Summer Series: An Interview with Kurt Doeren

RoadVantage regularly seeks feedback from our agents and dealers to make sure we’re providing the best customer service possible. We ask our agents and dealers why they’ve chosen RoadVantage, and about their experience working with RoadVantage. We’ve learned a great deal, and this summer, we’re sharing some of these dealer and agent interviews here in our blog. This week, we’re sharing feedback from RoadVantage agent Kurt Doeren, Owner, CIC Automotive:

Kurt Doeren, owner of Chicago-based CIC Automotive, has a long history with the people behind RoadVantage. His sales representative, Brad Blizzard, is someone Doeren had worked with at a previous company, and he knows Garret Lacour, owner of RoadVantage, from his IAS days. But even with those connections, he didn’t switch to RoadVantage right away.

“Brad was very persistent,” Doeren said. “And in the meantime, my current provider wasn’t doing what I thought was necessary to get the job done. After a year, I finally reviewed the products and coverage Brad was asking me to look at, and I said ‘this is a no brainer.’”

One of the biggest contributors to his success is the relationship RoadVantage has with its agents. “It’s very simple,” he said. “Even though we’re partners, I feel like I work for them, and they work for me. With all of the people there, I feel like I’m the number one priority when I need something.”

CIC Automotive serves mostly franchise dealerships in the Chicago area, with a client list that includes many of the biggest individual dealers and groups. And his penetration, he noted, has gone up tremendously since he switched to the RoadVantage product line. “I have gotten business I couldn’t before because of these products,” he said. “I have so much confidence walking into any dealership with this product in my portfolio. There is nothing else like it out there, and I don’t know why any dealer wouldn’t sign up. No one can ever give me a good reason not to.”

He went on to note, “I don’t know why every consumer doesn’t buy this product either. It’s so good for them. I almost want to get back into selling F&I so I can get this to more consumers, that’s how pumped up I get about this product. It is the best thing they can buy; it just eliminates all the stress of car ownership.”

A World Apart

The level of service RoadVantage dedicates to the consumers who ultimately buy the product sets them apart from other providers in the market, Doeren says. “If you take care of the consumer, you take care of everyone.” Too many providers have policies with loopholes but RoadVantage, he notes, has eliminated all of them. “Simply put: they take care of the consumer.”

He went on to say that beyond just phenomenal customer service and claims handling, the product itself is second to none, and is one of the best to sell in his entire portfolio. The coverage is comprehensive, he notes, but RoadVantage has also put into place a marketing system and process to help F&I managers explain and sell to the consumer. “They are just the best,” he stated. “RoadVantage has a culture that is totally unique, and that no one else can really replicate right now. Starting from the top guy down, they are all dedicated to the product, the process and the people.”

Another thing that sets RoadVantage apart for Doeren is the willingness to listen to new ideas. He is a self-proclaimed “idea man” and noted that he is calling them all the time to share. “I apologize to them, I know I’m driving them nuts,” he joked, “but they take the time to listen. Everyone at the company just listens. And if it makes sense, they take it and they execute it. I don’t know what they put in the Kool-Aid there, but everyone is on the same page.”

At the end of the day, Doeren can’t say enough positive words about his association with RoadVantage. “They don’t overpromise, and they deliver on the things they do promise. They return your phone calls quickly. They execute on ideas. I love them. I should have listened to Brad a year earlier.”