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Automotive PPC Attributes

Automotive PPC Attributes: Targeted, Trackable and Effective

Automotive PPC attributes are numerous. PPC, of course, stands for Pay-Per-Click … and it’s a very important part of many flourishing automotive dealers’ overall marketing strategies. Today’s blog will take a closer look at why PPC is so effective – and very inexpensive, too. Appearing at the top of the search engine pages (Google, Yahoo, […]

Stolen Corvette

Stolen Corvette Recovered More than Three Decades Later

A stolen Corvette? Yikes! To many Chevrolet Corvette owners, possessing the iconic car is like obtaining a piece of history. That’s how George Talley of Detroit felt some 33 years ago. A self-professed Corvette aficionado and former General Motors employee, he proudly drove his 1979 Corvette and couldn’t have been happier. Then one day in […]

Clifford Alderson

Need a Mechanic? Call Clifford Alderson.

Clifford Alderson is a recent auto mechanic school graduate who is looking for a full-time job. That by itself doesn’t seem to be blog-worthy – and you’re probably right. But there’s something special about this 48-year-old recent graduate. You see, Clifford Alderson is blind. Alderson was born with retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic ocular disease caused […]

Unfixed Recalls

Vehicles with Unfixed Recalls Account for a Third of all Cars

Unfixed recalls are a big issue, but because they are mostly unseen most people don’t think about them. They should! As you travel down the highway, about one in every three cars you encounter has unfixed recalls on it, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) data. To support their findings, Carfax research shows […]

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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.

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