In 2018, my dad is even talking about leasing a car. This is the same guy that is adamantly opposed to renting a house, and until lately would have never considered a lease. My dad always said you should never throw your money at something every month that you won’t eventually own.

But even Dad is raising his eyebrows at the opportunity to bring home a really nice vehicle at a fixed cost and turn it right back in when (Mom) is ready for a new one.  You won’t believe this, but my dad isn’t the only one that is on to something. Turns out basically all of America got the same direct mailer because leasing is on the up and up, and still upping.If you’re not fully versed in the ease, joy, and beauty of accessorizing a leased vehicle, then get ready to be dazzled, my friend. Presenting personalization can’t be any easier than to your lease guy (or gal). *

Protection is king | Every lease customer knows the importance of bringing the lease back in excellent condition--except life happens. It’s incredibly easy to get a lease customer to see the value in personalizing their new ride with protection items like body side molding, all weather mats, and clear-film. Roll the accessory purchase conveniently into F&I and save your customer three-ish long years of night terrors about silver dollar size dings and ketchup stains on the interior.  Ketchup is for life.

Technology takes no breaks | Which is a little disturbing #tbh but can be used as an advantage for the government, star-crossed lovers, and car sales people. Present your lease customer with the latest in technology accessories for their car today, with the added benefit of upgrading that technology to whatever is the latest, greatest, 10.0 version when they return their lease and pick up a new one. When you lease, you’ve always got the option of having the latest technology with the convenience of affordable monthly payments. Winning.

                                                                  See the last tip at our blog

The team at Insignia lives for selling accessories - it's in our veins. From our VPEs sharing their years of experience, to our best practices giving dealers the latest industry tips, to our blog showcasing successful dealerships, we are the leaders in Vehicle Personalization. 

And our very own David Stringer has a little bit of an embarrassing secret...

Thanks to our friends at Eastman Performance Films for being good sports and helping us personalize David’s car. See the process of adding window film and learn a bit about the film installation industry from the pros.

“In the next ten years, 40% of all new vehicles will be sold to millennials, and they’ll be buying cars for the rest of the 21st century” [AutoTrader]

In 2013, AutoTrader conducted an extensive study of the millennials buying motives and power. Fast-forward to present day and we clearly see these findings unfolding as automotive dealerships perform back flips to keep up with consumer demands. There are enough articles about the habits of millennials and the iGeneration to fill a small galaxy. With so much information to sift through, how can a dealership stay up-to-date on the latest trends, technology, and marketing, and still sell cars?

Incorporate the below proven practices and you’ll see your front end gross increase, CSI scores climb, turnover rate reduce, and your General Manager doing yoga in the showroom because it’s a good day to be in the car business.

Personalize. Literally. Everything | Your current market of car buyers values individualism unlike any generation before. Coke sales increased for the first time in a decade simply by putting names on their bottles. Personalize the shopping experience before it even begins by actively connecting with your audience on social media. Once your customer is in the store, begin the conversation about accessory options to make the vehicle stand out on the road and provide an outlet of personal expression for the owner. While your customer is waiting to go into F&I, let them personalize their own vehicle using a sleek digital interface and the option for low monthly payments.

Create the right environment | Millennials want things to happen fast. With high speed internet at their fingertips, information is readily available and convenience has become the standard. While dealers should always strive for prompt, professional service, it’s unrealistic to compress car buying into a half hour exchange. Transform the unavoidable periods of waiting into entertainment with comfortable seating, refreshments, and digital personalization experience. A quick and engaging experience will keep your millennial customers satisfied.

Go mobile | There’s absolutely no getting around this if you’re going to stay competitive. Selling to the millennial and iGeneration makes offering personalization at the point of sale non-negotiable, and you’ve got to be able to do it from the parking lot, showroom, service drive, or anywhere in the house. Imagine the impact of showing your twenty-something consumer what a vehicle in question would look like with window tint and roof racks while standing next to it on the lot. Millennials have gone mobile and dealerships have to too.

Millennials aren’t going anywhere and neither is the need for dealerships to get ahead of industry trend. Each of these proven best practice tips derive from the multi-billion dollar vehicle personalization industry that we expect to grow exponentially to meet demands of today’s buyer. Which of these tips will you put into practice today?

Want more tips? Check out our Best Practices here. 

At Minnesota’s Rudy Luther family of dealerships you’ll find a family...really an actual family. Peppered across Luther’s two Toyota stores and a Chrysler store are stepfather, mother, and two sisters - all working in different facets with a common allegiance to the Luther brand.

That’s right--Luther Automotive presently employs the entire Cline family; a driven, passionate, [auto] enthusiastic group that any company would be fortunate to have. Toyota salesmen, Mark works alongside his wife and delivery coordinator Jennifer in Brookdale; while daughter Niki sells Chrysler's next door. Sister Amanda is just a skip away in Golden Valley personalizing Toyotas in the showroom.

So how did this dealer group gain loyalty from a family of four? It starts with Luther’s positive work environment and is supported by true opportunity for success.

Amanda Cline began working at Luther’s Golden Valley Toyota store in September as the dealership’s accessory sales consultant. Vehicle Personalization Expert Kurt Daughtery met the newest Cline employee on a training visit, teaching the dealership the ins and outs of their accessory sales system.

“When I went in for our Guided Visit, one of the sales managers told me Amanda’s mother works at Luther Brookdale and I put two and two together,” Kurt says. Amanda’s familiarity with the system and process made her the best kind of student. 

“Mom started in the car business five years ago,” Amanda explains. “I’ve always loved cars--I even looked into becoming a mechanic! I saw how well my mom was doing and how much she liked where she worked. I told her I wanted in.”  

Amanda received highly personal on-the-job training by shadowing her mother, Jennifer Cline, at Luther Brookdale. You know Jennifer--she’s a 2016 challenge coin recipient for her critical role in skyrocketing the dealership to success with over a million in sales last year. You read all about her showering Luther’s guests with hospitality while simultaneously adding front-end gross. Pouring hot coffee, giving tours making millions (literally), and now training the next generation.

Want to read more about the Cline family read the rest of this blog here or visit our site to see how we can help your dealership sell more accessories.

Automotive industry professionals all over the country can finally breathe a sigh of relief. The myth has been debunked--millennials’ supposed disdain for cars isn’t shutting down the industry as we know it.

Entering the workforce in a down economy put purchases such as a new car on hold. For many, it was a hold that spanned more than a few years. So-called rite-of-passage purchases such as a first house and car dissipated for a time. With the economy on rocky ground, educated and qualified individuals were forced to pick up shifts at the mall and spend countless hours on Career Builder. I attest to it! As a 2009 graduate, I did my time dressing mannequins despite the Bachelor of Arts I’d just earned. You see, millennials never took a stand against buying a car. They opted for evolving modes of public transportation for the interim.

While there’s still plenty of content circulating about the generation struggling vocationally, the automotive industry can let that roll off its back. Automotive News reports the following statement:

Millennials make up the fastest-growing segment among vehicle buyers and likely will represent about forty percent of the U.S. new-vehicle market by 2020.

Marketers and design engineers alike are interested in this one. Millennials are buying cars and have unique hot buttons unlike any of the dealerships’ other clientele. This is the digital era, after all. In a world of self-driving cars and Siri® reminding you to pick up K-cup® pods, dealerships are constantly under pressure to remain cutting-edge enough for their twenty-something shoppers. But how do you balance a customer whose budget reflects an entry-level career, but whose taste reflects the digital culture in which they’ve grown up?

You personalize. The consumers who are the “fastest-growing segment among vehicle buyers” weren’t only raised on technology; they were also raised on “have-it-your-way” marketing. Vehicle Personalization, a multi-billion dollar industry, is the key to creating satisfied customers, profitably. Sell your customer the reliable, affordable vehicle that he or she has already researched half to death online.

Your millennial customer will spend money to get the technology that he has grown accustomed to. The only question is: will the customer spend it with you or on Amazon?

When you sell your customer a solid vehicle that he or she can afford, and then offer to add SiriusXM and navigation with low monthly payments rolled in with F&I, you’ve done a great thing. Offer them value in protection packages like all-weather mats, paint protection film, and body side moldings. You have helped the customer keep the value of the new purchase. You’ve made a customer happy.  And a happy customer writes positive reviews on Facebook, delivers winning CSI scores, refers her friends, and returns to your dealership, all while adding front-end gross.

No, millennials aren’t sick of cars. Millennials are a rapidly growing force in the automotive industry that may just shape the future of car buying and accessories.

Is your dealership equipped to cater to forty percent of the new car market? Find more helpful tips at our blog http://www.insigniagroup.com/blog

Pumpkin spice is in the air. With the changing of the seasons comes differing needs to protect and prolong your customer’s vehicle. As we float into winter, weather should be on the dealership’s mind.

The month of January is the perfect time to switch your lead-in product.  Summer’s favorite window tint gives way to accessories made to ease the transition to dropping temperatures.

Dealers from Jacksonville to Juno (and everywhere in between) can take a tip from these popular winter weather lead-in products to maximize accessory sales in the fall.

Remote start | If having a remote start is wrong, we don’t want to be right. Nobody wants to shiver from the door to the car, only to hop into an icebox with a frozen steering wheel. This product sells itself in northern states and we see it finally catching on in the southern “smile” states (what took you so long?).  Parts department should stock this part as a fast mover and put an extra bonus on high volumes sales in the showroom.

Heated Seats | Turn that base model into a luxury ride by adding heated seats either with or without the remote start. This 1 - 2 combo can put as much as $200 in gross on the hood and warm up sales pockets while making customers feel like Kings and Queens. The best part it will add less that $10 per month to any credit worthy buyer.  

Engine block heater | Some accessories are born out of necessity, which makes it an easy pitch. Depending on your location, it could be suggested that this product is truly a must-have to prolong the life of the engine and reduce the frustration of a car that won’t start. Any dealer that’s shoveling snow in the winter months should be presenting engine block heaters to every customers as both preventative and convenience.

All weather mats | All weather floor mats never go out of style, but the promise of leaves crunching under your feet and impending slush and snow heightens the draw. Mats are a popular accessory across all brands, and a non-intimidating way to lead into the personalization presentation.

Tires | While some of us enjoy mild winters, many parts of the country have to be prepared for more extreme conditions. Make sure you’re not missing an opportunity to equip your customer with top of the line tires providing the traction needed for a safe commute.

Bonus Round: Service packages | Many stores have success starting the personalization presentation with a service coupon or freebie. Offer free or discounted service for your customer to come back and winterize their vehicle within the first 30 to 60 days of purchase. Once the customer accepts the promotion, move right into your personalization presentation.

Utilize the knowledge of your customer base to determine which lead in products and custom packages to showcase this fall. If all else fails, offer to sprinkle the entire exterior with pumpkin spice. Everybody’s doing it.

Click here to download more of our best practices! Or check out our blog for more!

You don’t have to be a gearhead to get hired at Insignia, though birds of a feather do flock together. Whether an employee comes in the door an auto enthusiast or just starts drinking the kool-aid over time, the team at Insignia is comprised of like-minded, motor lovin’, tinted, lifted, and hitched aftermarket die-hards.

When the behemoth of trade shows comes around, there’s not an Insignian from data to technical support that isn’t vying for the opportunity to attend. We’re talking SEMA. Mac daddy. Colossus. You can’t even eat lunch with David unless you’ve been. (Kidding. Actually no one wants to eat lunch with David.)

This year the management team at Insignia Group nominated deserving employees to attend the show. Nominees submitted their most compelling explanation of why they should be chosen to represent Insignia at SEMA. Of the many submissions, two were so good the management team had to send both.

Data Specialist, Sarah Patterson has been dreaming of SEMA since childhood. “As a little girl growing up, I picked Hot Wheels over cute, frilly dolls” Sarah begins. “Each year growing older the fascination only grew--playing playstation games like Need for Speed, looking over the SEMA magazines my father would bring home from work, and building my own vehicles on OE sites.”

If Sarah hadn’t earned the vote at childhood dream, she surely sealed it at the thought of her 8 year old self building OE’s. “When I was told I was chosen to attend the SEMA show I literally cried!” Sarah said. “Pure tears of excitement and joy. You have no idea what the words, "You are going to SEMA." meant to me.”

Sarah describes her experience as exceeding her expectations by a long shot. The unimaginable vastness and the jaw-dropping opportunity to ride along with professional drifters was captivating. But the best part of the experience? Meeting John Kosmoski, creator of House of Kolor paint. Familiar with his beautifully crafted projects for many years, Sarah’s cubicle back in Rock Hill, South Carolina displays her prized House of Kolor poster with Kosmoski’s autograph. “My father was able to meet [John] before. Getting to  meet him was an honor to me.”

Sarah’s travel companion was Customer Care Expert, Khrystal “Khrys” Dorton. While Sarah went for the heart strings, Khrys got right down to business. “My dealers ask about aftermarket and I wanted to be better informed on what that meant--I just had no idea how big the answer was going to be.”

People, this girl just wants to better serve her customers--and needed a little trip to the Bellagio to do it. When Khrys was chosen for the trip, she says she was quietly excited while doing a happy dance in her head--maintaining  professionalism, of course. Khrys described finally putting a face with clients she’s talked to over the phone for months from companies like AutoNation, Auto Additions, DualLiner and Katzkin.

“It was great to meet them in person. I feel like we have a better understanding of the needs and expectations of our mutual dealers.” When asked about her aftermarket learning experience, Khrys says the whole shebang was breathtaking. “I expected to see aftermarket products that we have activated in the Insignia system, but I don’t think I was quite ready for the quantity of other options. It was overwhelming at first.”

Both ladies said if they got the opportunity to go again, they’d try to see every booth from front to back. A lofty goal, but they’re up for the challenge. So what was SEMA 2017 in one word? AHH-MAZING.

Find out more about Insignia and our team at www.insigniagroup.com