The following article is authored by, and reprinted with permission of, Kenneth Shilson, founder and president of the National Alliance of Buy Here, Pay Here Dealers. 

Franchise dealers enter 2012 with many of the same challenges they have faced for the last 24 months: a) excess facilities; b) needing more vehicle sales; c) declining credit scores of their customers; and d) tougher credit approvals from financing subprime sources. In response, many are looking at…

I was recently retained to "clean up" an automotive group's warranty departments at a few of their locations - they were dealing with aging claims, manufacturer reduction of claim submission deadlines, bottom right hand drawer syndrome - the normal stuff.

As the days went on, I continued to find an amazing amount of infractions to the established warranty policy and procedure guidelines for claims compliance.  I presented my finding to the head honchos and the respective general…

Is there an actual president out there that will help the Syrian People? Enough is enough for crying out loud.  It's a sad time in our history when you're scared of Russia and China.

We have a lobby set in the studio.  Over the years, we’ve had a number of service menu boards on the wall.  Our first menu boards were those with the strips that you slide into slots.  Once we did a shoot where we went online and designed our own menu board from a template, adding in services and pricing, and the company printed off our custom menu board and shipped it to…

If a product or service is priced low, does that mean it has less value?  We've all heard the saying, "Perception is Reality", and to many, a product or service which is priced high, is automatically assumed (we all know what assume really stands for) to have more value.  However after talking with a number of clients and dealers about their current and past vendor relationships, I've found in many cases, its just the opposite, and more times than not, over promising and under delivering is…

by Kathryn Carlson

"You Don't Sell Someone Else's Cars, Why Sell Someone Else's Warranties?"

  I have been in the car business for over 25 years. Going from dealership to dealership I have seen the good, the bad and the apathetic. There are car dealers who are on top of their game, always striving to improve.…

First and foremost, if you're not on top of your other marketing priorities, there's no need to even look at Pinterest at this point. Those priorities should be:

1. Websites
2. Search Marketing (SEO and PPC)
3. Classifieds (AutoTrader, Craigslist, Cars.com, etc)
4. Google Places and Reviews
5. Facebook
6. Other Reviews that Rank for your Name (Yelp, DealerRater, etc.)
7. YouTube
8. Twitter

If all of those are in order and…

While some dealerships are successful with their email marketing campaigns, it is a task that can easily fall to the back burner or be neglected.  When done correctly, email marketing is an effective way to stay in touch with existing customers, and build a relationship with potential car buyers. 

If your dealership has let your email marketing efforts go in…

What if you could spot engaged and ready-to-buy shoppers as they browse your dealership website in real-time?  How would that transform your Internet Business?

More and more auto dealers are …

The word Jade is a heteronym (a word with the same spelling, yet different meanings) that is used in one form or another in the arena of sales. When used as a noun, Jade is a beautiful, expensive gemstone. As a verb, Jade is worn out broken down worthless and dull. If the word Jade was used to describe your qualities as a sales professional, would you be described as…

Is your dealership blocking access to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social media sites?  If this is the case, are you frustrated with your Dealer Principal's decision to block access?

I recently came across a situation where a dealership group was divided on how…

VinAudit Introduces Vehicle History Reports with Real-Time Data for a Fraction of the Price of a CARFAX® Report & AutoCheck



The National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS) is administered by the U.S. Justice Department and, under federal law, all insurance companies, salvage and junkyards, salvage auctions and towing companies are required to report to NMVTIS. The System is intended to ensure key vehicle history information is available accessible,…

@NewVisionSales : I have been in the car business for 34 years. I have been a Dealer for 19 of those years. Glynn is the closest I have seen to matching the style and training philosophy that I prefer and that this business desperately needs. A real professional! Keep up the good work. #DD12

Sincerely,

Ron Hicks

City Select Motors Inc.

www.NewVisionSales.com

NVS…

Finding, Connecting and Building Win-Win Relationships

Networking is the cultivating of positive, give-take relationships between two or more people that are beneficial to one another. In the past you had to set aside specific time with which you could network with a group of people,…

  Every day in Buy Here Pay Here, New and Pre-owned operations there are universal problems which all dealer’s face.  Mainly vehicles breakdown and customers don't have the money for repairs. Which equals upset customers and repossessed vehicles. So, you better have a plan. The options which I see most dealers choose include:

Buying a third party warranty or service contract to sell the customer? This has its own problems. Laying out that upfront cash, for a BHPH dealer, can…

An interesting report from comScore and I think some premonitions for retail automotive.

1. Could FREE shipping break open real eCommerce for automotive? I think it is certainly a big hurdle right now logistically and monetarily. Taking away the monetary factor may go a long way toward opening this up. Of course there are still some logistics involved and there is the tactile factor. The need to touch and feel the vehicle is diminishing slowly and…