Jim Ziegler Helping Edmunds Get Their Message Out There

AS A DECENT HUMAN BEING AND A PROFESSIONAL IN THE AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY, I THOUGHT I WOULD TAKE A MOMENT TO EXPRESS MY PERSONAL OPINIONS OF EDMUNDS.COM AND THE THINGS THEY CHOOSE TO PUBLISH ABOUT OUR INDUSTRY.

For Many Years Now Our Friends at Edmunds.com have gone out of their way to publish a series of articles on their consumer website to inform Consumers that Car Dealerships are Scum of the Earth Crooks and that We Are Criminals. At Least, That's How I Perceive it From What They've Published About Us. What Do You Think? I Might Be Wrong?

Personally, I Think These Articles are Fabrication and Exaggeration furthering Stereotypes and Designed to Make Consumers Distrust Car Dealers.

Personally, I don't know a Car Dealership that "Bugs" the offices like Edmunds Editor claims we do, and nobody deliberately abuses consumers the way they describe in such inflammatory exaggerated adjectives.

Their website contains numerous articles that are allegedly confessions of a Car Salesman.... Confessions of an F&I Manager.... Confessions of a ( Sleazy) Service Department... and So On.

All of these Articles Supposedly Reveal How Car Dealers Cheat Consumers and Commit Fraud. You Can find These Great Edmunds Articles Which They Continually Maximize for Top Placement in the Search Engines to be Sure the Consumers Read These Slurs About Us... About You ... and About Car People in General. They Are Positioned to be Sure They Are read During the Shopping Process. .... Here's the Link http://www.edmunds.com/confessions.html

.... Check it Out and Be Sure To Let Edmunds Know How Much We Appreciate Them Helping Our Reputation and Selling Their Services With Fear Tactics at Our expense.

Be Sure to Watch the Video Below Too....

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Comment by Mark Handlon on January 25, 2017 at 1:46pm: Hello Jim,

       My fault for not looking at the date on the post. However, my response may apply to anyone who may consider bashing the automotive sales "profession". I am not saying that every dealer is "above board" but the business has made leaps and bounds in striving to serve the customer in a much more professional manner than in years past!

       If you are ever in the Lehigh Valley again I would welcome the opportunity to buy you dinner!

       Thanks for your articles and your candid portrayal in your presentation of these articles.

Comment by James A. Ziegler on January 25, 2017 at 12:12pm: Mark This is an old BLOG of Mine. I have since changed my opinions of Edmunds considerably. I have met with them several times, and, as a result many things changed and I hold them in a much improved light. I actually recommend them these days. JIM

Comment by Mark Handlon on January 25, 2017 at 11:19am: Good morning Jim,

     Obviously this man may have been exposed to some "practices" that may have been used in the past and by this particular dealership. Could it be that this particular dealership had such bad online review that it was his first choice to investigate it and then generalize his findings to make the general public want to distrust any dealership? Does he realize that without the automotive industry he wouldn't have a job?

     Perhaps he should have done more than three months of research at several dealerships to compile his information. Maybe he would have found out that there are numerous dealerships that put their "best foot forward" to educate the customer and make them feel comfortable with not only the product but also the company they are dealing with and most importantly the final deal.

     Presenting a customer with a lease option rather than buying option is an alternative option for the consumer to consider that may make the vehicle affordable for that consumer's budget. If you didn't offer alternatives to your customer for them to choose from then you wouldn't be doing your job.

     The internet provides consumers with so much information that any customer who has taken the time to research the product and the approximate trade-in value of their vehicle (trades need to be seen for accurate appraisals) should have a good idea if they are being "taken advantage of" when they are presented numbers on the deal. Not many dealerships can take a chance of upsetting a customer with irrational offers on their trade and having them walk out the door. Most dealerships will ultimately do whatever it takes within reason to put a deal together. If the customer isn't comfortable they can always shop the deal at another dealership to see if they can make a better deal.

     One final note. It is the salesperson's job to do everything possible to insure that the dealership remains profitable! If there is no profit there is no paycheck.

Comment by James A. Ziegler on July 31, 2015 at 5:14pm: NEWSFLASH
*****************
recently released photos indicate that Hollywood Actor, James Earl Jones, may have had a hand in the Death of Cecil the Lion.... So far investigators have turned up no tracable link or collaboration between The Actor and Edmunds.com .... The investigation is ongoing...

Comment by James A. Ziegler on July 31, 2015 at 12:37pm: EDMUNDS.COM IS INNOCENT THIS TIME

Investigators released a full report today Clearing the Executives atEdmunds.com of any guilt or suspicion in the killing of Cecil the Lion.
According to Atlanta, Geogia -Based Automotive Consultant, James A. Ziegler, the excutives at Edmunds had been under investigation by him as "Persons of Interest" in the under-handed dastardly dishonorable slaying of the beloved Lion in Zimbabwe, Africa. Even though Edmunds has been cleared in the cowardly killing of this iconic majestic creature, Ziegler vows to keep on eye on them. ‪#‎AlphaDawg‬

Comment by James A. Ziegler on July 30, 2015 at 3:17pm: RETRACTION AND CLARIFICATION
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I never said that Edmunds Executives killed Cecil the Lion.... (the jury is still out on that one)

Comment by James A. Ziegler on July 30, 2015 at 2:47pm: THE OTHER SHOE JUST DROPPED

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Since I sent out a few emails to friends and clients in the Car Business and posted a Couple Blogs Here and There on Automotive Blogsites about perceived abuses and Bashing Car Dealers that Edmunds.com does regularly in their website articles; all of a sudden, my dealer friends are starting to hear rebuttals from Edmunds.

Here’s the gist of what Edmunds is telling the dealers…

a)     All of the articles and videos slamming car dealers and our employees and managers are 5 years old as much as nine years old and I had to “Dig Deep” to find them.

Okay, here’s my Ziegler reply to that…

a)     If these articles are so old and irrelevant, then why does Edmunds feel they have to have them so prominently displayed and featured on their websites?

b)     Nobody has to “Dig for These Articles” they make sure you see them and they make sure your customers see them. Just put the words “Car” and “Salesman” (Car Salesman) into Google and ‘BAM’ the first or second organic result is Edmunds ‘Confessions of a Car Salesman’ article slamming us and our reputation.

c)     Just put the words “Car” “Finance” and “Manager” into Google (Car Finance Manager) and ‘BAM’ you get Edmunds number one organic result Confessions of an Auto Finance Manager. They have many articles “Confessions” of just about every manager and employee of your dealership prominently displayed and search engine maximized.

The Edmunds Spokes Mannequins went on to say they don’t choose sides they just want to make it easier for everybody. They are such good people despite their loose grasp on the truth. (I said that they didn’t. Just my personal opinion and perception based on the fact I was raised in a Christian household and was a Boy Scout) AND, in the true Bill Clinton interpretation of the various Edmunds responses, “I Did Not Have Sex With That Woman Miss Lewinsky” … oops…. Scratch that… that was another case unrelated to what we’re talking about here, something about Edmunds self-righteous retorts just made me think of that.

Comment by James A. Ziegler on July 30, 2015 at 11:38am: Thanks Father O Brian.... I still believe the Dealers are waking up and taking a look at who their friends are... and most importantly WHO their enemies are.

Comment by DealerELITE on July 30, 2015 at 10:55am: Jim thank you for sharing your thoughts

Comment by Brian Bennington on July 30, 2015 at 8:41am: Father (O) Brian here my son. "Tis not good, me boy, to carry that kind of hate in your heart." Seriously Alpha, there's so much money involved, I can't see them "repenting their ways" or changing anything in their message. And, thinking about it, one of the quickest and most proven strategies to making a sale is to convince your customer your competitors will take advantage of them at every opportunity and you're the only one "who they can trust." Hell, Alpha, of course their message, no matter how they couch it, is one of distrust. If they can continue to execute on it, and Edmunds (and TrueCar) are pretty proficient doing it, they're probably here to stay.

It's just the old "back the hearse up, open the doors, and let 'em smell the flowers" close. If this is the new paradigm in vehicle sales of third-party middlemen "working the business," so be it. Personally, I think dealers' efforts would be more profitable, not in advocating against them, but on developing a "business model" that circumvents them. I'm sure you know a lot of successful dealers who are minimally involved with third parties, and emulating those dealers would be a step in the right direction. I'm just comfortable knowing someone of your experience, expertise and, dare I say fame, is "on guard" alerting us to the "usurpers."