Car dealer parks up after three decades in business
It’s not every day you get a tractor as a trade-in for a car, but that’s Southland for you.
That particular mid-1990s trade-in springs to mind for Invercargill’s Robbie Baxter, who is retiring after more than 30 years in business.
Baxter is in the process of winding down as he has sold his firm, Robbie Baxter Autos Ltd, to Gore’s Hamish Gardyne, who owns car yards in Gore, Dunedin, Timaru and Christchurch.
The Hyundai franchise held by Baxter will be transferred to Gardyne when the sale is finalised on September 27. ‘‘I’m 70 in six weeks and it’s time to retire,’’ Baxter said.
The car dealer has made 120 trips to Japan to buy motor vehicles for his Southland yard.
He was not sure how many cars he had imported over the years, but said ‘‘it would have to be thousands’’.
His first buying trip to Japan was in 1989, which was about the time car dealers were beginning to head there.
One of the two cars bought on the first trip was sold while still on the transporter outside Baxter’s yard.
The other car was sold within two hours of it arriving in Invercargill.
Baxter bought from dealers in Japan in the first two years before switching to auctions.
For a short time in the early 2000s he imported 100 cars from Singapore.
‘‘I stopped because I wasn’t happy with the quality.’’
He has seen many changes in the industry, with a major one being the high number of vehicles sold on the Trade Me website. Trade Me has made the public more aware of prices and has had an effect on sales, Baxter says. ‘‘We’ve had our margins squeezed.’’
Baxter has benefited from the demand nationally for sport utility vehicles, but when he first started off sedans were in vogue, then popularity moved to hatchbacks.
Some cars to pass through Baxter’s yard have been sold there two or three times after being traded in on other vehicles.
Like other dealers, custom from husbands and wives and their children have been part of Baxter’s business.
‘‘I think there’s more loyalty down here [in Southland].’’