As auto sales start to rebound across the country, auto retailers may be tempted to slowly ramp up their marketing investment until customers return in larger numbers. Our research into the state of recovery in the auto industry during the COVID-19 crisis identified some specific challenges with the wait-and-see approach that may stifle a fast recovery. Affinitiv evaluated the sales trends across 1,800 auto retailers in the US to understand the current level of recovery and to help retailers…

Service retention rates in dealerships have been steadily declining over the last three years, according to Affinitiv’s recent Automotive Loyalty Trends study, which analyzed data from more than 1,000 auto dealerships.

In domestic brand dealerships, service retention rates have dropped from 61.2% to 60.2%. At import brand dealerships,…

Repeat buyers account for an increasing share of new vehicle sales and now represent 31% of all new vehicles purchased at a dealership, compared to 29% a few years ago. This trend is good news for dealers due to the lower cost of retaining vs. acquiring customers.

Unfortunately, this trend is expected to decline due to a lack of improvement in…

Cash buyers are an important but often overlooked segment of customers who pose a significant risk to auto dealers and manufacturers if left unmanaged. In the first half of 2019, customers who purchased vehicles with cash accounted for 24% of all new vehicle sales. For some luxury brands, cash buyers are even more important since they can represent close to…