How To Sell Cars Online or Offline (PART 13)

How To Sell Cars Online or Offline (PART 13)

TRANSCRIPT: “But Steve, I don’t want to give someone all that information so they can shop me everywhere.” Let me give you a hint. Consumers already have all the information. They do. To buy a car, consumers need three things. They need to find value, relevancy and authenticity. They already find the first two with or without you. Value, is it a good price? Is this a good price to value. Relevancy, is this vehicle relevant to my needs? Is this dealership relevant to my needs. They’re going to find the first two with or without you. You’ve got to provide them authenticity.

“But Steve, my grosses are already bad. I can’t afford to give up more gross.” You’re not. According to a recent Car Biz Today article, in an analysis of 75 dealers who are doing online buy, the average gross profit increase was $2,000 for the vehicle sold online. Yeah. People are paying more both on the front and back. Dealers enjoy both higher selling prices and more F & I products added on. The article also said that dealers consistently see 25% higher F & I profits with online sales.

“Higher F & I grosses? Steve, what?” Yes. This makes sense when you consider that customers nearly always buy more F & I products when they’re given time to fully review the offerings. “Okay, yeah but what about higher selling prices?” Yeah. Yeah, because no one is vomiting a lower price on them. Believe it or not, we’re our own worst enemy. When you’re a one-price store, an our-price store, and the customer starts to hedge just a little bit, says they’re not ready to buy today or it’s between your Accord and the other guy’s Camry. First thing your team does is throw a lower price at them. When they do the deal online, they take your price as long as it’s market price and you’re selling your vehicles at market or below right now.

But let’s be clear. The clunky shopping carts and a non-working buy-it-now button, these are not the answer. This is about selling cars, not checking a box telling your OEM, “Yup, we got an online buying. Look, we got a buy-it-now button.” By the way, this requires zero development. That’s the best part about it. This requires zero development on your side. There are great partners out there who already providing great online buying experiences for your customers. You just have to add them to your website but the partners must work in all channels. If you’re going to choose a partner for this, they’ve got to work online, of course, but they have to work offline as well and everything in between because not everybody who starts their deal online is going to finish it online. When they get to the dealership, it has to be seamless. It has to be the same deal at the exact same spot.