The weather’s heating up, summer’s coming and so is road trip season.  It’s that time of year, when teens and adults alike pack up and head where ever the road takes them. 

This is the perfect opportunity to up the ante on your service specials and SUV/Crossover deals.  In my experience, there are three things that have the power to doom a road trip.  

1.  No Leg Room.  Nothing’s worse than being packed into a tiny car for 19 hours dreaming of sunshine and wide open spaces.  SUVs and Crossovers provide the perfect get away vehicle, cargo room so Jimmy’s duffle doesn’t end up in your lap and enough leg room for a basketball MVP and heck, maybe even a DVD player.
2. Car Trouble.  Pulling over for gas in Bowling Green at 4 am and finding your brakes are out is no way to get to Panama City.  (Trust me, its happened).  Save travelers a trip to the Bates Motel and offer full service clinics before they go.  Add a healthy mix of service specials to your website and I think you’ll be impressed with the feed back.  After all, some drivers only get their cars worked on before long trips.
3. Bad Directions.  So, you’re not Magellan and your co-pilot thinks the map should be rotated so you’re always driving North.  Before you know it, you’re in Detroit when you were heading for North Carolina.  It happens but unless you’re on survivor, everyone’s in it together.  If you have  vehicles in your inventory with navigation installed, highlight them.  Twice.  Are nav systems something your parts department can install?  Even better.  They’re a great feature and an easy sell, especially for people that love the open road.

There are more than enough road trip woes out there, but these are some of the few you can remedy right at the dealership.  Get your specials up, vehicles priced to sell and the locals ready for adventure.

In newspaper’s glory days it was hard to find the funnies under all the auto ads.  Today, the paper at the curb is feather light and autos has dwindled significantly. Where are the cars?

Online Specials pick up where your print ads leave off. Since nearly everyone that spent their Sundays scouring the autos section has moved to online shopping, keeping your Internet specials current is essential. I say current because putting them up just isn’t enough.

The Internet holds a great advantage over print advertising – it’s instant.  You can replace specials as soon as a car sells or add and take away at will, no deadlines apply.  Regularly updating your online specials keeps frequent visitors interested and new visitors likely to return. Why? Because honestly, no one likes reading the same page in a book over and over again and stale specials have the same effect.  With a competitor’s inventory a few clicks away its important not to let the Internet’s advantage over print become its downfall.

If you’re a Dealer HD customer and you need a quick tutorial on Inventory or other specials, please contact us.  We’re more than happy to help!