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Three Ways A Car Dealer Can Attract The Millennial Market

For a car dealer, competition can be tough, and the trick to creating brand and business loyalty is to lure in the next generation. Many have tried to produce interesting ads featuring hip-hop music, computer graphics, and cutting-edge humor, but they have found that that really isn’t enough to pull in the generation known as the “millennials.” This demographic has been notoriously hard to reach, and television advertising to the younger buyer is nearly a moot point in the age of DVR recordings, YouTube, and Netflix.

The age group’s importance to auto sellers is also compounded by the fact that they have much less interest in driving than those in previous generations. However, there are still recent high school and college grads that are ready to become proud owners of their first vehicles that are not registered to Mom and Dad. So, how can a car dealer cater to these new consumers? Here are a few things that vehicle sellers can do to maximize their sales to young adults:

1. Recognize The Extent Of Their Smartphone Dependence

Young adults these days use their smartphones as electronic guides to the world. Why wouldn’t they? After all, they don’t really know life any differently. This demographic relies on their phone, or better yet, the Internet, to get directions to the dealership, find reviews, get showroom hours, and browse inventory. Therefore, the savvy car dealer will ensure that he or she has an updated and informative, mobile-friendly website, and perhaps even a mobile app.

2. Respect The Fact That They Have Already Done Their Research

Many vehicle salespeople get frustrated when attempting to pitch various automobile models to college-aged clients. Younger drivers already spend countless hours researching each automobile online to see if all their standards are met. After doing their homework, most of the adults in this age group visit the car dealer after their choices have already been narrowed down to one or two models.

3. Get Straight To The Point Without Gimmicks

Many millennials already have quotes from up to four competing sellers at the time that they walk through the door of a dealership. In this day and age, many younger auto buyers realize that they have the power and opportunity to leave a seller as soon as they hear something that they don’t want to hear.

Google’s statistics have shown that most adults in their early twenties tend to visit an average of 25 websites before they decide to purchase an automobile. This only reinforces the idea that an informative website is crucial for modern-day marketing. Auto sellers should also take note that young adults prefer quick responses to any online inquiries that they send through the seller’s website. Many young consumers wish to hear from the business immediately, not after several hours or days.

Hopefully, each neighborhood car dealer will eventually understand these modern ideas so they may earn the business of the next generation of consumers. Just like any other industry, automobile sellers will have to research the methods used by younger customers to shop for vehicles, and incorporate what they find into unique ways to market to that audience.

Auto Sales Training: Business Advantages of a Car Sales Course

Auto sales training is normally carried out in-house, but there are many business advantages to be gained from an external car sales course provided by a specialist training company. Whether it is for your staff or yourself, such courses can offer more than just how to deal with prospective customers. Here is a quick resume of how such a course can benefit you or your sales staff.

Learn the Business

Experienced sales staff can recognize a stroker or flake almost immediately they walk on the lot, but do you even know what these terms mean? Most people learn how to sell cars and talk to potential buyers on the job. However, comprehensive auto sales training will accelerate this learning process and get you selling more cars faster.

Yes, experience is invaluable, but even experienced sales personnel benefit significantly from a structured training course where their skills can be fine-tuned to maximize conversions. It also helps to understand the psychology of the prospect. Most will be looking for a bargain, and will walk into a dealership expecting to pay less than the MSRP.

How to Approach Prospects

The way you approach a prospect on the lot can make or break a potential sale. Too pushy and you might scare them away. Too hesitant, and you might fail to make the sale. Some people need to be talked into buying a car while others prefer to walk around themselves until they see something they like.

A car sales course can show you how to identify each type of prospect, and how to approach and talk to them in a way that gains their confidence. Some customers might try to hide the fact they like a particular car by pointing out its faults. If you know how to spot these prospects, you can more easily talk them into buying.

Technical Aspects of Auto Sales Training

All car sales staff should understand every aspect of buying and selling cars, including essential financial and technical details. You or your staff must be aware of all the financing deals available on every car on the lot, details of insurance and any local or state regulations regarding car purchase and finance.

Servicing and warranties are two critical aspects of selling a car. Most car courses will show you that these two factors can make the difference between clinching a sale and the prospect walking off to look elsewhere.

You must also understand the common aspects of each car you are trying to sell: engine capacity, horsepower and even its state of repair. You should also know how a hybrid works, and the difference between diesel and gas engines. Which is ultimately most economical and which type of engine gives most power, what type of car is best for long distance driving and which is best for town. If you display such knowledge then potential customers will come to trust you more.

Keep Current with a Car Sales Course

Times change and so does the knowledge of potential buyers. Prospects today are more aware of your sales tactics than they used to be, and it is a must for you to be aware of this. They are also more aware of what to look for in used car, and how to spot frame damage. In order to become a truly successful car salesperson, you must be prepared for the common and not so common questions that you may be asked.

You must keep also up with changes in legislation, insurance and finance. It is highly likely your customer will have researched finance options in particular, and also ask questions about service and warranties. Auto sales training will likely show you how a lack of knowledge of warranties and service agreements can stop a sale stone cold dead.

A car sales course will teach the most common, and some not so common, reasons for you failing to persuade a prospect to buy. This itself will improve your sales figures, and keep in mind that just one extra sale will likely pay the cost of such courses.

Why Are Diesel Engines Preferred Over Petrol Engines?

Globally, two types of engines are generally found – diesel engines and petrol engines. The classification is done based on the fuel used for the engines, because the construction, functionality and features of the engines vary on the type of fuel to be used. These engines can be found in cars, airplanes and even in commercial generators. Therefore, it would be worthwhile to spare some time and have a look into the reason behind the preference of one type of engine over the other.

Prerequisites

In order to have a deep understanding of the subject matter of this article, having a passion for the stuff under the bonnet would be helpful. But in any case, the material has been represented in such a manner that a person with little or no knowledge about mechanical engineering will also be able to follow; a bit of physics in your middle school or high school will suffice. To start with, let us try to understand the working principle of the two types of engines, so that we can infer the reason behind the popularity of one type over the other.

Working principle of diesel engines

A diesel engine is generally referred to as CI (compression ignition) engine. In a diesel engine, air is compressed by the pistons within a closed chamber by a process called adiabatic compression. Due to severe compression, the temperature of the air rises to very high levels inside the chamber. After achieving sufficient temperature, the fuel, which in this case is diesel, is slowly injected into the chamber in a controlled manner.

When the inflammable fuel comes in contact with the hot air, it starts burning. The gas produced from the combustion pushes the piston downwards which in turn produces the torque required. Due to its constructional features, it has very low leftover fuel and also the excess heat is dissipated easily, making the engine very suitable for prolonged hours of maintenance free operation under heavy loads. Among all the types of Internal Combustion engines, diesel engines have the highest rate of efficiency, sometimes more than 50%.

Working principle of petrol engines

Petrol engines, on the other hand, is an Internal Combustion engine with an entirely different working principle. Inside a petrol engine, fuel and air are mixed in a chamber and compressed gradually. Also, a spark plug is used to provide the necessary ignition point for the mixture, so that the entire process becomes quick and steady. Due to the presence of the spark plug, petrol engines are highly used in cold countries where the ambient temperature is very low and it is very difficult to maintain the temperature of the mixture suitable for combustion only through compression.

Also, the speed of petrol engines is higher than and its parts are lighter that of its diesel counterparts, making it the ideal choice for quick acceleration and high-speed maneuvers. However, the compression ratio of the fuel-air mixture is quite low for a petrol engine and it results in a lower efficiency of petrol engines as compared to diesel engines.

Which is the better choice?

Well, it depends on the nature of use. Experts recommend petrol engines for cases that need very high speed and high acceleration. Also, historically diesel engines are noisier than petrol engines and people associate it with nasty fumes coming out of the exhaust. But the fact is that carbon dioxide emission from petrol engines is higher than that of diesel engines.

Diesel engines are a better choice due to many factors like:

Cost of diesel is lower than that of petrol in most of the countries in the world.
Diesel engines last longer due to rugged build.
Efficiency and maintenance cost is a great deciding factor for the choice to be made.
At low speeds, diesel engines can generate very high power. This is the ideal case for commercial and industrial applications.

Due to all these reasons, it has also been observed that machines using diesel engines get higher resale values. Surveys have proved the fact that used diesel cars and used diesel generators generate more enquiries when put up for reselling. However, it is strongly advised to consult a domain expert to determine which engine to buy for your requirement.

How to Find the Absolute Best Car Dealers

In this day and age of Internet boards and surveys, more car businesses are concerned with customer satisfaction than ever before. Sales people who have high satisfaction ratings could be in for higher bonuses and other incentives. Dealerships can even earn special rankings with the manufacturer.

Talk to Friends, Family, and Co-workers

When on the search for car dealers to purchase from, start by talking to friends and family. They are going to be the ones to give the most honest opinion of their latest car buying experience. They will want to steer their loved ones to someone who isn’t going to try to scam them out of their money or intentionally sell them a bad car.

When talking to friends and family, ask detailed questions to understand whether or not it was actually a dealership’s fault if something went wrong. Sometimes the person will blame the dealer rather than themselves in the event of a bad deal. It is important to know all the details before making a decision.

Shop Away From Home and Online For Best Price

It doesn’t hurt to take the shopping online, at least to get an idea of what is available. Car buyers that go into a dealership with the information in hand may find that less time is spent negotiating, and the overall experience is much better. While online, take the time to cruise some of the seller reviews to see how other people’s buying experience went.

It is important to shop around when looking for a car. Dealerships can vary on price by hundreds if not thousands of dollars. Some showrooms have a greater variety and may be able to get the customer a vehicle in a different color or even lower mileage.

While it is tempting to stick close to home to find a vehicle, it might be a good idea to broaden the search further from home. Starting further out will give the buyer a better idea of what some sellers are asking for the same car.

Car dealers that are located closer to home have a tendency to see these customers as neighbors. Even if the car on their lot is a higher price, they may be willing to meet a competitor’s price for their local client. On occasion, they may even beat the price in order to keep the sale within the neighborhood.

With the changes in how people spend their money and how they insist on being treated, fewer bad apples makes the whole car buying experience that much sweeter.

About Safety of Self-Driving Cars

Google recently announced their self-driving cars have been in 11 crashes ever? Like… ever. But, I’ve never been in a car accident so does that make me better than them? Last time, the Associated Press reported Google’s self-driving cars were involved in 11 minor crashes in six years. Is that a lot?

Not according to Google. They count it as a win that their cars have driven 1 million automated miles of testing in the six years they’ve been at it, and have only had these few fender benders. By comparison, the human population crashes about 0.3 times for every 100,000 miles, (161,000 km) per driver according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Wait a second… So really, Google’s stats aren’t that much better at 0.6 per 100,000! So why are they spending so much money to develop a self-driving car that doesn’t seem safer? Because many non-fatal crashes go unreported, so it’s very likely that point three crashes per 100,000 miles isn’t even accurate. On top of that, 94 percent of all crashes ever are caused by human failure. We are the absolute worst at driving. Cell phone bans don’t reduce crashes, drunk driving prohibitions, speed limits, and the like don’t stop drivers crashing; instead fatalities are still in the tens of thousands every year.

In fact, for example according Discovery News, the reason there were collisions with the self-driving cars at all was because of driver error! Sources say the car has been rear-ended mostly, but it’s also been sideswiped and hit by a car that ran a red light or stop sign. Since the crash specifics are secret, we can’t be certain, but Google says the car was never at fault, and eight of those crashes were on city streets. If you buy their spin, then yes – the cars probably are safer! And private cars are just the tip of the iceberg.

We’re also gonna be seeing autonomous vehicles in the commercial space. Earlier this month, auto manufacturer Daimler unveiled its self-driving semi-truck. The “Inspiration Truck” can drive itself on the highway, and only needs a human operator in cities. On top of that, they can network on the road and drive in a caravan, getting improved gas mileage as a crew by taking advantage of the slipstream of the truck in front of them. Basically, only the truck in front has to fully cut through the air, the rest “draft” and get a mileage boost.

The Bureau of Transportation Statistics estimates commercial freight logged 3.3 trillion ton-miles in 2012, and trucks represented 38 percent of that — or 1.3 trillion miles. That’s a lot of ground to cover for the Inspiration Truck or other similar commercial trucks. Aside from Google and Daimler, Audi and Nissan have also developed self-driving cars. Tesla announced the Model S will have autonomous features within a few months.

So the future is pretty much here. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ranks self-driving vehicles, and both the Google cars and the Inspiration Truck as “Level 3” autonomous vehicles; unlike an airplane on autopilot. They can travel autonomously, but quote “The driver is expected to be available for occasional control… sufficiently comfortable transition time.” So the car can’t just toss it to the driver when someone jumps in front… but then who is at fault? If “driver” wasn’t actually driving, and Google programmed the thing; what happens?

At this point, no one knows. California, Nevada, Michigan, Florida, and Washington, D.C are the only places that license for self-driving cars, so far, and there are only 48 autonomous vehicles registered in California; 23 of those are Google’s. In the end these laws are still so new, and the technology isn’t entirely proven. Driving a million autonomous miles is small compared to the trillions travelled by truck drivers in the U.S. alone.