Dealers ain't going to die, says Cliff Banks

[Alex Snyder]

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-dealer-franchise-model-go-extinct-cliff-banks/?published=t

Cliff makes a great argument against all the people nay-saying the future of car dealerships. The argument I like most is the one about all dealers being able to implement the exact same technologies all these "disruptors" are using.

This just adds to the arguments we've been having, in these forums, about the Beepi, Vroom, Carvana models.

 

[john.quinn]

Nice post, Alex.

This caught my eye:

"Finally, there is the question as to how bad dealerships really are. Despite all of the bad stereotypes and negative headlines, there are metrics that show dealerships may not be as bad as we like to think."

I think I may have opined in a thread or two here recently, and I know I brought it up in a group setting a couple weeks ago: 45 million transactions last year... it can't be "completely broken." Some parts of the process are fun, and overall, a lot of consumers have a lot of good experiences. Sure -- lots of room to improve, but what doesn't have room to improve?

I even offer the community on this forum as evidence: go back 7,8 -- 10 years, and look at the discussions talking about some true game-changers to technology, process and even culture. Now, the discussions really get down to the macro-level changes - slim slices of tech or process to improve a slim problem. Worthy efforts -- I'm not saying they're not -- but very specialized. Recognizing this reality, one of the questions I've been asking is, "Why?" Are we out of ideas? Are the really big problems solved? Or at least improved enough that they don't warrant the expenditure of resources that got us to where we are today? Are we just bored or lazy? Have the true visionaries moved on leaving a dearth of innovation? Some combination of all -- or none?

If the demise of the dealership has indeed yet again been foiled.... (hahaha...), then what's next?