Appraisals

The other day we were listening to a webinar, auspiciously The Colonel dropped by and listened along with us...we have mentioned on a several occasions that a unique feature of the auto industry at the retail level is the fact that there are still vehicles being taken in trade (horse trading).

Since The Colonel has been around the industry for longer than us, we are giving him the opportunity to share his thoughts on appraisals.

Thank You guys!

Fascinating that in 2010 the auto industry at the dealer/retail level still needs to appraise trade-ins to conclude a deal....some things never change or do they?

Before going further, lets remember that the Black Book or some sophisticated software, has anyone seen them write a check to buy a vehicle? If you do let me know?

A few points that caught my attention:

• The customer is well informed and empowered everyone knows that, they are well informed when it comes to the value of used vehicles, especially their trade in. Nothing new here, except that its easier by the day to be informed.
• 50% of customers are dissatisfied with the appraisal be it price/process. (JD Power)
• 80% of the time an appraisal will influence the purchase of the new vehicle. (JD Power)

Think of this for a moment; half of the time an appraisal is not satisfactory, and 80% of the time it will influence the purchase of the vehicle the customer is considering.

It sounds like an adversarial moment in the showroom.

• Perhaps customers with a trade in should keep in mind that they are selling and buying, and the dealer is selling and buying. 
• The customer wants to buy at the lowest price and sell at the highest price. What does the dealer want to do? The same thing...they both have the same agenda.
• Appraisals are good for 5 days...gives everyone an indication that used vehicle have to turn much faster. 
• If technology is inexorably empowering the customer (everyone), compressing the margins on new and used vehicles, its also compressing weeks into days (time).

Did you think that I was going to tell anyone how to appraise a vehicle? Or sell your trade in? The take away is that everyone is empowered by technology, used vehicle prices are not as durable, and time is very compressed.

You may be a prospect, customer, or dealer this is an informative demonstration of what technology can do to facilitate, enable, empower, the entire appraisal and trade in process. Take a look. There is no explanation, the cursor moves quickly. But you get the idea that technology facilitates aggregating information from various sources. This aggregation greatly facilitates the task of selling (customer) and buying (dealer) a trade in.

Does something like this exist in Canada?

Who writes the check?

Who makes the decision?

Buying and selling a vehicle is still an emotional experience for the customer and the dealer.

The Galaxie

If you have been following Jay Leno's restoration and modification of his 1966 Ford Galaxie, here is another episode. Its cool to see Jay completely down to earth and mention the realities of restoring a car, while Bernard talks about some additional fine tuning to the suspension.

Enjoy....

Vro0m Ro0m

Good Morning!

Its the Vroom Room, yes on Wednesday we experienced a magnitude 5 earthquake, what is interesting during the initial seconds you wonder why the chair you are sitting is a little wobbly.

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This morning The Colonel needs to express a few points:

Thank You guys! Have you noticed that everyone and anyone can do a review of any and every vehicle...its that easy...yes it is. Have you noticed that as they work their way up the "pecking order" of vehicles some of these reviewers start losing touch with the essence of the car.

When most cars are pretty darn good to start with, when many folks from all the manufacturers drive each other's vehicles, and everyone has a "pretty good idea" of what is going on. In addition the consumer, prospect, and customer can easily access (literally drown) in information. 

If anyone is going to review a vehicle that is 2 or 3 or 4 times the price of a regular vehicle to go from A to B perhaps having an understanding of why an individual would consider such a vehicle would be more relevant than merely listing the electronic wizardry....just saying. 

Enjoy a totally cool photo gallery from the Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival, what is it about old race cars?

Take a look at an early digital camera.

Stats and Bites

Informative presentation on Social Media...

Technical Support Vehicle

What can we say....enjoy!