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AUTOMOTIVE ADVERTISING & MARKETING

December Advertising

Don’t Reduce Your December Advertising

You owe it to yourself to continue your December advertising. While it’s true that, during November, car shoppers took full advantage of some great deals (especially around Black Friday), there’s no reason to stop advertising and just assume you’re going to have a mediocre December. The fact is, there are still plenty of people looking […]

Black Friday

Did Your Dealership Have a Great Black Friday?

How did your dealership’s Black Friday go? Did you sell lots of new and pre-owned cars … or was it more like just another day at the office? Until about five years ago, most car dealers didn’t do anything special for Black Friday; instead, they just sat idly by and watched their retail counterparts have […]

You Need Reasons

You Need Reasons to Justify How You Advertise

You need reasons why you are advertising the way you are. We’re talking about substantial reasons; not something like, “The other guys in my 20 group are doing it this way,” or, “This is how the guy down the street is doing it.” That simply isn’t good enough. When you do your automotive advertising each […]

Top Pandora Agency

JKR Advertising is Top Pandora Agency for Local Auto Dealers

JKR Automotive Advertising has become the top Pandora agency in advertising volume for local automotive dealerships across the country. The combination of specifically targeted advertising and rising popularity of Pandora-dominated digital radio make it an exceptionally effective advertising tool for JKR’s clients who buy Pandora. “Because we have every listener’s demographic information, we can offer […]

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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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