Kitchener used car dealership named best in the country

CTV’s Heather Senoran finds out what the driving force is behind a Kitchener car dealership’s success.

Raj Nakra, an immigrant from India, came to Canada with a big dream to own his own business and now he’s receiving nationwide praise for it.

Nakra’s business, Most Wanted Cars, has been named Canada’s top used car dealership for the third year in a row and Ontario’s top used car dealership for five consecutive years.

Most Wanted Cars has also won Auto Trader’s Best Priced Dealer Award.

The dealership started in Kitchener as Most Wanted Cars by Theo Motors, and they opened a new Guelph location a few months ago.

Nakra said customers always come first.

“We treat them like family,” he said.

Nakra’s three sons and wife also work at the dealership.

“I wasn’t going home to watch Arthur or Rugrats. After school, I was coming here and I was detailing cars and cleaning bird poop off vehicles,” said Amit Nakra, the eldest son and general sales manager.

Dealer Rater said Raj’s team is on top for a reason.

“It’s clear that he and his team are engaged, not just providing a great customer experience, but also making sure the customers share their feedback on our platform, which is really important,” said Dealer Rater’s general manager Jamie Oldershaw.

Amit said referrals are a big part of their success. Last year, referrals made up about 66 per cent of their sales.

“More happy customers means more repeat customers, more referrals. And that’s how I think that we’re winning in this industry,” Amit said.

Auto Trader said choosing who has the best prices at a dealership takes a lot of background work on their part.

“We look at dealerships inventory in the year and then look at the percentage of inventory that’s priced as good or great. And the higher the percentage the higher the chances that you’d be on the top dealerships list,” said Baris Akyurek, vice president of insights and intelligence at Auto Trader.

As for Raj, he admitted that he’s ready for his sons to take the wheel after being in the business for more than three decades.

“My kids are very smart kids and they do an amazing job. So basically they are running the show, and I am sitting in the back seat, enjoying,” he said.

Amit said the sons will continue to make their goal excelling in the industry and staying as competitive as possible.

“Most Wanted’s goal is always to be the first phone call, the first walk in, the first test drive,” Amit said.

Most Wanted Cars is holding a grand opening celebration at their new Guelph location on Oct. 5.