DATE: Wednesday, October 8, 1997            TAG: 9710080466

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY MIKE ABRAMS 

        STAFF WRITER

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   68 lines

USED-CAR FRANCHISE FAVORS NO-HAGGLE SALES

A local dealership group has won the race to open the region's first used-car superstore.

Checkered Flag Motor Car Co. - which sells Hondas, Toyotas, BMWs, Nissans and other models - plans to open a Driver's Mart on a high-visibility property off the Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway.

Driver's Mart is one of several national used-car retailers to apply the superstore concept to selling late-model, pre-owned vehicles. Others include AutoNation USA and CarMax, which has acknowledged its intent to open an outlet in Chesapeake.

The store, a $10 million investment, will sit near the intersection of Rosemont Road and Route 44.

The store is to feature ``no-haggle'' pricing, touch-screen computer sales kiosks and about 400 cars on the lot.

Shoppers eventually will be able to browse from home via the Internet (www.drvsmart.com), salespeople will use computers to complete credit applications, and every vehicle will carry a one-year warranty.

``It's a big change for Hampton Roads buyers,'' said Tim Rayfield, vice president of sales for Checkered Flag. ``People are a little sick of business-as-usual at car dealerships.''

Driver's Mart Worldwide Inc., with just six locations so far, is a partnership of some of the nation's largest new-car dealers. Twenty dealers, including Checkered Flag, have invested in the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based consortium.

Driver's Mart develops advertising, handles administrative support and works out agreements with major automobile suppliers. The local dealers run the stores.

By the middle of next year, the company intends to have 25 locations nationwide.

Checkered Flag, owned by Edward and Steve Snyder, has six locations. The family company claims to sell an estimated 8,000 new and used vehicles a year.

The Driver's Mart goal, however, isn't to drain its lifeblood.

``We don't really know what effect it's going to have,'' Rayfield said. ``We might have to change our own dealerships to make the used cars we sell even better.''

The new complex will comprise the lot, a 15,000-square-foot sales center and 9,000-square-foot service facility.

The company plans an unofficial ``soft opening'' for February with a grand opening around March 1.

Checkered Flag also has the rights to open another outlet in the Richmond area.

Large retailers such as Richmond-based CarMax and AutoNation USA, headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., have opened mega-lots across the country.

CarMax, a subsidiary of electronics retailer Circuit City Stores Inc., began with a single lot in Richmond three years ago. It has plans to open as many as 90 more in the next six years. The company has eyed a site in Chesapeake near Interstate 64 and Battlefield Boulevard, although a spokesman could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Thomas W. Eggleston, president and chief executive of Driver's Mart, said a successful Driver's Mart has an annual sales goal of $50 million worth of vehicles with an average sticker price of $13,500.

But Kevin McHugh, president of Hall Auto World Inc., another ``hassle-free'' dealership, said the region can't support more car dealers.

``I think that the Driver's Marts of the world have overestimated the potential of this market to absorb more used-car dealerships,'' he said. ``Our marketplace is significantly over-dealered.'' ILLUSTRATION: VP MAP

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