When Craigslist realized that they provided better leads for used car dealers than any of the paid classified sites, they decided it was time to get paid for it.  They are no longer free, but do, on average, provide better quality leads than the paid sites.  Enter, by default, the new, slick looking "FREE" classified site Usedcarsforsale.com.  It is fast becoming the "automotive industries go to classified".  

They are currently signing 150 car dealers per week to the platform, with no end to their growth in sight.  They are now posing such a threat that carsforsale.com will no longer "volunteer" to provide inventory feeds from their (cfs.com) clients to the Usedcarsforsale.com classified site.  This in spite of the fact that they still provide those feeds to the other sites and had been providing those feeds to UsedCarsForSale.com for two months before the stoppage. Remember "fear the beard"?  We now have "fear the free automotive classified site."

With the larger dealer groups jumping on board (Lithia Motors, Group 1, Larry H. Miller), I can see why some vendors might fear the "free".  After all, once UsedCarsForSale.com reaches proper inventory counts per market, dealers will see results that may make them reconsider expensive classified pay sites.  Search is still the dominant force in car buyer research activity, and "used cars for sale" in exact and broad match search queries, drives way over a million searches per month!  It's inevitable that this classified site will be a top organic search ranker within the next several months.  

How does UsedcarsforSale.com make money you ask?  The answer is apparently via 3rd party vendors who use the platform to test a number of emerging technologies and pay for the opportunity.  Dealers become the benefactors at no cost to them because the tab is picked up by technologists testing a variety of concepts to see what best drives serious, bottom of sales funnel car buyers into dealerships both online and into the lot.

One salesman at UCFS.com explained to me that the toughest thing they have to deal with is explaining that it's an absolutely free, basic platform and having the dealerships believe them.  It's true, but some of the dealers they speak to are apparently so jaded that they can't conceive of a concept that includes the word "free".  Imagine that.

DN: What are your thoughts about the direction dealers are taking these days in regards to the ever-changing digital marketplace?

BW: These days, you see a mixture of dealers going with what they know. There are still some old dinosaurs out there, but in this industry, if you don’t reinvent yourselves every couple years you’re going to get left behind. Many of the old school dealers I know have been able to reinvent themselves, and it’s amazing how many have adapted. The dealers that are doing the best are those that have become very good at figuring out where the attributions are from a digital standpoint.

DN: Are dealers hiring young kids right out of college to handle digital or are they nurturing the expertise from within?

BW: The dealers that do it the best are developing that position from within their own dealerships, but I’ve seen a mixture of both. The best dealers have first educated themselves. Lower-performing dealers seem to be hiring from outside sources, but they have no way to be able to monitor and track their internet results, especially if they don’t know what’s going on in the first place.

DN: How do you train dealerships to properly follow up leads considering the fact that only 19% of internet leads are ever responded to according to a number of sources.

BW: The first thing is there is no such thing as an internet department anymore -- all leads should be worked from the cradle to the grave. It should be like a shark tank where the person who grabs the lead first gets to work that lead. Consumers expect more information, and they expect it quicker. Provide the information they want but don't make email love to them - get them on the phone. Don’t get tied up with email templates and auto-responses, etc. Having that one-owner accountability would help on the tremendous amount of leads that go without proper follow-up.

DN: How do you suggest a dealership deal with an Internet sales department and the physical lot staff and should there be a difference?

BW: Every person who comes onto the lot has searched online at some point, as well as on that dealership’s website. The setup to have a split deal between the two salespeople is probably ludicrous at this point. First, managers have no idea where the lead originally came from, and now they have unhealthy and frictional competition. We should give the customer a much smoother one-person (salesman) experience throughout the transaction. The more people they get handed off to, the greater the chance of miscommunication. At this point, it makes no sense to have a separation between the two salespeople in different divisions.

DN: What is your opinion on full transparency regarding giving information such as inventory availability and price for those who really don’t want to be dragged into the dealership?

BW: My philosophy has stayed the same today as it was ten years ago - the consumer must wonder if the dealer isn't giving them the information they want now, then how will it be when they get to the dealership? You have to give the customer the information they want in a timely manner and be authentic and genuine. If you have the inventory, great. If not, here is a resolution, but be trustworthy and honest. Don’t put pressure on the customer to come in even if you do have the inventory they want. Give them the opportunity to do the transaction in their own time frame, and they’ll be much more likely to want to deal with you.

DN: Where will our industry be in 25 years when most of the vehicles will be autonomous?

BW: The one great thing about this industry is that it always finds a way to hit curve balls thrown at it. Whether we look at the post 9/11 economy or the post-2008 economy (etc.), we can go through a litany of catastrophic changes that hit the industry, and we’ve always found a way around it.

Autonomous vehicle technology is still well into the future. There are still a lot of details to be figured out, such as insurance, laws, and the many obstacles that we'll have to overcome first. From a business standpoint, the major manufacturers will lead the movement, and most likely go through the same dealership channels they do now. There’s always something about everybody wanting the latest and greatest shiny object, and it will have a lot to do with what features are available. You may even be able to do a monthly car rental deal like a few companies already offer now. Either way, dealers are going to have to keep up with the technology and advent changes. http://www.ELEAD1ONE.com

Kelly Kleinman/ Content Director/ DealershipNews.com

Although vehicle sales are mostly down from last year, some manufactures saw promising increases in the sales of certain segments, primarily SUVs, hybrids and pickup trucks.

Ford has stumbled out of the gates and is way below last years numbers.  Other than the F-Series trucks, Ford continues to lose sales to everyone in virtually all segments. Misery loves company. If they look to the western horizon they’ll likely see a chute-less Honda CR-V plummeting from the sky as fast as their Escape and Explorers are with sales down 19%and 25% respectively.  Meanwhile, Nissan’s Rogue, Chevy Equinox, and Toyota’s Rav4 are still seeing continued growth and healthy sales increases.  Of the previous mentioned brands, only Toyota is up YTD and YTY. Not surprisingly, Ford shares are at a 5 yr. Low, and Toyota shares are still up over a year.

Jeep sales have jumped thanks to the Wrangler and the Compass which are up close to 500% over last year.  Overall, the full Jeep brand is up 12% over last year. Jeep is the only American brand that has sold over 20K cars experiencing an increase in sales (Caddy is up 14% YTD but only sold 16K cars).  Much of this success is due to the Jeep brand going global, launching in China and Europe. Literally, no other American brand with is seeing positive sales growth based on 20K sales thus far. In fact, Jeep’s mothership, FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) is experiencing a huge 20% lift in share prices. Part of this is due to the reinvigoration of Alfa Romeo to compete with BMW, and the retooling of several of its North American factories to increase production of more profitable SUVS and pickup trucks.

VW, despite its many legal issues, tripled its sales of February 2017 with the stylish and roomier 2018 Tiguan.  VW as a brand overall is up nearly 6% YTD and YTY, but it’s shares are down 10 points due to President Trump’s suggestion that tariffs may be in play for European car makers in an effort to renegotiate NAFTA and impose tariffs on European imports.

Volvo, BMW and Daimler also saw sell offs after the President’s comments which many believe may just be a negotiating ploy.  It would be bad news for such tariffs to be imposed on European car makers who are all experiencing a spike of success at the expense of US brands as we get out of the gates in 2018.  Ploy or not, the President is motivated to shake things up and no industry is immune.

The pickup truck segment continues to be dominated by Ford F-Series trucks.  They win month after month, after month. Meanwhile, the storm clouds are gathering over the Dodge Ram and the Chevy Silverado.  Sales are down double figures from last year. To make matters even more ominous, the Japanese have established a beachhead and are coming on strong and their invasion armata consists of pickup trucks.  The Toyota Tacoma is becoming wildly successful and has taken a commanding lead in sales over the closest American competitor, the GMC Sierra whose February sales are down 25% from last year. The Nissan Frontier is also climbing the charts, up a whopping 68% in sales over last year.  American pick up manufacturers clearly have things to worry about as their Japanese competition is clearly stealing market share at an alarming rate. It looks like hockey stick growth for Japanese brands and a ski jump for American brands.

Last but not least, we have the EVs, the PHEVs and the hybrids!  Chevy Bolt sales are up 152%, Tesla sales are up 33% across the board, the Nissan Leaf, the most affordable of all EVs, sold over 7X as many vehicles in February as they did in January!  Almost every hybrid or EV experienced sales increases except for the anemic Ford C-Max Energi and the Honda Clarity BEV. Other nice performers were the Toyota Prius Prime, the Chevy Volt, and the Ford Fusion Energi.  Meanwhile, my beloved Prius isn’t faring so well with all the new similar makes and models coming out. Unless your name is Camry, or Sentra, you’re likely experiencing the gravity of market forces as the public shifts from the standard auto, to larger, more functional vehicles, and other more energy efficient, electric or hybrid kin.

Depending on the size of your dealership, whether you’re a franchisee or independent, you may or may not have staff dedicated to social media and or Google AdWords. Much of what you do on social media is based on who you’re targeting. Facebook, the invasive social Frankenstein that knows everything about everybody taking up space on it’s platform, is still the best place to advertise inventory and events your dealership has planned on social media.

It’s relatively inexpensive, and it’s hyper-local, meaning you can target users within your DMA very easily. Video ads do very well on the platform and it’s easily the #1 social media choice for adults over 36 who spend a country-wide average of 45-50 minutes per day perusing it. If you’re looking for leads, expect to pay between $27 and $43. If you build a certain amount of branding into your social media pain threshold, the cost “cringe factor” will subside when you audit your marketing each quarter.

Facebook users are up in volume but overall usage of Zuckerberg’s monster is down between 10-20% depending on the sources you site. There are a number of reasons for this which cover the gamut of political hangovers, the lack of organic reach, annoying memes, the fact that people under 30 sign up but rarely use it, and a sense that the entire platform looks too busy and old to younger users.

Teens and young adults do not like Facebook. It belongs to their parents. For dealers looking to reach first-time car buyers a few years from now, think twice. In fact, Facebook doesn’t even rank in the top 3 of social networks for teenagers who prefer Snapchat and Instagram whereby they can engage with each other quickly, have house parties on the “House Party” app, and instant response to content they post.

Facebook has done it’s best in the past to nurture the aforementioned generation to guarantee long-term domination, but have so far failed with each incarnation. From it’s teenage Lifestage app, to trying to compete with House Party via their stand alone “Bonfire” app, as well as producing original content in the form of Facebook TV, FB has fallen short. Still, nothing will stop FB from attempting to carve out enough erosion in the landscape to create yet another revenue stream on the backs of the next generation once it has disposable income and time to waste starring mindlessly into their mobile device.

Meanwhile, a couple things that aren’t going away anytime soon are Google Search and SEO best practices. For car dealers looking for an easy attribution model, AdWords is a no-brainer. 2 trillion Google searches are performed every year and the analytics provided are not only agnostic but very helpful in determining the efficacy of any campaign. Google isn’t a 3rd party vendor that can choose which data is presented to the client, the Google numbers don’t lie. When the click traffic is legit, it does reflect a bottom of the funnel, first generation, active buyer, and you can easily track the lead as it processes through your organization. It’s a line item in any budget and should make up a minimum of 70% of any digital advertising allocation.

A practice every dealership needs to get good at is one that delivers a near 0 cost per lead. SEO optimization isn’t easy, but just playing by the rules gets you half the way there. Content is the Holy Grail of SEO and should be refreshed as often as possible. Backlinks, proper listings in all of the major data providers, and indexing sites are crucial aspects of top-line SEO. SEO is not paid media but creates superior visibility that drives traffic to a site at no cost to the store. Figuring out how to do it right is the first step in ascension to the top of your DMA and in the long run will cut your overall advertising budget.

YouTube automotive enthusiasts/ wildmen Alejandro, Buddy and Farshad have apparently uncovered an issue with Tesla security in the Tesla X model.  Their channel is Salomondrin and it’s loaded with fun-loving, potty-mouthed, narcissistic, automotive hijinx.  At some point Buddy discovered a flaw that may indeed compromise all Tesla models, although we do know for sure the Tesla X is clearly affected.

The flaw allows thieves to break into the trunk of the vehicle with very little effort via a small, access panel in the lower, far left part of the bumper on the driver side. The access panel is easily popped off by a screwdriver. Two canvass wires attached to a release mechanism are housed in the exposed compartment and when firmly pulled, pop the trunk. Granted, it will trigger the alarm, but it takes seconds to grab the goods in the trunk and shut it, leaving the owner to wonder why his or her alarm was triggered, never even thinking to check the trunk compartment to see if anything was absconded with!  The breach can take as little as one minute!

It’s important that Tesla becomes aware of its security issues and that it provides vehicles that are secure and safe. It seems as though they never thought this would be discovered as easily as it was.  QC is priority one with any consumer product let alone a company like Tesla.  WTS, it’s not like the automotive industry hasn’t had its share of incompetencies, poorly planned concepts, and risky mechanical issues.  On a scale from 1-10, this is a 1.  But, it’s still “a thing”.

Somehow, some way, humans always find the weak link in any security system and then exploit it.  The guys from Salomondrin are no exception.  Perhaps Tesla should have cut the crew a check for their silence, but hindsight is foresight that happens too late, and now we know.  At the very least, Tesla owners now know that a mysteriously triggered alarm may have a more nefarious cause.

If you don’t mind a millennial stew of me-me’s, and expletive-bombs reaching saturation point, the Salomondrin YouTube channel is entertaining and educational for car and truck enthusiasts. These guys have a lot of friends and like all of us, like to have a great time.  We at Dealership News consider them the Three Stooges of automotive hijinx with Alejandro playing Moe.  Good hearted, knowledgeable guys, with absolutely no filters...except for maybe Buddy (LOL)...and some valuable info for everyone.

On day one of the 2018 CES Show, an enthusiastic crowd of 400+ media gathered at Mandalay Bay to hear Akio Toyoda’s vision of the future.  Akio is the grandson of Toyota founder Kiichiro Toyoda, son of Sakichi, and is the 3rd generation of visionary Toyoda’s who have systematically lifted Toyota to the top of the automotive world.  Toyota was originally in the business of making agricultural equipment (looms) before they sensed an opportunity to gain some ground in the fledgling Japanese automotive industry.  The company spelling was changed due to superstitious belief based on the number 8, which is how many strokes it takes to write the name Toyota - 8 is luckier.

Akio’s vision of the future is a vehicle concept that that he brands “e-Palette”, is bolstered by his historical recount that Toyota didn’t start out in the automotive industry, hence, is an adaptive company, and that “mobility” would be a better single word definition used to describe Toyota as it moves into the future.  His goal is to have 5.5 million EVS on the road by 2030 and 1 million hydrogen fueled vehicles by the same date.  

Toyoda wants to be fully electric by 2025 and is working on new, less expensive solid state battery technology to outperform the current lithium-ion battery they have in production.  Akio Toyoda has a big vision of the future and the muscle to push it.

Developing relationships with other industry leaders to shape the future, Toyoda hopes to materialize his vision of a clean, new, automated world.  He has already teamed with Servco Pacific to test a new car sharing app, as well as Amazon, Pizza Hut, and Microsoft to create his e-Palette vision which is a fleet of autonomous delivery vehicles to serve consumers in a number of ways from delivering food, to providing mobile offices, and transporting the handicapped.

The Toyota e-Palette is a primary component of a comprehensive vision of a future “smart city” whereby autonomous vehicles scurry about delivering goods & services, and providing transportation for all who need it.  All the vehicles will be fully loaded with radar and lidar, and connected to not only the customers mobile devices, but the city infrastructure as well.  It’s a vision where all technology is clean, everything runs on-time, and folks have more time to be productive or simply relax if that’s what they choose.  

Toyota as a company is already well on its way designing it’s e-Palette fleet. The completion of a fleet of concept vehicles is probably the easiest part of the plan to initiate. Obstacles and potholes along the road to success will include dealing with city planners, state transportation officials, insurers, lawyers, state and city officials looking for ways to extract tax dollars, construction of necessary infrastructure, labor unions, criminal syndicates, and issues that include repair and maintenance of technologies that are completely new.

Ford’s Smart Mobility LLC also includes fleets of autonomous vehicles, electric vehicles/bikes, fully wired “smart cities” and zero emission transportation. The issues to get from dream to material are the same in Ford’s vision as they are in Toyota’s. The question is where to fully execute a POC on a large scale?  Singapore comes to mind as the perfect location whereby something this visionary would be readily accepted and easily tested. The population is young, forward thinking, well educated, and relatively crime-free.

New York City has created a smart city advisory council with technology leaders from Google, Microsoft, IBM and others to “advance NYCx's mission to test new technologies, "from drones to blockchain," (according to the city) in different zones of the city and develop smart city tools.  Meanwhile, if we can get past the bureaucracy and hands in coffers issues as is entirely unlikely, we may just see some movement forward.  It’s always us dang humans that get in the way of progress.  

Although the inclimate weather delayed tens of thousands of CES goers at various airports across the Midwest and east coast, the international automotive collective is pushing forward at full speed to deliver us into a world of autonomous vehicles and “connected, smart cities”.

In fact, the term “automotive” is effectively being replaced with the term “mobility”.  The automotive industry is now transitioning into the mobility industry and change on a grand scale is afoot if you take what you see at the CES show at face value.  The combustion engine is an endangered species as visionary engineers are burning the midnight oil trying to extend the range of EVs, perfect electric drive trains, while festooning the roadways with charging and hydrogen fill up stations.

Companies are challenged to reinvent themselves so they don’t become irrelevant in perhaps the fastest moving “mobility revolution” we’ve seen since the car was introduced.  The race is on  to see who can create the most effective and cost efficient radar and lidar systems, autonomously driven vehicles, and integrations of “human with car” reminiscent of the Borg in Star Trek.  Everyone is redefining themselves in this new market.  Companies that worked in avionics specializing in integrating and securing complex operational systems in fighter and commercial jets are now competing to offer OEMs the same service as embedding technology becomes more complicated during this transitional period.

Even Continental Tires is bouncing out of its 150 year history of selling tires by entering into the autonomous vehicle race. Ford is waxing excitedly about fully connected “smart cities”, and Toyota is in full future mode with e-palette which has fleets of electric “minibuses” cruising around town delivering cuisine, consumer goods, and necessary services.  Both Ford and Toyota base their visions of the future on a yet to be built utopia where city councils,

bureaucracies, tax sucking politicians, and criminal syndicates, and labor unions don’t exist.  I suggest they try setting up at Universal Studios City Walk or Disneyland, two of the more popular locations where fantasy is competently put on display.

Truth be told, CES is a true automotive spectacle.  Giant audio suppliers, mod gods, wheel manufacturers, entertainment integration, and concept designs are all there in spades.  There is something fascinating in the “mobility” industry in virtually every mobility-related booth at CES it just depends on how deep you want to dig, and then correlate the information.  Still, the prevailing buzz is that the future is going to be gasoline free.

Ultimately, if all of this technology can be affordably integrated en masse into the new cars of the future, the entire automotive landscape as we know it will change.  Car accidents will be rare and far less fatal, automotive exhaust pollutants will be replaced by 99.9% pure water, streets will be far quieter, there will be little need for expensive auto insurance, body shops and lube joints will go the way of the blacksmith, and stealing cars will be near impossible.  I like that future.

Many of the bigger franchise and Indie dealerships have a hard time attributing where their leads come from. Typically, a single lead may touch a number of different advertising and classified platforms at any given point in the shopping process, including the dealer site itself.  Dealers feel they need to maintain a presence on a variety of increasingly expensive, publicly traded, comp sites to maintain a certain level of visibility in order to hit that lead every step of the way.

Because of this misconception, dealerships are continuously burning ad dollars by over-exposing themselves financially with inefficient advertising and marketing practices. Dealer Analytics provides clarity by elucidating the waste, and helps streamline dealership advertising/marketing processes with top notch analytics...not guess work. 

Simply put, Dealer Analytics is used as a dealership’s insurance policy against wasting advertising and marketing dollars, and ensuring that their website is producing traffic and leads at optimum levels.

Dealer Analytics assigns each client a Google Analytics expert who acts as a “dedicated Account Manager”.  The account manager is tasked with the following practices:

• Monitor and report on the performance of website traffic through Google Analytics
• Generate weekly reports reviewing the performance of each dealer’s website and vendors
• Monthly one-on-one screen shares to go over website/vendor performance
• Alert regarding any issues with traffic, tracking or website performance
• Work with dealership vendors and/or web company to correct issues that are affecting the websites lead generation
• Direct line provided to each dealer’s account manager, no 800 numbers, for quick answers and help
• Free, one-on-one Google Analytics training for anyone at the dealership

Over the course of a single year, Dealer Analytics saves each dealer thousands of dollars in wasted ad budget and inefficient online practices.  The cost to dealers is based on 3 tiers.  The tiers are broken down as such: $99/month, $199/month, and $299/month, with no a 12 month contract.  This also includes unlimited phone calls for the top tier and help from the assigned account manager.

During my conversation with Tracie Costabile, VP of Dealer Analytics, I asked her to give me a couple examples of how they can make a measurable difference in a dealerships online performance.  Here is her response:

“A small Chevrolet dealership in Montana recently enlisted our services to help them determine how to spend their very limited marketing budget.  After analyzing the data in their Google Analytics, we were able to show exactly which vendors were bringing quality, engaged traffic, and which were sending junk clicks that weren’t helping the dealership’s bottom line.  This dealership saved thousands of dollars per month by getting rid of what wasn’t working, including some expensive, big name vendors.  As a bonus, taking that money and putting it into the programs that were producing for them, produced more first generation leads from their website, which in turn boosted their sales.”

“A Ford dealership in Las Vegas was able to benefit from our website monitoring service.  Part of website monitoring is checking on the backlinks the site has.  When the website’s quality scores plummeted, a check into their backlinks revealed that they were being unscrupulously targeted by a competitor who was linking X-rated websites to their main dealership website.  Quality scores are what Google uses to determine where a site will be returned in an organic search.  If the scores go down enough, the dealership disappears from page one of organic searches.  We were able to help the dealership disavow these bad links and restore their quality scores, giving them back their organic, page one placement.”

As a digital marketing veteran of 10 plus years, I’m impressed with Dealer Analytics overall approach to analyzing data and providing actionable advice that makes substantive improvements in performance.  To have an experienced analytics expert provide a monthly audit of your dealership’s digital operation, including digital ad spend, attribution analysis, and website performance for as low as $99, is perhaps the greatest bargain in automotive vendorship history.  These guys are a leading candidate for Automotive Vendor of the Year 2018!

The 2017 Ghoul Pool is complete. We have compiled the list of vehicles that will no longer be continued in 2018. If you bought any one of these phase outs at any point in the last few years, be assured that you’ll still be able to get parts for them should you need repair for the next several years. You’ll just have a heck of a hard time finding buyers when it’s time to.

Here is the list of our 4-wheeled friends who will go the way of such infamous clunkers as the AMC Pacer, the Gremlin, and the VW Dasher of yesteryear.

Volkswagen CC. YTD Sales down 76%. This 4-door sedan will be replaced by the Arteon in 2018 which looks like a fantastic style upgrade over the CC.

Chrysler 200. YTD Sales down 82.4%. The 200 will now follow its former stable mate the “Sebring” into history. Fiat/Chrysler went hard trying to promote this model but lo and behold, t’was not to be.

Mitsubishi i-MiEV. YTD Sales non-existent. Tiny electric car that never had a chance.

Jeep Patriot. YTD Sales down 87%. Meanwhile, it’s more successful semi-twin brother the Compass, is experiencing an 81% increase in sales. The two relatively cheap SUVs were just too similar for both to survive, hence the Patriot was given a 21 gun salute.

Smart ForTwo. YTD Sales down 66%. Easily the smallest car on the market will keep the electric version on the market.

Dodge Viper. YTD Sales down 73%. For a good long time this muscle car had serious bite, and invenimated Dodge with some great numbers, but eventually the venom ran out. The factory will be closed as well.

Hyundai Azera. YTD Sales down 55%. This vehicle was actually a beautiful sedan and provided a lot of bang for the buck for those 162 people who actually invested in one . Sadly, it was a lost soul, confused and out of place in the Hyundai lineup when it seemed best suited to be on the esteemed Genesis roster.

Chevrolet SS. YTD sales down 73% in the US. The muscle laden SS was hamstrung by bad sales in the US and the closing of its factory in Oz. Worldwide sales were up but US sales were anemic.

Infiniti QX70. YTD Sales down 59%. At some point Farrah Fawcett hair became outdated. So did the QX70 “look”. It was hot at one point, but the thrill is gone, as is the QX70 from the 2018 lineup. "We have an all-new QX50 midsize crossover … that goes on sale in early 2018, and we also have a significantly updated QX80 full-size luxury SUV" which is arriving into Infiniti dealers, spokesman Kyle Bazemore said.

Nissan Quest. YTD Sales down 98%. There are 3 mini-vans in the marketplace; Honda Odyssey, Toyota Sienna and Chrysler Pacifica. Everyone else buys an SUV.

Buick Verano. YTD sales down 85%. General Motors announced that it was eliminating the compact Verano but still has the larger LaCrosse and the Regal for 2018.

Lexus CT 200h. YTD Sales down 98%. Hybrid hatchbacks do well when they’re a Prius. Only 10 people bought this vehicle last year. Enough said.

Mercedes-Benz B-Class. YTD Sales up 1.7%. This car was introduced to So. Cal only as a compact hydrogen-powered vehicle, called the B-Class F-CELL. An electric version came next but frankly, special order cars aren’t really long-lived, rather failed experiments. Unless your name is the Toyota Mirai, a hydrogen powered electric car up 142% in So. Cal only sales.

Mitsubishi Lancer. YTD Sales down 33%. Car and Driver gave the AMC Pacer a better review.

Volkswagen Touareg. YTD Sales down 7%. TBT, I drive a VW Tiguan and love it. VW focus is with new crossover models now, such as its three-row Atlas SUV and a new Tiguan that seats 7 with a lot more storage space.

Kelly Kleinman

Dealership News

www.dealershipnews.com

Office: 818-817-6343

There are a heck of a lot of vendors serving the automotive industry and a lot of really good ones to boot.  We’ve done our research, compared reviews, and made a few calls to determine customer satisfaction. We decided that our top 2 picks for 2017 are truly the cream of the crop, medium-sized operators.  So without further ado, here are our top 2 vendors for 2017 in no particular order!

Social Ordeals:

This vendor is not specific to the auto industry but provides a long list of dealerships with an inexpensive package of off-site SEO services that get serious results.  It’s impossible to to find anything less than a 5-star review for this company.  Chris Montgomery, the President of Social Ordeals brags that their rate of client retention is an astounding 97%, which not only sounds impressive but is impressive because it’s factual.  

They offer listing distribution updates to over 300 listing sites which basically guarantees that your store will always be listed with the proper contact information online, where it counts the most.  Most dealerships have incorrect info on dozens of listing sites and don’t realize that they get penalized by Google for such infractions.  Social Ordeals also offers social media management for a fraction of the cost of most other vendors, and that includes managing FB ad campaigns as well. They focus primarily on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Social Ordeals has in-house ppc account managers, all of whom are former Google employees and certified Google AdWords specialists.  Chris’s staff has seen it all and done it all within the Google platform as they manage hundreds of thousands of dollars of daily AdWords budget.  WTS, perhaps the most intriguing service they offer is their reputation management/marketing suite of services.  

They employ a software that automatically surveys dealership customers, filters out any reviews that are less than 5-stars, and prompts those who write 5 star reviews to post those good words on a variety of review sites from Yelp to Google Plus, to Facebook, DealerRater and more.  Their account managers respond to all reviews that are internally generated in order to make sure that all customer concerns are addressed, be they favorable or not so favorable.  After 5 years of operation, and running one of the tightest operations in business today, Social Ordeals wins for itself and its customers.

Social Ordeals: 5-Star, 1st-time winner of the Dealership News: Vendor of the Year!

DealerLeads

The entire concept of DealerLeads is to provide as much organic traffic to their dealership base as possible.  Essentially, they do things to deliver superior results that tend to be beyond the ken of dealership level SEO talent.  Steve Tackett, the owner of DealerLeads has an understanding of SEO garnered over 20+ years of working with dealerships that is very hard to rival. For example, the shear volume of backlinks he generates for his clients would astound the late Carl Sagan it’s so astronomical.

By July of 2017, the company had literally over-delivered some $,1,650,000 worth of lead traffic it will never collect on.  That problem has apparently been solved.  According to Jennifer Knight (Business Office Director/DealerLeads, "I can't imagine there are too many companies who take pride over panic by over-delivering a million and a half dollars worth of leads"!

Leads that dealers receive are actually enveloped within a flow of organic traffic that consists of a higher percentage of “likely” buyers based on legit conversion metrics.  Those leads are aggregated via a stack of practices that include research pages, on-site SEO, tens of thousands of backlinks, and placement on up to 350 behaviorally targeted (O&O) classified sites with domains based on popular “exact match” search engine queries. Serious buyers are much more likely to click on domains that match what they type into the search engines.  For example: Used Cars Near Me as a domain would be www.usedcarsnearme.com.

DealerLeads also builds websites that are harmoniously in-tune with Google’s best practices and rank much higher in local searches than their competitors do. The company also offers ppc management for those who are seeking instant visibility or page dominance with no management fee attached.  In the bang for the buck and customer satisfaction categories, DealerLeads is definitely in the lead.

DealerLeads: 5-Star, 1st-time winner of the Dealership News: Vendor of the Year!

Kelly Kleinman/Content Director

Dealership News

www.dealershipnews.com

818-817-6343