AUTOMOTIVE ADVERTISING & MARKETING

Have We Reached Peak Car?

Have We Reached Peak Car?

JKRAdvertising / Automotive Advertising, Automotive Advertising Advice, Automotive Marketing /

July 24, 2019

If you’ve read any automotive trade journals or financial magazines over the last ten years, you’ve seen dozens of sky-is-falling articles proclaiming that the world has reached “peak car,” and lamenting that we’ve seen as many cars on the road as we’ll ever see again.

The only problem? We haven’t reached peak car sales.

In 2011, we were told 2006 was peak. In 2015, they said we’d reached peak in 2011. And in 2019 – you guessed it – they swore we reached peak car status in 2015.

Why all the doom and gloom? It is true that demographics are changing. Millennials are cash-strapped, and older Boomers are hanging up their car keys. But the key cohort – Gen X – still wants to own a car, preferably a new one.

So what are you supposed do with all this competing information? Exactly what you’ve been doing: researching the trends, pricing competitively, and offering great customer service.

Of course, you market your dealership like there’s no tomorrow. Set yourself apart from all the others in your APR. Your brand (your dealership and your make) has to stay top of mind so your customers choose you when the time is right.

Let JKR Advertising show you how. We’re unique among agencies because we work with only car dealers. We’ve got more experience than anyone in the business. Most importantly, we’ve got proven results!

Want to know more? Call Jennifer Bullock today at (337) 781-6740 or e-mail her at jenniferb@jkrads.com.

JKR Automotive Advertising: The car dealer ad agency.

Press Categories

Recent Posts

Post-Pandemic Dealer Gross Profits are Down – But They Don’t Have to Stay There!
March 13, 2024
It is no secret that dealer gross profits per vehicle are down sharply in the post-COVID automotive world. According to a recent article in Automotive News, gross profits of the six largest publicly traded dealership groups plunged significantly from Q4 2022 to Q4 2023. One of them was actually down 35% per vehicle!

The article explains: High interest rates, more expensive vehicles and a steadier post-pandemic supply chain continue to soften demand and bring it closer to pre-pandemic levels. Still, new-car buying has remained strong overall …

This means that, while sales volume is similar, overall bottom lines are lower for many dealers due to the reduced gross profits. What about your dealership?

Being Realistic
It’s time to turn the page! The time for dealers to simply be order takers for people willing to pay MSRP for a vehicle (and in some cases more) has passed and dealers have to work hard once again to achieve acceptable gross profits.

Selling a high volume of cars doesn’t control gross profits, no matter how much you wish this was the case. Correct processes and menu pricing – and strict adherence to them – do!

What kind of processes?
∙ Slow down the transaction! Your sales staff has to once again sell the customer on the features and benefits of every new and pre-owned vehicle on your lot.

∙ Your salespeople and managers should devalue the customers’ trade-in value (politely, of course) as much as possible. After all, if the customer expects you to lower your price, shouldn’t you be able to do the same on their trade? Remember, you’ll have to fix it up, put your name on it and resell it to someone else with all the tenacity you would a brand-new car. So make sure you buy it right … because the profit is made when you buy it, not when you sell it!

∙ To that end, management should be ready and willing to leave the desk and do thorough walk-arounds on each trade to ensure the best outcome for the dealership.

The Cure for Low Gross Profits
If you are like a lot of dealers these days, you could use some good news. Here it is: while you may not have the capability to achieve profit margins similar to those you enjoyed during the pandemic, they could likely be improved. JKR’s clients enjoy the benefit of attracting not only more customers, but better ones, too!

If meeting and exceeding your sales goals (and increasing gross profits at the same time) sounds great to you, you need to call us. Don’t settle for reduced gross profits when help is out there to get you closer to where you’d like to be.

Want to know how we do it? Reach out to Senior Partner Richard Brauns (407) 701-4233 or Partner/Vice President Jon Albert (407) 718-2494 today.

JKR Automotive Advertising: We Move Cars.

Read more