Sconda

Scott Honda Bid Sale's Moving: End of an Era

After 7 years Scott Honda will be moving it's bid sale from 18 Wilson Avenue in West Chester, a half mile down the road to a brand new facility at 716 E. Union Street.

What is a bid sale you ask?  It's where Scott Honda sells the cars taken in trade that are not suitable for the retail used car lot, either because they are too old, too beat up, have a bad accident in their history or are too pricey.  These cars are then bid on by other car dealers and the highest bidder gets the prize.

"We get all makes, all models and all walks of life that come through our sale," says Douglas P. Scott, Bid Sale Manager.  "Universally though they all loved this old house.  I keep telling them they'll like the new place too, but they are creatures of habit."

The Scott Honda Bid Sale, which was established in 1990 has been in no less than 7 locations in it's 20 year history, from empty parking lots, to full parking lots, it's been run out of trailers or out of a car according to Jack Welsh the first Bid Sale Manager.

"We've been all over the place," the now retired Welsh recalls.  He came back today  for the last sale held at the location he opened in 2003 and was greeted with a hero's welcome, which reminded him what he loved most about the sales for all those years.  "The guys are what made it fun, they're who I really miss."

The 58-year-old house, lovingly referred to as "Wilson Avenue" may have character, but Scott Honda has outgrown this 55 car parking lot.  The new bid sale lot can hold 175 cars and the renovated 3 car garage will have an office, a computer room, a lunch area, a waiting area and a bathroom (an amenity more rare then you might expect at bid sales).

The first sale using the new facility will be held on March 25th, marking the begining of a new chapter in the migretory life of the Scott Honda Bid Sale.  Stay tuned for more news on a possible name change for the Scott Honda Bid Sale.

2011 Odyssey May Cause 2nd Baby Boom

The 2010 U.S. Census team has new concerns the all-new 2011 Honda Odyssey could cause what bloggers have dubbed a "2nd Baby Boom".

Scientists are extremely worried that adults with 0-2 children will desire this beautifully-styled vehicle so much that they will actually have more children, just to justify owning one.

"Our internal market research has shown such a fierce attraction to the curves on this new Honda that it's causing the area of brain linked to parenting many children to light up the monitor," remarked Dr. Chip Lipbalm, of the Center for Population Expansion (CPE).  "We really think this will help regions like Scandinavia who are actually seeing a decrease in population."

It appears single men even want to get in on the 2011 Odyssey craze.

"I never planned on having a family," 24-year-old Jayson Jagger, of New York City told Sconda Blog.  "But the moment I saw this awesome minivan, with room for three car seats across the middle, I bought a wedding ring for my girlfriend of 3 weeks and we're expecting triplets this September!"

Some on the interweb had claimed the newest version of the Odyssey would be renamed the Iliad, but those rumors were put to rest by Honda last week when they unveiled the minivan for the first time at Chicago's Auto Show.

While dealers like Scott Honda in West Chester, PA are taking orders for the new Odyssey, reports are that the vehicle may not be sold in India and China due the their already huge populations.

Stay tuned to Sconda Blog for updates as they come in.

Nor'easter DiRocco Predicting 6-12" Storm

Can it be that Chester County and the Delaware Valley will be hit with the 4th major storm of this white winter?  Gregg "Nor'easter" DiRocco says  "Yes", but this one is tricky.

"A blocking high from the north will put the brakes on this storm and cause it to move northwest and do a loop de loop before it heads out to sea," DiRocco said.  "I believe that northeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey will ge the brunt of this storm, but we will still get 6" to a foot of snow."

The snow should begin around 10 p.m. this evening and continue all the way through Friday morning.

The folks in Scondaland are sick of digging out our cars, but it looks like we'll be back at it again for the next couple days.

Scott Honda will remain open tomorrow, but depending on the weather we could close our doors before our scheduled 9 p.m. closing time.  Check our website for updates.

Scott Honda's 2nd Annual Pen Amnesty Day

Dog's chew on them, children write on walls with them and adults horde them.  You've used them at local restaurants, doctor's office's and even other car dealerships.  They are Scott Honda pens and they are all over the Delaware Valley, but once a year when we run a little low on our own supply we need to have Pen Amnesty Day.

"Basically it means I submitted our pen order too late and we're about to run out," admits Marketing Manager, Douglas P. Scott. "But I know employees collect these pens, either by accident or on purpose and this special day was created to allow those folks to bring them back without apology."

Within 10 minutes of the company-wide voice mail announcing Pen Amnesty Day, 473 pens had already been handed back in with a smile.

"Here you go Doug," said Internet Sales Consultant, Kim Meissner, with a sheepish grin as she handed over a rainbow collection of pen colors in two large rubber band wads.  "These are my favorites, but I didn't even realize I had so many."

It appears to be the endless color combinations and the Bic quality that makes these pens such a fan favorite.  Whenever the boxes of the new pens arrive employees can't wait to see what colors will be inside.

Some wives have been known to be hand Ziploc baggies to their husbands, filled to brim with our pens saying things like "Get these darn pens out of my house."

"I am part of the problem," Doug admits.  "I give them away to anyone I meet.  I leave them at restaurants, at Home Depot, at the movie theater, literally any time I sign a check or see a stash of pens, I leave one of ours.  I see it as guerrilla marketing.  Getting Scott Honda's name anywhere I can."

One employee is even getting a custom color combination done for his wedding at his wife's request, that's how popular they've become.

"I have pondered creating a Sconda Pen of the Month Club," Doug revealed to Sconda Blog.  "I have even thought about letting people win the ability to pick the colors."

Stay tuned to hear more about the potential for the Sconda Pen of the Month Club.

Sconda Snow Madness and it Ain't Spring Yet

Snow is beautiful...for skiers.  Snow is fun...for kids.  Snow is a money maker...for Plowers.  Snow is a nightmare...for car dealers.  Scott Honda is still digging out in some satellite lots, after back to back snow storms dumped nearly four feet of snow in a five day span.

You know how aggravating cleaning the snow and ice off your car is.  Now imagine doing that 600 times.  The organization, implementation and continued motivation of a snow crew is a task relished by few and perfected by no one...but we're getting better.

"I was really impressed by how many people chipped in to dig us out," said Jason Reitelbach, Internet Sales Manager.  "We had more people working harder and longer then we ever have before, which is fortunate because we have never dealt with blizzards like this before."

The severity of this storm forced the creation of a "Snow Task Force" comprised of 10 individuals from all areas of the dealership that arrived at 5 a.m. on Wednesday and Thursday morning to try to get the cleaning up of the dealership off on the right foot before all the employees arrived.

However despite their best efforts (this is called burying the lead) Scott Honda still had to close the doors due to weather for the first time in our 25 and a half year history.

"We really had no choice," Vice President Duke Scott said.  "With these storms being so huge and so close together we knew it would be too dangerous for employees to make it to work, much less customers."

The fun news is Sconda has discovered a weather savant in our midst with Gregg "Nor'easter" DiRocco. The "Nor'easter" has predicted two storms on the nose and is building quite a web following.  Stay tuned folks because it sounds like our weatherman will be busy again next week with some more white stuff headed this way.

Sconda Hoodies Across America - Utah

There's one more player and one less state in Sconda Hoodies Across America (SHAA).  Introducing Max "The Ice Man" Kelly, the newest contestant in the hooded cotton craze that's sweeping America.  Max grabbed Utah, the largest state to fall in SHAA.

While snowboarding in Park City, Utah at the appropriately named Park City Mountain Resort Max and his brother, Wade Kelly took a little time from doing their best Shaun White impersonations to take this snowy picture and some great video proof as well.

Max's brother and mother, Sue Kelly both work at Scott Honda, but with dedication like this we may have to find a nice corner office for Max in the near future.

Some fast facts about the 45th state in the union and more importantly the 10th state in Sconda Hoodies Across America; Utah is home to the largest salt water lake in the western hemisphere, the Great Salt Lake.  Up to 72% of the population belongs to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Utah had the fastest growing population in 2008 according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Nor'easter DiRocco Says 18"+ More Coming

The Sconda Weather Center has been buzzing all day with activity and Gregg "Nor'easter" DiRocco predicts another 18-24 inches will pound the already white landscape this evening and into tomorrow night.

"For Chester County the snow should start tonight around 6 p.m. and continue into Wednesday night," DiRocco says.  "The heaviest snow will fall tomorrow from 7 a.m. through the rest of the day when the secondary low takes over."

This snow will make the 2009-10 winter the snowiest in Philadelphia history. The current snow total is 56.3 inches, putting it only 8.2 inches away from the previous record of 65.5 inches set in 1995-96.

This winter's massive snow totals have created unprecedented situations for Scott Honda to manage.

"This is the first time I can ever remember closing the dealership due to snow," said Vice President Duke Scott. "But the safety of our employees and customers is paramount, so we'll clean our lot Wednesday and be back open for business Thursday."

Please remember to drive safe and don't leave your house unless you absolutely need to.

The #1 Dealership Weatherman on the Web

Sconda Blog is proud to welcome our brand new weatherman, the go-to guy for all things meteorological at Scott Honda, a man who digs deep into the weather models and doesn't just take Glenn "The Hurricane" Schwartz's word for it, introducing our very own Gregg "Nor'easter" DiRocco.

Using the in-depth analysis of arctic air masses, barometric pressure and the gut instincts you need to make it in this industry, DiRocco's predicting 18-24 inches to fall in the West Chester area. He believes the snow to begin around 5 p.m., with the heaviest amounts occurring from 10 p.m. through Saturday morning, with as much as 2 inches falling an hour.  The storm should finally wind itself down around 3 p.m. tomorrow.

The best news for all you kids out there is that this snow will be great for building a snowman or having a good old fashioned snowball fight.

"Unlike the big snow storm we got in December, this snow has a lot of moisture in it, making it wet and heavy, perfect for some snow-packing fun tomorrow.  However it will make the shoveling a bit harder on the back," DiRocco told Sconda Blog.

Since he began working at Scott Honda 2-years-ago, the newly anointed Sconda Weatherman has been a Mecca of weather information for the entire dealership, fielding question after question about the weather, but he never tires of it, he has loved the weather ever since he can remember.

"Meteorology has fascinated me since I was young," DiRocco recalls.  "As a little kid I would always get up in the middle of the night to see if it was snowing and usually I would catch that first snowflake coming down."

DiRocco also has a good friend who is a Meteorologist at the National Weather Service (NOAA) in Tulsa, Okla. where he was lucky enough to receive a tour of the weather center.  "I was like a kid in the candy shop," he said.  "Tornado sirens were going off, satellite screens were everywhere, it was an awesome experience!"

Sconda Blog hopes this is the first of many forecasts from our very own weatherman Gregg "Nor'easter" DiRocco.

Please remember to drive safe in this storm and avoid going out tonight at all if possible.

Liam Wins 2010's First Artist of the Month

Our first budding artist for 2010 is Liam, with his beautiful boat named "Rain Bow".  This boat really caught our eye for multiple reasons.  The first being the really neat vertical stripes on the sails and the horizontal stripes on the hull.  He managed to make four colors look like more with his consistent color patterns.

The other aspect we loved was the way he colored SCOTT by outlining the interior with read, yellow, then green and coloring the rest in with blue.  It just really stood out amongst the over 30 sailboats that were colored during the Holiday vacation when the dealership was filled with kids.

Way to go Liam and congratulations for being the Sconda Artist of the Month for January!

While you and your kids are in for sales or service, make sure they grab one of the free coloring books and crayon 4-packs at the receptionist desk or in the Scott Kids Spot.  It will help them pass the time and they could win the much sought after Sconda Artist of the Month Award.

Sconda Hoodies Across America - NY

The Empire State falls to our leader in Sconda Hoodies Across America, Ken Barker who came back from a four states to one deficit to take the lead over Zach "ZZ" Zimmerman.  Barker took the lead in style too, posing for numerous pictures at the famous Coney Island.

"I had never been to Coney Island before, but my Pilot's navigation system took me right to the boardwalk...love that thing!" Barker told Sconda Blog.  "I can see why Coney Island has such a special place in the hearts of New Yorkers.  It must be great growing up there or being able to take the subway to the beach."

Photo 1: Barker stands in the shadow of the famous "Wonder Wheel", which according to the highly paid research staff at Wikipiedia was built in 1918 and opened in 1920, this steel framed Ferris wheel has both stationary cars and rocking cars that slide along a track. It holds 144 riders, stands 150 feet tall, and weighs over 2,000 tons. At night the Wonder Wheel's steel frame is outlined and illuminated by neon tubes.

Photo 2: Our leader in SHAA stood beneath the "Eiffel Tower of Brooklyn" as it has been affectionately referred, but officially known as the Parachute Jump, was built in 1939 for the World's fair and moved to Coney Island in 1941.  Standing 262 feet tall and weighing 170 tons this ride stopped "pulling it's ripcord" in 1968 and in 1980 was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Photo 3: Working up an appiteit on his busy day of sight seeing, Baker parked outside Nathan's Famous for a hot dog.  According to their website "Nathan’s Famous was founded by a Polish immigrant, Nathan Handwerker, and his is truly an authentic 'only in America story.' He started his business in 1916 with a small hot dog stand in Coney Island, New York using a recipe developed by his wife, Ida.

Photo 4: For his final photo Barker stood beside the New York Aquarium, which is proud to hold the title of the America's Oldest Continually Operating Aquarium, now in it's 113th year.

We can only guess where Ken "Hoodie" Barker will end up next...but if you follow him on Twitter you may get some hints.