Idaho vehicle dealer sets sights on buyers in Reno

So who's going to travel 400 miles from Reno to buy a new car?

A fair number of folks, it turns out, as a dealer in Nampa, Idaho, targets the northern Nevada market.

Nearly every Saturday, one or two buyers from the Reno area show up at the Edmark Superstore at the southern Idaho dealership to pick up a car or truck they've ordered on-line, says Edmark General Manager Bill Dougherty.

In a direct-mail campaign to selected Reno neighborhoods this month, Edmark offered to pay airfare to Boise for buyers of new vehicles and offered to give them a tank of gas for the trip home. Alternatively, buyers could opt to have the vehicle delivered to their homes.

The direct-mail piece, says Dougherty, follows a couple of radio campaigns by Edmark. Both radio campaigns, he says, came to a halt when Reno-area dealers put pressure on station managers.

"It's very difficult to get into someone else's market," he says.

While the company runs similar campaigns in markets including Spokane and Portland, Dougherty says Reno is particularly attractive because of its income levels and its relatively small number of new-vehicle dealers.

Edmark figures it can compete at long distance in the Reno market because the dealership six years ago adopted a one-price model no haggling over prices, the buyer pays the posted price.

That pricing model requires the dealership to rely on sales volume to protect its profitability, but it also lends itself to Internet sales, Dougherty says. The dealership it handles Chevrolet, Cadillac, Pontiac, Buick, GMC and Hummer launched a Web sales division five years ago.