News

AUTOMOTIVE ADVERTISING & MARKETING

Automotive Newsletter Marketing

Automotive Newsletter Marketing: Research Shows it Still Works

What’s old is new again … automotive newsletter marketing is gaining momentum as an effective part of any automotive marketing strategy. Despite all the amazing technological breakthroughs of today, there is still a place for direct mail such as automotive newsletters. Recent research backs up this claim. Newsletters Evoke Emotion A study by Millward Brown […]

Automotive PPC Advertising

Automotive PPC Advertising Helps Dealerships Sell Cars

Customers are searching online for cars; quite often the exact vehicles your dealership has in stock. So it only makes sense for automotive dealers to advertise on the popular search engines. Automotive PPC Advertising lets you do just that on search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing. PPC (Pay-Per-Click) ads are the ones you […]

Used Car Marketing

Used Car Marketing Catapults Franchise Dealers Ahead of Pre-Owned Lots

The used car marketing sales numbers were getting closer for a few years, and finally in 2011 a shift took place. Franchise dealers actually outsold their used-car counterparts with just over 13.8 deliveries, while independent used car lots sold just under 13.8. Since then, the numbers have continued trending in favor of the franchise dealers. In […]

Turner Kia Signs with JKR Advertising & Marketing

JKR Advertising is pleased to welcome Turner Kia of Harrisburg, PA to its family of automotive dealership clients. Turner Kia is part of the Turner Automotive Group, which also features a Buick-GMC store in New Holland, PA. The Turner family has owned dealerships in the Central Pennsylvania area for more than 40 years. Kia advertising […]

«‹ 122 123 124 125 ›»

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