that setting and would gladly go through that again to buy a car. But that's exactly what they do. When someone wants a new car, they just assume that's the way it is. Why does it have to be this way? Guess what? It doesn't. Wouldn't it be refreshing to have a truly good experience when buying your next car? One with no fuss, no excuses, no stories, no manipulation. Just the car that you're interested at a value driven price.
It is different at R-America. We're probably the most laid back and easy guys you'll ever work with. Need a price on a car? We'll get it for you without jumping through hoops and being passed off from person to person. There is no mysterious wizard behind a big desk. We are passionate about what we do. We want to extend that passion on to you. Buying a new car for yourself shouldn't be a painful experience. It should be exciting! Balloons and inflatable gorillas don't sell cars. Our love of the cars and people do. Man, it's refreshing just saying that.
When the Emperor asked about innovation, "It is like falling in love. If you think it's distressing, it is unbearably distressing. If you think it is joyful, it is of supreme joy.
Washing your car is not the simple task you think it is. And if you treasure the exterior of your car like most enthusiasts, you already realize it can be a bit tricky. Considering the plethora of products, techniques, theories, and/or familial tricks passed down from your great grandfather's great grandfather, maintaining your car's paint can be a mangled mess of conflicting and overlapping ideas and opinions. I understand your pain. The "trick" is simplifying the process and understanding the basic ideas about protecting the exterior of your Honda or Acura.
Hondas and Acuras are known to have soft paint and soft clearcoat so preserving it correctly is, unfortunately, a necessary skill for you. In general, here's what you need to know...
Like Vampires, stay out of the sun. Direct sunlight and heat will dry the vehicle too fast, and you won't be able to properly wash, rinse, and dry. This has the snowball effect of having excessive water and soap spots which may then necessitate aggressive correction on paint that already comes soft from the factory.
Listen to your Grandpa, use the right tools. Use specific microfiber or lambs wools wash mitts or towels to wash. Everything else, including Boar's Hair brushes, will scratch your soft paint because they either trap too much dirt and grit or their bristles are just too stiff. However, feel free to use Boar's Hair or nylon brushes on your wheels. Let the soap sit for a bit to do it's job of dissolving dirt and grime. For drying, I like to use waffle pattern microfiber towels as they absorb water and leave little streaking.
Do the Hard Part First. Wheels and tires are usually the nastiest part of your vehicle. Iron particles, brake dust, and who knows what other contaminants from the road get caked on your wheels. These contaminants will splash on your freshly clean paint if you reverse the order which then doubles your work. This is messiest part of the car wash so be thorough and wash your hands after.
Don't Fight Gravity. Use gravity to your advantage by starting at the top and work your way down by rinsing, washing, then rinsing again. The top of your Honda and Acura is the least dirty part (hopefully, you don't park underneath a tree full of birds) and gravity will help coat the car in soap and provide some extra lubricity. Every 15 seconds or so dump your wash mitt or towel in the wash solution and agitate to release the dirt and grit. Wash and dry (if you use a drying towel) in a front to back motion.
The Why of the How. Basically, you want to keep dirt from scratching the paint which creates scratches and swirls. Microfiber towels, modern car wash soap, a good wash bucket with a grit guard, vigilance, and a good garden blower (yes, a garden tool) will do wonders to keep your paint factory fresh and maybe even better.
I know many owners will use a machine wash facility to wash their cars (of which I have been guilty too before I knew better) but they are absolutely awful for your Honda or Acura's paint. If at all possible, pass by the Thrifty Wash and take the 20 minutes to wash your vehicle by hand. Hand washing affords the owner intimate knowledge of their car by forcing the owner to notice every nick, scratch, swirl, and bump. There's a pride of ownership and a reward in knowing that a job well done was a job done well that you'll notice for years to come.
Lost product magic? Not this generation of Accord. Easily one of our favorite cars - especially the coupe version in San Marino Red or Royal Blue Pearl.
Who says luxury SUVs aren't good off-road? The MDX with SH-AWD tearing it up at AET (Automotive Enviro Testing) in Minnesota. Okay, okay, maybe it doesn't have stock tires.
Acura brings their cars and engineers to AET for six to eight weeks to undergo a brutal testing regimen. Iced incline, decline, near zero, sub-zero, powder, slush, doesn't matter...the MDX works.
