Education, experience fuel Auto Outlet’s success

It’s been just a year since Paul Cervantes’ Albuquerque Auto Outlet moved to its location on Wyoming NE just north of I-25.

“We had the opportunity to expand, get a bigger facility with more cars and a better facility overall,” Cervantes said. “We’re closer to car row.”

	Albuquerque Auto Outlet What you didn’t know The dealership: Cervantes is an Albuquerque native. Favorite car: He appreciates all well-maintained vehicles but he has the most experience with Nissan and Toyota. Upcoming promotions: Plans are in the works to soon celebrate a grand opening, which has been put off thus far because of work being done to upgrade the facility.

The dealership used to be located on Eubank and Snowheights NE for 13 years, but it finally outgrew the location.

“So far it’s been good,” Cervantes said. “We’ve been happy.”

The new location not only provides a bigger lot, but it also has four auto bays, allowing the dealership to offer more on-site services, he said.

“We always offered services, but at different locations,” Cervantes said. “We had to contract that out and now we can do most of it right here.”

With such a prominent location, there’s also the benefit of greater visibility, he said.

Cervantes knows the value of location as he cut his teeth in the business with large new-car locations, including Toyota and Nissan dealerships. He started out at the bottom of the business before working his way up to upper management.

He went through their various training programs and was one of the first in the area to earn the designation of certified master dealer through Northwood University.

“So I had the education and the experience,” Cervantes said.

When an opportunity opened up to own his own lot in the used-car arena, he said he decided to take the chance.

“It seemed like it was a good thing for me to try it on my own,” Cervantes said. And the business has grown steadily and weathered the hard economy through a devotion to the customer.

Albuquerque Auto Outlet has been recognized as a Quality Dealer of the Year and Cervantes said he puts morals and values above sales. “It’s nice to know that we’ve been able to keep the same principles that we had and used years ago when we started,” he said.