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esietsma · Nov 19, 2008

Ummm....ahem, I would just like to say that I wrote this press release and not Betty. So,uh, next time can we get either the author to write something original about the subject or claim that it is in fact a press release just pasted in?

And on another, less irritated note, this did get first spot on a google search for "mikulski auto ownership tax assistance amendment." Beating out the senators site, the baltimore sun and various other postings about the amendment.

Nov 16, 2008

Problem with the interest rate part of this is so many loans are already 0% interest becuase of OEM incentives.

bpulseadmin · Nov 15, 2008

At a press conference today in Towson, MD, Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski (D) announced legislation to provide tax savings to car and truck buyers.

Speaking from MileOne Automotive's Saturn of York Road dealership, Mikulski is hoping to help the American driving public and the automotive dealerships around the country with incentives to purchase new vehicles. Towson, MD (PRWEB) November 12, 2008

During the first of two press conferences today, four-term Maryland Senator, Barbara Mikulski announced her plan to help save the automotive industry, a major force in the American economy, by focusing on the common denominator of industry success - automotive sales. Speaking from Saturn of York Road, a MileOne dealership, the Senator unveiled "The Mikulski Auto Ownership Tax Assistance Amendment," which proposes all sales/excise tax and the interest paid on automotive loans be tax deductible for new car and truck purchases made between November 12, 2008 and December 31, 2009.

Mikulski and fellow speakers at the conference including UAW Local 239 President, Fred Swanner, and Mel Bayo, 23 year automotive sales veteran and corporate trainer for MileOne, believe the legislation will be a defining moment in the current economic situation as the tax break aims to kickstart new vehicle sales throughout the remainder of 2008 and 2009 thereby supporting the over 21,000 new car dealerships throughout the United States and all manufacturer brands.

"My plan is simple and straight forward. It will stimulate demand and get the American people back into the showrooms and buying cars. If you buy a car, we have to make them, we have to sell them and we have to service them which will support the over 6 million people who rely on the automotive industry for their jobs," declared Senator Mikulski. "Next week when the Senate reconvenes for their November session and discusses their automotive rescue plan, I will fight to make sure my amendment is part of it. I will keep fighting on the Senate floor in a bipartisan effort to get our economy rolling again."

During the conference, Senator Mikuslki displayed multiple examples of savings created by her proposed amendment. If a consumer were to purchase a Saturn Aura priced at $23,600 sold in Maryland with a 6% excise (sales) tax and financed with a 5 year loan at a 7% interest rate, the total savings would be $1,757. The interest paid on the loan will be deductible annually throughout the loan term, similar to mortgage interest paid, while the full sales tax will be available for deduction in the year of the vehicle's purchase.

"Senator Mikulski's plan offers an immediate reason for customers to come into dealerships across the country and make that new car purchase they have been delaying," said Director of Sales for the Baltimore Area Saturn Retailers Dave Coyne, who watched the press conference with eager anticipation. "I keep hearing people say they think they can't get financed or now is a bad time to buy a car when the opposite couldn't be more true. Dealer groups like MileOne and other dealerships across the country have partnerships with multiple local and national banks that can get customers financed and with the vehicle selection having cleaner emissions and being more fuel efficient than it has been in 10 years, it has never been a better time to buy. This amendment will put money in customers pockets come tax time and give the automotive industry the sales it needs now."

To learn more about Senator Mikulski's "Auto Ownership Tax Assistance Amendment" visit http://mikulski.senate.gov/_pdfs/Press/autoownershiptaxamendment.pdf

Click here to watch the press conference.

About MileOne Automotive
MileOne Automotive operates 65 retail automotive franchises representing 28 different brands and 9 collision centers in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia with a focus on the Baltimore-Washington, Hampton Roads/Virginia Beach and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton major metro areas. MileOne.com allows customers to research new, used and fuel-efficient luxury, import and domestic cars and trucks, send information about vehicles to their mobile device, schedule service appointments, buy parts and accessories, play automotive games, and download automotive wallpaper and mobile ring tones. For more information or to find a quality MileOne dealership near you, please visit www.mileone.com.

Oscar Vanderkooij · Nov 20, 2008

Alex,

Do you see a better closing ratio on the myliveoffer leads than the other leads from your website? You do not have to tell me percentages if you do not feel comfortable posting that I understand. Just want to know whether closing ratio is higher, because that is what I see as the biggest benefit.

Thanks in advance.

Nov 19, 2008

Oscar,

I don't typically post our business statistics, but I can tell you the most common thing I hear from the customers who use myLIVEoffer:

"It made me buy a car sooner than I was expecting to"

So, customers are playing on Checkered Flag.com, they find "Make My Deal" (myLIVEoffer) and play with it. Sometimes it gets them to pull the trigger sooner, but most of the time it keeps people coming back to us over and over again....and talking to their friends about it

bhoecht · Nov 19, 2008

Oscar,

I'll have one of my dealers quote back stats of results and engagement that way it is not me (the vendor) doing it.

If I could make a suggestion... don't think in terms of all or none (i.e. all consumers won't buy online and more than none will also).

The shopping cart is an attraction ("We have shop online") and engagement tool (Consumer has to give name, phone # + email in order to do more than look at cars).

That way you get the selling opportunity regardless... and where you will sell most of your extra cars by having this.

Buy online is just a natural extension of shop. A few will buy online, but that is not where you build your business case. Yes it is almost purely incremental to what you are getting today, but I'll let my dealers speak to that.

I thought you may find this interesting too... Here is a link to a TV news show piece where they interviewed a consumer who used the service.

Loading…

wbztv.com

Not all. Not none. Just more.

Use it to attract and get yourself more good engaged consumers.

Nov 19, 2008

Oscar,

In order to take this off site, please send me an email to billy@mydealerbroadcast.com and I’ll let you go through a demo.

The number of steps for a consumer are from 5 - 10 depending on financing and accessories and can actually be done in approx 1 minute

Oscar Vanderkooij · Nov 19, 2008

Alex,

I understand that you use myliveoffer on checkeredflag.com. I know this is not a complete negotiating tool and rather an abbreviated version, but how does this perform for you? Percentage of leads from myliveoffer vs the other leads of your website? Closing ratio of myliveoffer vs other leads from your website?

I have looked at both AIDealer's solutions and mydealerbroadcast and I think these would take too much time to complete for a customer and then they still have to come in to make sure that their trade is worth as much as the shopping tool said and whether they are approved for the financing. Don't get me wrong, I think it is a great concept, but wonder whether the consumer is really ready for this. Although it gets us closer to completing the sale online, it really is an estimate on trade and financing and thus is not a true turn-key shopping cart. I do think it helps getting the customer further along the process at your dealership and thus they are more likely to purchase from you.

That brings me back to the questions I had for Alex and anybody that is using any of these tools. What is the percentage of your leads from your website that use this tool? And as important, is there a significant increase in the closing ratio of these leads?

Any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Nov 18, 2008

Amit..I have to totally disagree with (The study has some great data, but I wouldn’t jump to any conclusions based on these overall numbers.) Here’s an excise for all dealers/managers etc. Go to your local bar/restaurant/etc. and survey folks. I have conducted several over the past year all over the country and about 90% say if an online process where available they would go down that road in a minute. With that said, there is another company out here with the industry first online negotiation system. If you would like to know more about our early adopters program, drop me an email.

amitishere · Nov 17, 2008

I looked through the original report and most of this data can be misleading, since the survey is not U.S.-centric. In fact, it covers 15 countries, including the U.S., Western Europe, and emerging markets. The "click to buy" interest was particularly strong in the latter group, e.g. Brazil (87%) and India (68%). By contrast, only 17% of US consumers in this study indicated a strong interest in click to buy.

Also, the emerging markets were added to the study in 2008 and are largely responsible for that massive jump from 20% in 2007 to 44% in 2008.

The study has some great data, but I wouldn't jump to any conclusions based on these overall numbers.

Nov 17, 2008

With 60% of consumers looking for any way to get a better car purchasing experience, it is no wonder they'd be more open to finding better methods. It makes total sense as to why a consumer is more willing to do the entire purchase online. As long as the car business is as "bent" (not to be read as corrupt) as it is, non-traditional purchase methods will be sought.

The number to watch over the next two years will be the online review researching - I expect that to grow substantially.

Bill_Playford · Nov 16, 2008

Just went to a recent presentation where one of the speakers (a CEO, no less) said that the number of customers seeking to purchase a car totally over the Internet has flat-lined. Clearly, he did not see this report. "Click to buy" is alive and well!

If you want to completely wow a customer, complete the entire transaction over the phone, and deliver the vehicle (paperwork and all) to their house. Try it some time. You will be blown away by the results!

Nov 16, 2008

Brian,

Great observations in your post but I do have to differ on your first paragraph. My own company offers a very user friendly ecommerce package that is having great success for our dealers.

I would have to say the most surprising number to me in the report was that just 43% of consumers saw inability to test drive vehicle as a barrier to purchasing online.

Only 43%!

That leaves a lot of consumers out there that don't seem to have that need.

Max RPM - We've found a surprising number of consumers willing to buy online. If you'd asked me less than a year ago I'd have said 10%.

Our recent presidential election shows us the power of the internet as Jeff discussed in a recent post.

Nov 14, 2008

These figures are pretty well inline with everything else we have seen. The only real surprising number was the 44% that would purchase a vehicle completely over the internet. I would have thought that number to be closer to 25%

bhoecht · Nov 14, 2008

Jeff, since Ai-Dealer is the only company currently offering the complete "Buy-Direct" online, transactional capability considered by CapGemini, I'll say up front that I am posting here at your request, lest I otherwise step outside of the blog rules.

Since we have actual experience with what consumers say vs. what they do, I'll focus on that for this post along with some misconceptions about Buy Direct.

Perhaps the thinking behind the CapGemini report is behind this month's write up / vendor profile in Digital Dealer magazine?

Loading…

www.digitaldealer-magazine.com

Anyway, here is the experience on the ground with Buy Direct. Stop thinking about Buy. Buy is just a natural extension of Shop.

That is why we call our product a Shopping Cart, not a Buying Cart.

Our definition of "shopping" for a car online includes 100% self-serve Desking and F+I - price, credit, interest rates, incentives, trade equity, extended warranties, protections, accessories, tax, title, fees, and most importantly, accurate monthly payments.

So you provide all of that by hooking the function up to your website, but in order to maximize your # of selling opportunities, the shopping cart is structured to allow consumers to "browse" the cars anonymously, but in order to "shop" they have to give you their name, phone number and email address.

The great majority of sales that arise via the shopping cart occur from your follow up of the people who start out in the cart, but who come in. Some buy online, but not many. Certainly not 44%... but that is okay.

Our dealers achieving the best results with this attribute ~5% of their sales to the shopping cart. With good process, here is what they get:

1) A boost in the # of leads that their website produces... usually 1-2 times, but it depends on site design and competition from other "lead" calls to action
2) 60-70% response rates (i.e. the shopping cart consumers respond very, very well to your follow up activities). Partly because they are lower in the funnel, partly because they are engaged with your process even though it was all online.
3) 20-30% close ratios... between Buy Directs and follow up of the unsold shopping carts of all those who created an account, this many close.

Then the more interesting question becomes (and this is an area we are just beginning to work with Ad Agencies on), how do you use this as part of a broader marketing and digital marketing strategy?

How do you spread the word that you have "shop and buy online" as a competitive differentiator?

Anyway, thanks for the invitation to post. Hopefully follow up posts don't center on how car dealers want people to buy (i.e. in the showroom)... but how to both give consumers what they want (shop) while still giving the dealers what they need (buy - whether online or in the showroom with highly engaged consumers).

Aug 31, 2010

Lol, there are several Ad sites that are giving them a run for their money. Autotrader been sending attorneys after people so they can monopolize. So, if you have autotrader in your name you are F'ed. They think they created other peoples domains names and paid for it. There is a site that is awesome looking in design and their ranking isn't bad for the time they been on the net called Bogartautotrader.com. They got attacked - funny thing is it seem like they waited to see if they were goin gto do good then hit them from a repliable source of mine. Internet monopoly I mean you are goin gup against COX, corporate gangbangers it seem. If you are a small guy they can't handle competition what do they do - gangbang in suits and ties instead of man up and give people that made them rich help like all those dealerships that are going down Im sure they made COX and AutoTrader.com rich so when they going to help the car industry like lowering their fucking feed prices. I know BogartsAutoTrader.com was doing this and people were happy. Spread the word, in my opinion they went after them BogartsAutoTrader.com because they are honest and is trying to help the car industry instead of rob them when the economy is down. Our country needs more honest businesses like BOGARTSAUTOTRADER.com. I won't doubt if Autotrader start harrassing them to give up their domain name. Thats what wussies do in my book must know you suck when you got to worry about the little guy, lmao sad. Money gangbangers once the corporate peanut butter kicks in they will get you stuck like a ghetto with no option "AUTOTRADER".

Dec 3, 2009

Super Sales- that's interesting because I've heard that same thing recently. A lot of their recent behavior can be explained by them dressing up AutoTrader.com for sale. I'm curious if anyone else has heard this, seen any signs, or has any additional info?

Oct 16, 2009

The likely suitors would be Google, Microsoft, or somebody with VERY deep pockets. Imagine what Google could do to the market if they owned ATC.

Oct 16, 2009

So after reading all of this, there is another rumor that AutoTrader is back on the market. Is there any truth to this rumor? Is Cox once again trying to unload?

Jun 7, 2009

The ATC subject is always interesting to say the least. As a former employee of ATC and ATP over an 8 year period I am amazed at the loyalty from dealers. Does ATC work? Off course. Is it worth the investment? That is up to the dealer and the ROI they are expecting. Does ATC innovate? Without a doubt. But how does that innovation help the dealer? Is real or perceived? Again, the answer is subjective. In the beginning ATC was to be a targeted advertising venue. They thought the buying process would be changed and the need for dealers per se would change dramatically. Well that didn't happen. Now they are introducing products such as the ALPHA programs for thousand more. How does a dealer resolve the ROI question? Some have because of basic marketing and advertising models. We spend the money we HAVE to be getting our moneies worth. I question that logic and do openly as a competitor of ATC on the streets. While they serve a need, does the invention of new more expensive prducts really increase ROI or just justify them building brand recognition for a future sale? There are many opportunities out there for dealers, but the "newspaper syndrome" has taken hold, "I need to be there and in a big way since my competition is there". Mr.Perry and crew have done a great job, building their brand on the dealers back.

Apr 7, 2009

veh...

ATC has been piloting different versions live for the past several months. You will be seeing the new version shortly.

Apr 7, 2009

Have you looked at the Vehix website lately? It is a much nicer site than Autotrader. It looks like the code was written in the last decade, not 1999 like ATC. Very nice filtering options, although sadly they still don't enforce consistency in the listings (if you don't put trans type in a listing, a shopper can't filter for it).

AT website is a PITA to navigate and looking for specific vehicle characteristics is useless. They don't seem to be putting any money into IT and development; could it be they are trying to cut expenses to make it attractive to a buyer?

Mar 30, 2009

I have been in the car business 45 years and sold a trillion dollars in cars.ATC is only as good as the ROI it produces. It should at minimum be double in terms of the spend.

Mar 27, 2009

(I am, 20yrs car guy, 10 on my own,$34million sals in 2008) ATC is expensive, but so is a Duramax Diesel, ATC gets the job done.===Real issues==Dealers aren't using the tools they have to be effective. I've seen dealers with partnership packages that still have dealer specialties to come take 9 pics....they pay for 27 but only use the 9...they have the best placement on ATC and have lame descriptions, I'm sure that's a good indicator on how they handle the customer when they call in.........

They billboard at Times Square is expensive....but you never see it blank...or with some corn-ball hokie ad.....or half used.....

Dealers right now are targeting ATC as a big ticket expense to cut....they should train staff instead....that's what I do now....there is a great need for it...

Feb 4, 2009

Former and Ex-ATC, it definitely all falls in line with what's been going on lately. Just about everything you hear in rumor these days is based in fact. A former co-worker and I started hearing bits, pieces, and rumors, and we predicted, EXACTLY how the demise of Cox Auto Trader/Auto Mart was going to go down, and we got it down EXACTLY, even to the utilizing of the print reps to convert revenue before they ditch them, which, mark my words, is the plan. Why do you think they are only giving them a $25,000 base as opposed to the $40,000-$45,000 starting base all other advertising consultants make. They are looking for a low-cost solution to converting dollars. Sure, they are paying them some heavy commissions up front (200% on converted print revenue), but in the long run, they overall value of the upsell is worth more.
It's all way too transparent.

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