St. Pete company completes first of several planned acquisitions
St. Pete-based Tag Agency Professionals Inc., a company that manages tag and title work for vehicle dealers, is entering the acquisition space.
This week, TAP executives announced they acquired Orange Auto Tag Agency (OATA) and are in the process of absorbing the group’s clients and two offices in Orlando and Winter Park.
“The [OATA] CEO Andrew Bell is well respected by the tax collectors, county and state officials. He had a great reputation similar to ours – that’s why we started discussions,” TAP CEO Ron Moore told the St. Pete Catalyst. “In the next two years, we plan to do at least one more acquisition if not two. We are pursuing that as we speak.”
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Per the OATA acquisition, which closed in July, TAP’s 60-member team has now bumped up to 128. OATA will continue to operate under its brand name. Combined, the two companies complete over three million transactions a year.
TAP, founded in 2010 by Gary Connors, has relationships with vehicle dealers in four states – Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. Dealers work with TAP to handle the required paperwork for buyers to obtain titles and license plates for purchased vehicles. Dealers pay TAP a fee for each service.
“We take the title work out of the dealerships so they can focus their time on selling cars. We help them complete those deals and complicated paperwork,” Moore said.
TAP has relationships with over 900 dealers.
“We share an approach that makes the process simple and easy for auto and boat dealers. This level of efficiency has been the key to our success, and that’s why dealers come to us year after year for this service,” Bell said in a prepared statement.
While OATA offers tag and title work to the public at its two Central Florida offices, TAP typically practices a business-to-business model, with vehicle buyers corresponding with dealers throughout the process.
The group also works with subprime lenders, auto auction, and fleet and salvage companies, and does lien-release work for banks and financial institutions.
“Before the acquisition, we had service in 23 counties. The real catalyst for our business is we’ve broken it down into business segments led by subject matter experts,” Moore said. “We complete the work within 24 hours and deliver it to (clients) quickly. Many agencies take four or five days to do the work.”
Regarding TAP’s future plans of acquiring additional companies, Moore said TAP will evaluate the potential deals based on the prospective company’s business structure and service level.
