Buying an auto, RV or boat dealership in South Florida

• Service and parts income that covers much of the fixed costs, so a slow sales month doesn't sink the store.
• Inventory that sells steadily, with few units past the lender's paydown deadlines.
• Finance and service managers who would stay.
• For franchised stores: a manufacturer happy with sales and the facility, with no pending demands for costly renovations.
• For independent lots: buying skill that doesn't live only in the owner's head.
• Clean paperwork: titles handled promptly, deals funded quickly, few customer complaints.
• For RVs and boats: service, storage and parts customers who keep coming back between purchases.
• A visible location on a busy road, with room to show inventory and service bays that stay booked.

Get the floor plan statements and a report of how long each unit has been in stock. Units that have sat for months often carry losses the books don't show yet. The price usually splits into goodwill (the franchise and the name) plus inventory, parts and equipment at cost, so agree how inventory will be counted and valued on closing day.

Read a sample of deal files: titles, odometer statements, how quickly lenders funded, and chargebacks (finance and service contract commissions taken back when a loan pays off early or a contract is canceled). Check the dealer's history with FLHSMV and the Office of Financial Regulation.

For franchised stores, read the franchise agreement and the manufacturer's recent performance and facility reports, and talk to the manufacturer early. For RV and boat dealers, look at the seasonal cash swings and whether manufacturers help with floor plan interest. And ask how inventory is insured and moved before a storm: a full lot is a lot to lose.

• How much of your gross profit comes from service, parts and finance rather than selling vehicles?
• How old is the oldest unit on the lot, and what's it costing you each month?
• Who are your floor plan lenders, and would they finance a new owner on similar terms?
• Has the manufacturer asked you to upgrade the building, or raised concerns about sales?
• Who buys your used vehicles, and how do they go about it?
• What do you do with the inventory when a hurricane is coming?
• Have you had any customer complaints or title problems in the past few years?

South Florida covers Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties: Miami, Hialeah, Doral, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Pompano Beach, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Jupiter, and the Florida Keys down to Key West. It's the state's largest metro area and its most international. PortMiami, Port Everglades and Miami International Airport tie the region to Latin America and the Caribbean, which supports a deep base of wholesalers, freight forwarders and logistics firms, many of them near the airport. Tourism and cruises, finance and wealth management, health care, real estate and construction carry much of the rest. Palm Beach County adds wealthy seasonal residents and, out west near Lake Okeechobee, sugarcane and vegetable farms. In the Keys, nearly everything turns on visitors, fishing and boating.

Companies that serve homes, condo buildings and other businesses do well here: the building trades, property services, insurance agencies, medical and dental practices, and professional firms.

Costs run high: commercial rent, wages and, above all, property and windstorm insurance. Price the insurance before you make an offer, not after. Miami-Dade and Broward make up the Florida Building Code's High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, with stricter rules for roofs, windows and structures. That raises building costs, and it also gives steady work to the contractors who know those rules well.

Much of the workforce and many customers speak Spanish as well as English, and a company that works well in both languages has an edge. The winter season matters more in Palm Beach County and the Keys than in Miami. In the Keys, the cost of housing makes hiring and keeping staff one of the hardest parts of running a company. Ask any seller there how they find workers and where those workers live.