Pub. 13 2014-2015 Issue 2

N E W J E R S E Y C O A L I T I O N O F A U T O M O T I V E R E T A I L E R S I S S U E N O . 3 , 2 0 1 4 20 new jersey auto retailer NJ CAR Services, Inc. Continues to Grow and Offer Dealers Hundreds of Products At Competitive Prices BY SCOTT KLEY, DIRECTOR OF NJ CAR SERVICES, INC. NJ CAR Services, Inc. was started as a not-for-profit corporation in 1962 with a $5,000 investment by NJ CAR. In 1969 it became a for-profit corporation, initially, to provide competition in the New Jersey automotive business forms marketplace. All of the corporation’s stock is owned by NJ CAR and the subsidiary has grown into a $4.2 million company selling business forms, advertising specialties, imprinted clothing and dealership supplies to auto retailers in New Jersey at fair, competitive, and consistent prices. A History… In its early years the company sold just a few products, such as odometer statements, sales tax forms, employment applications, power of attorneys and other generic forms all dealerships could use. These formswere actually printedbyNJCARServices on anold, offset press located in the utility room of the association’s headquarters building. The company had no outside sales staff and sold only via direct mail. In 1976, NJ CAR Services signed an agreement withNorick Brothers Business Forms to be their exclusive supplier of their automotive business forms in the State ofNewJersey and, subsequently, hired two outside salesmen, a customer service representative and a manager. NJ CAR Services was now able to offer repair orders, parts invoices, vehicle buyer’s orders and other forms that were imprinted with the dealership’s name, aswell as hundreds of automotive stock forms used by every dealership in the course of their day-to-day business. Many items offered for sale were at prices lower than the current market price and, as a result, dealers saw their form costs drop significantly. After a few years of steady sales increases selling the Norick Brothers Automotive forms, andwith the addition of a larger line of advertising specialties products, sales broke the $1,000,000mark in 1982 and sales doubled (to $2,000,000) just five years later, in 1987. During the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, NJ CAR Services’ largest competitor, Reynolds and Reynolds, tried to buy the company on numerous occasions. The NJ CAR Board of Directors felt that, with NJ CAR Services in the forms business and providing competition in the marketplace, all NJ CAR members would benefit from lower prices on business forms. Accordingly, offers to purchase the company were rejected. In 1992, Reynolds andReynolds bought our supplier, NorickBrothers Business Forms, andNJCARServices became an independent forms distributor. What could have been a disaster, turned out to be the best move the company ever made! Being an independent distributor meant NJ CAR Services had to go out and find a newmanufacturer or supplier for every type of business form it sold. This took a few years, but by the time the process was completed eight companies, each with its own special niche, were