What to Know Before You Go Car Shopping

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Keith Shetterly

From the Mouse Click to the Driver's Seat

Posted: 25 Mar 2011 10:16 AM PDT

By Keith Shetterly, keithshetterly@gmail.com
Copyright 2011 All Rights Reserved
Dealer floor traffic has tracked steadily downward since 1995, while Internet shopping has concurrently risen—and that drop in floor traffic and rise in Internet shopping has dramatically sharpened in both directions since 2005. So, in the last six years, shoppers have confirmed that if you're waiting for the "UP Bus" and watching the lot through the window, you're just a dinosaur waiting to be encased in rock.
And, yet, so many dealerships populate their sales floors and thinking with just that strategy! We no longer get them at the door and take them to the driver's seat, customers are interacting with us first from their mouse click—and we have to engage them there, where they are, in order to get them into the driver's seat later. And that takes a lot more "doing" on a dealer's part than any sales manager's preparation of whatever ads used to be put in the newspaper.

For example, Social Media is still a new Internet "undiscovered country" for most dealers. I was recently struck by two rather-successful industry consultant icons and their different assessment of the vehicle sales impact of social media: One thinks it's the next great thing, and one thinks it will never be a lead generator. For the next couple of years, I'd have to say I agree with them both.
The easiest way to currently get direct impact from social media is not in leads, but instead in using it to get attention from interesting content (funny videos to pass around to friends, not still pics of your inventory!) and then also to create back links to your website. That's not lead generation, that's shopper direction, and it shows up, for example, in higher organic ranking in search engines—which leads even more shoppers to find you! And shopper direction is all what SEO and PPC (some call SEM) really are, purposed efforts to promote your dealership's website for shopper inventory review and ultimately lead submission (via forms, email, chat, or phone). In that way, social media is not a lead generator but certainly is "the next great thing" for sales enabling. For now.
And understand that we no longer so easily restrict the information about the vehicle, as with the fuller bloom of the Internet now our shoppers control it—really, the OEMs have made sure of that, and we have followed right along because competition made it necessary. Any efforts online to restrict information (for example, empty email responses) just frustrate shoppers, creating opportunity for competitors. Control of information is another thing altogether, and that has always been a hallmark of good car sales because it means a conversation that is sales enabling and still is. For example, on the phone: "Yes, we have the car, but I have several others to choose from that might save you even more money. And with the differences in options, the ride of each really needs to be evaluated in a test drive. When can you come in, this afternoon or this evening?" This still works very well in a conversation.
And also beware of giving too much information: Internet or phone responses that are full of answers to questions but are without enticements for the customer to write back (or, better yet, call back) do not yield conversations. And conversations are still what lead to visits and sales! So, what dealers need online is their inventory to be easily and quickly found on the Internet, to then provide website motivation for customers to interact (Make an Offer forms, Email Us, Facebook, Chat, etc.), and to then use that interaction to create conversations which provide avenues to sales. Really, the whole conversation part of car sales hasn't changed—it's just that the Internet has changed how and when people decide to actually visit your lot. And, you need to get that conversation started to get that visit!
Vehicle shoppers, via the Internet, are maturing their purchase decision on their own much further down the sales funnel than ever before. And every step in that maturation has to include enticements, incentives, and information control (NOT restriction) from the dealer aimed at continuing the maturation to a sale. That is why the lot traffic has trended downward for 16 years: "Window" shopping is all done on the Internet now, and the folks arriving on your lot--though there are fewer--are more ready to buy than ever before.
Now you can see why the floor and Internet traffic have proceeded in the last sixteen years as they have: How do we get folks from the mouse click to the driver's seat? We accept the change the Internet has brought us—that shoppers are further along in the sales process and more educated than ever when they contact us or come in!—and we use all the tools, from email to the phone to social media, to get better at what is still as true it has always been: Conversations lead to sales.
So, everybody: Get clicking, get emailing, get calling, get talking--and get selling!

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The Five Mystical Ways of Digital Kung Fu 數位功夫的五種神秘的方式

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 07:15 AM PST

By Keith Shetterly, keithshetterly@gmail.com
Copyright 2010 All Rights Reserved
1.
"Quiet Panther"
安靜的每週獅
Websites Should Be Seen and Not Heard
You wouldn't set off loud sirens just as a customer opens the door of a brick and mortar business—so don't do it on the Web! Remember, customers with jobs don't need the "Boss I'm Web Shopping Instead of Working" alarm to go off at their own desk. Use sound where it makes sense, but let the shoppers choose when to turn it on: Make friends with your site, not unemployment!
2."Running Tiger"
執行老虎
Driving Traffic to Your Website is More Than Just Meta Tags and Page Titles and Ad Spends
Don't expect your current success via yesterday's SEO to last—are you creating and posting online video on your site? Do you YouTube? Are you pursuing back-links from Social Media? Do you blog? Have any micro sites? The Internet isn't a RonCo "Set It and Forget It" appliance, so don't treat it that way. Stay on top of it! And are you thinking of PPC? Any effort for search engines not including PPC is leaving money on the table—PPC is proven, measurable, and very valuable. Use it smartly!

3. "Dancing Monkey"
跳舞猴子
Live Chat to a Dead Head is Only Good at Concerts
The mega fans of the Grateful Dead should never provide live chat services—are you checking what you're getting with your online chat service? Make sure they answer well and successfully set appointments by "mystery chatting" them yourself. And do it often. And if you're not using chat or not considering it, you're missing a very valuable sales conversion tool—you worked hard to get the shopper to your site, so start the sales engagement there!

4."Lightning Snake"
閃電蛇
Hosting Short Videos Means Never
Having to Say We Suck
Twenty seconds is a long time on the Internet. Don't be afraid to edit down your customers' video testimonials before you post them, or better yet tell them briefly how to "get to the meat" when they talk. Even the most positive but too-long testimonial says "We Suck!" out in the wilds of the Internet. And also get any product video down to the "Quick and Powerful" level. And one more thing: Be sure to scroll your website and phone number across the bottom of all videos—don't waste those precious few seconds of a customer's attention by not doing the right self-promoting.
5."Knowing Crane"
知道蒼鷺
The Buzz of Social Media Might be From the Chainsaw You're Taking to Your Business
You need to get past buzz words with Social Media, and in a hurry--you shouldn't just "buy services" for this, you need to understand and plan what you're doing. Do you know how to monetize Tweet for your fixed ops, how to respond to issues, and how to create business for yourself on Facebook and other Social Media? You would laugh at a dork who walked into a party and shoved his business car rudely under everyone's nose—so don't be that dork in Social Media! Learn how to interact or you'll get ignored, or, worse, derided in business-killing ways. And Online Reputation Management is a modern and very real business need, encompassing both Social Media and the Internet at large (can you say "Google Business Reviews"?). Do you manage your Facebook fan pages several times a day? Do you watch Twitter for your business' name—what are people saying about you? And there's so much more!

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Wednesday, June 1, 2011

What is a Vehicle Identification Number?

What is a Vehicle Identification Number?

A vehicle identification number (VIN) is the DNA of your car. Each character and sequence has a specific meaning and each VIN is specific for one vehicle only.

Here is an example of a VIN: 1HGCM82633A004352. I know what you're thinking, "Yikes!" But it's really not so bad if you know what you're looking at.

Vehicle Identification Number's were first used in 1954 and were not standardized until 1981. Every VIN is 17 characters long and tells where a vehicle was made, when it was made, and other characteristics of the vehicle.

From Wikipedia, following is a chart that explains what each character means:

Character 1: The country the vehicle was made in or where final assembly took place.
Character 2: The vehicle manufacturer, Ford, Chevrolet, etc.
Character 3: The vehicle type or manufacturing division.
Characters 4 - 8: The Vehicle Descriptor section. Model, body style, engine type, transmission, etc.
Character 9: The check digit used to detect invalid VIN's using a formula developed by the DOT.
Characters 10 - 17: Vehicle Identifier Section.

Character 10: The vehicle's model year identified by either a number or letter.
Character 11: The vehicle assembly plant.

Characters 12 - 17: The vehicle's production or serial number. It could indicate the sequence that a vehicle followed through the assembly line.

How is this information useful? It can insure that when you buy a new car, the dealer can't change two almost identical vehicles before you pick it up.
It can also be used by mechanics to identify replacement parts.
The registry of motor vehicles also uses it when registering a new vehicle.

If you're curious to find out any of this information on your vehicle, there are many websites that will give you the actual codes and their meanings.
Simply go to your search engine such as Yahoo! or Google and type in VIN or vehicle identification number.

You can actually have some fun doing this and learn more about your car than you thought you knew.

Thank you,
Thomas Ieracitano

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What's in a VIN?

There are only a handful of times vehicle owners must know an auto's Vehicle Identification Number (VIN): when buying or selling a car, applying for insurance or registering a vehicle with the state Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). Other than that, few people pay much mind to the series of numbers and letters on a vehicle's dash.

But because there are those among us who are experts at manipulating a vehicle's VIN to conceal its true identity, it pays to know what's in a VIN. Law enforcement officials in particular should be familiar with the data a VIN contains as well as the methods crooks use to alter or obliterate this information.

What's in a VIN?

A VIN is a series of numbers and letters that represent coded forms of vehicle information. The coded data found in this series adds detailed vehicle information to what is already found in the DMV's license plate database.

VINs for vehicles manufactured between 1958-1970 may have 11 numbers and letters or less, while all automobiles manufactured in North America since 1971 contain a series of 17 numbers and letters.

Sgt. William Smylie, whose career in vehicle theft investigations with the Miami (Florida) Police Department spanned nearly three decades, describes the elements of a 17-digit VIN as follows:

World Manufacturer Identifier (WMI). This information is found in the VIN's first three characters. The first character identifies the nation of origin. For instance, Canada is a 2; while the United States can be 1, 4 or 5; and Japan is a J. The second digit indicates the corporate manufacturer, such as Ford, General Motors, Toyota and so on. These numbers or letters may vary according to the place of manufacture. So, for instance, a General Motors vehicle, built in Canada would have a VIN that starts with 2G, while a VIN for an import from Japan, such as a Toyota vehicle, might begin with JT or 1T, depending on whether it was produced in Japan or the United States. The third character indicates the type and model of the vehicle, such as Chevrolet or Dodge.
Digits four through nine. The VIN's next five digits give information on various components of the vehicle such as body style, engine type, transmission and drivetrain category. The ninth character is a number known as the "check" digit. This number is part of a mathematical formula, which when applied tells investigators whether the VIN is authentic. Each character in the 17-digit VIN is assigned a corresponding value and weight. The first eight characters' values are added together, as are the last eight. The total sums are then divided by a specified number, which gives a remainder that should equal the check digit's value.
Vehicle Indicator section. This is the last eight characters (of a 17-digit VIN). The character in position 10 indicates the vehicle's model year. The codes alternate between numbers and letters according to the year in which the vehicle was produced. All VIN's use numerals from 1-9, and all the letters of the alphabet except I, O and Q. Therefore a vehicle built in 1971 would be a "1" while a vehicle manufactured in 1979 would have a "9" in the 10th position. A vehicle produced in 1980 would have an "A" in the 10th position and so on. (Each year after 1980 is assigned a letter of the alphabet with the exception of I, O and Q until it reaches Z, then the 10th position reverts back to numbers.)

Where's the VIN?

Before 1967, a VIN could be placed almost anywhere on the vehicle. After 1968, North American manufacturers were required to place the code in an area visible from outside the vehicle. This data string is usually found on the left-hand side of the dash next to the vehicle's lower edge. However, in some older vehicles, the VIN may be on the right side, and in some European models, such as BMW, it may even be situated on the steering column.

Article link; http://www.officer.com/article/10248861/whats-in-a-vin

Thank you,
Thomas Ieracitano

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What to Know Before You Go Car Shopping

Photo courtesy Edmunds.com. Taken by Scott Jacobs

The test drive plays a pivotal role in car buying.

Before you start thinking about fun things like whether you want a convertible or a sports car, you need to do some self-examination. First and foremost, you need to examine your budget. You should set a reasonable price range for the car and begin to eliminate cars that are out of that price range. As a potential car buyer, you need to be realistic, don't fantasize about a $45,000 car when your budget will just barely support a $22,000 price-tag. Also, remember that trying to figure out a way to buy a car that is outside your price range is really not a good idea. After all, it's not much fun to have a car if you can't afford to go places in it.

How Dealers Profit

There are three main ways that dealers profit from you. Don't be taken for a ride!

The negotiating process for the price of the trade-in.
The negotiating process for the price of the new car.
Scams in the business office after negotiations are done.

Source: CarBuyingTips.Com

You also need to know about your own credit history. If there's something that you think the dealer will ask, that's certainly something you should be prepared to answer. Many of the promotions that you see on television are reserved just for people with excellent credit. So having a copy of your own credit report is important. There are a variety of places to obtain a copy of your credit report. All of the three large national credit bureaus -- Equifax, Experian and TransUnion -- offer single reports and packages from their Web sites. A copy of your report costs $9 plus any taxes, shipping and/or handling charges. You can even get 3-in-1 reports, showing your credit history as reported by all three major credit reporting agencies. For example, the 3-in-1 package available from the Equifax Web site currently costs $29.95.

Finally, you need to know what your automobile needs are:

Do you need to haul heavy equipment? You may want to think about a pick-up truck.
Do you have a sizeable family or head up a carpool? You may want to think about a minivan, wagon or large sport utility vehicle (SUV).
Do you live in an area where you need four-wheel drive? You may want to think about an SUV with all-wheel or four-wheel drive.
Do you travel far or use the car rarely? If you log a lot of miles, you may want to research cars that get good gas mileage, like a hybrid car.
Do you have a towing requirement -- perhaps you need to tow a horse trailer or a boat? You may want to consider a heavy-duty pick-up truck or an SUV with a towing package.

There's a vast amount of choices for today's car buyer. Knowing what your automobile needs are is the easiest way to begin eliminating some of those options. Eventually, with some additional research, you should be able to narrow the field down considerably.

When you figure out what car you want (or what cars you want to check out up-close-and-personal -- think "test-drive"), there are some things you want to learn about the car(s) so that you can get the best deal possible when you're ready to buy. You will need to know the average price of the car, so you won't overpay. You can get a good idea of the base price (the price of the car without any special options) by visiting different dealerships and comparing prices and by using the Internet to get price quotes. You should also get an idea of how much the dealer will add on for various options like air conditioning, a cd player or anti-lock brakes. If you can, try to find out what the dealer price is and negotiate up from that figure. According to ConsumerReports, it's actually a lot better to do it that way as opposed to working from the sticker-price down.

In addition to visiting dealerships to do your research, you should also be reading car reviews in magazines and online. You can learn which cars are given high marks for safety, which cars get the best gas mileage, and so on. Once you've narrowed your list down to a few possibilities, you should read as many reviews on those makes and models as you can. Some good places to look for both professional and consumer car reviews are:

MotorTrend magazine
ConsumerGuide.com
Automobile magazine
Car and Driver.com
Edmunds.com
CarReview.com

Another good way to find out about a car is by simply asking your family, friends, co-workers and neighbors. Among all these people, you're bound to find someone that drives or has driven the make or model you're researching.

Finally, if you plan to trade in a car you already own, you want to know the price of your trade-in. Remember that some car dealers make big money paying you way too little for your trade-in. Do your homework and check out what publications, such as the N.A.D.A. Official Used Car Guide, the Kelley Blue Book and the Consumer Reports Used Car Buying Guide, list as the market value of your trade-in. Keep in mind that these estimates are based on cars in good condition with an average of 12,000 miles per year. So, if your car has been driven less than or more than that, the price could go up or down accordingly. If you have enough information, no one will be able to take you for a ride!

link to this article; http://auto.howstuffworks.com/buying-selling/car-buying3.htm

Thank you,
Thomas Ieracitano

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/buying-selling/car-buying2.htm

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How to Buy a Car

How to Buy a Car

by Allison Klein

Inside this Article

Car Buying and the Internet

Photo courtesy Edmunds.com. Taken by Scott Jacobs
Let your fingers do the walking so your feet don't have to! Use the Internet to help put you behind the wheel of your very own vehicle.

Whether you're buying new or used, there's no doubt that the Internet is a great tool for your car quest. If you are buying a new car, you can research the kind of car you want, the options you need, the price of the car and the price of the additional options. If you've done your homework, you'll be able to walk into a dealership armed with loads of valuable information.

When you're just starting out, a good first step is to go to the manufacturers' Web sites to check out the cars and the available options. You can usually find local dealers and request quotes or see the Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price (MSRP). Once you've narrowed your choices, you can check out an array of other Web sites for more pricing information:

Make sure you go to more than one pricing site to get the best idea of the average price.

In addition to using the Internet to research the car you want to buy, you can also use it to figure out your finance options and select a warranty for your car. Sites like E-Loan and Lending Tree offer online auto loans. A warranty is a contract that guarantees maintenance if your car has any mechanical or other problems. Remember that warranties are another way for dealers to get more money out of your bank account, so know what kind of warranty you want and how much you are willing to pay for it.

Odometer Fraud

The odometer lets you know how many miles the car has driven. A used car's mileage affects its selling price. For instance, the more miles the car has logged the lower the cost of the car. Because high mileage can decrease the selling price, some unscrupulous people practice odometer fraud. Although it is a crime to try to "roll back" or change the odometer reading, that doesn't stop people from doing it.

One of the most useful sites on the Internet is Car Buying Tips.com. This site offers up just about everything you need to know about buying a new or used car. The tips are invaluable for anyone who wants to make sure they don't overpay for their new ride. One of the best things about the site is that it deconstructs various dealer scams. If you know the dealer's agenda before you walk in the door, you'll be able to spot if someone is taking advantage of you. We're certainly not saying that all car dealers are out to dupe you, but you have to be careful and be prepared. Remember, an ounce of prevention can save you thousands of dollars in the end.

Now that you know where to start looking for information, let's take a closer look at what you should know before you go shopping.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/buying-selling/car-buying2.htm

Thank you,
Thomas Ieracitano