Dealer Protection Group

Dealership Insurance: Online Reviews Correlate with Sales

nms — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 19:25:39 +0000

As consumers move through the buying process, they tend to put more emphasis on research. Like most of us, we tend to know exactly what our next car purchase will be while we still have our old car. But if you know what you want, you just have to determine where you will buy it. Multiple questions come into play, such as ‘which dealers have my product?’, ‘Is that dealer credible?’, ‘Wonder if my friends have any suggestions?’ etc.

According to Businessweek, 70 percent of consumers now consult reviews and ratings prior to purchasing. You are not just selling a car or a motorcycle, you are selling a relationship. Customers can buy that same product at 20 different locations, so what makes your dealership so great? Online reviews are becoming one of the most influential pieces of the buying process because it’s not the brand’s opinion of the product/service, it’s the consumers themselves. Online reviews can drive your business to the top or destroy all that you have worked for.

Social power – 75% of people don’t believe that companies tell the truth in their advertising, further validating why consumers yearn for real reviews from real customers. They view other consumers’ reviews as more authentic insights.

Securing positive reviews – Obtaining a positive review is essential for your dealership to thrive. First you need to look into your business from current brand perceptions to post-purchase stages and make sure the customer is not being neglected at any point in time. One of the most effective ways to land a review is to contact your customer post purchase. By doing so it should help eliminate any buyer’s remorse that may arise.

There are a couple of ways to help secure your reviews, but it’s a strategy that your business will have to customize to fit your auto dealership:

Higher reviews & fewer respondents – Since you are mostly selling relationships, individually ask your clients for a review. In the end, this will generate less referral traffic, smaller brand presence, but an overall higher rating.
Better/higher reviews & more respondents – Blast your online presence to everyone. Instill online reviewing sites throughout your advertisements, social media channels, and the more people that know about your dealership, the better.

Running a dealership encompasses having a variety of operations under one roof. From selling and servicing to repairs and maintenance, inspections, financing and insurance, and many other operational tasks, you provide your customers with many of the processes involved in getting and maintaining a car, truck, boat, RV, or other type of vehicle.

There are unique risks and exposures in everything you offer – all requiring insurance protection specifically designed for dealerships. At Dealer Protection Group (DPG), that’s what we do. We are in the business of protecting your business, providing you with a broad array of Dealership Coverages insurances.

We work with a number of top-rated insurance companies that specialize in insurance for dealerships. Our staff’s experience and knowledge in this sector is unprecedented. Give us a call at 949.208.8550 to discuss your insurance needs.

Auto Dealer Association at Odds with Proposed New Mileage Standards

dpg — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:50:31 +0000

Proposed fuel-economy standards, which were released in November 2011, has the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) speaking out. NADA says these standards will stymie the growth of new-car sales and make vehicles too expensive for consumers in the future.

The White House has proposed standards that would have automakers lifting the fleet average of new cars and trucks to 54.5 miles per gallon of gas by the year 2025. The current standards require automakers to raise efficiency to 35.5 mpg by 2016.

Don Chalmers, a New Mexico-based Ford Motor Company dealer and the NADA’s government relations chairman at a hearing in Detroit in mid-January, said: “I want to sell very efficient cars. But if the customer can’t get the financing for that car, then it makes no difference. Finance sources do not look at how much you are going to save in fuel economy.”

The three Detroit makers were also at the hearing along with the United Auto Workers Union President Bob King, who supports the mileage target: “Adopting the proposed rules will give an additional boost to the revival of the auto industry.”

The additional technology required on the vehicles to meet these standards, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), will run consumers $2,030 toward the price of vehicles. However, the lifetime fuel cost savings in 2025 would equal about $6,000, says the EPA and NHTSA. The NADA disagrees with this analysis, and plans on releasing their own study in February indicating that the cost of technology to meet these requirements would add $5,000 per vehicle.

As an auto dealer, what do you think of the proposed requirements and how it will impact the industry? DPG would love to hear from you. Just leave your comments below.

DPG is a full-service broker, providing your auto dealer with a customized suite of competitive industry-specific Property and Casualty insurance and Workers Compensation products, in addition to Surety Bonds, Employee Benefits, and Financial and Insurance (F&I) programs.

Count on DPG to Keep You Updated

dpg — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:08:27 +0000

We specialize in insuring auto dealerships and as such our goal is not only to make sure our customers are properly insured, but also that they’re updated when it comes to industry trends, regulations and changes that can affect their businesses and much more.

We’ll be using this brand-new blog as a forum to keep you in the loop, and we welcome hearing from you and encourage you to share your comments and insights here.

As always, we’re happy to be of service to you. Please feel free to call us at 949.208.8550.