I recently helped a friend celebrate his retirement by choosing which new car to purchase for his next chapter in life. As it turns out, his purchase mirrors a national trend that shows ‘baby boomers’ are purchasing more new cars than younger buyers. According to a study by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Instituteand reported by Automotive News, the largest chunk of new car buyers by age in 2011 was that between 55 and 64 years-old. This means that auto dealers must not only include cutting-edge technology services like CarChat24 in their strategy, but find other methods to connect with these older buyers, as well.

While some analysts point to the economy as a reason for this difference and others note that younger buyers have fewer licenses and are actually driving less, the cause doesn’t really matter. What matters is finding a way to effectively target this valuable segment, especially since Pew Research Center indicates people age 50 to 64 are at least 14 percent less likely to use the internet and 24 percent less likely to use social media than younger buyers.

Just because there are fewer Boomers using the web and social media, don’t ignore these valuable tools, because these same studies indicate that 60 percent of users 50-64 are on social networking sites and 77 percent of them are online. And, as you can see from the Toyota video ad above, manufacturers recognize the buying power this market segment still represents and is working to attract these buyers.

Tom LaPointe CarChat24 Marketing Consultant

www.carchat24.com/ 24/7 Interactive Automotive Dealer Website LIVE CHAT Solutions Managed Chat, Backup Chat Support, and chat software options 727-638-0195

A U.S. Marine Corps veteran, Tom has an MBA in Marketing and is an automotive writer and author with nearly 20 years experience in virtually every aspect of the retail auto industry. He has been involved with the internet from the beginning, building websites at Johns Hopkins University in the 90's, and has been a performance leader in nearly every dealer role, from sales and service, to BDC / internet sales and viral marketing.