From coast to coast, over and over... "Wow, we got lots of ups, why did you drop the price so low? C'mon, just get 'em in, run a sale and don't drop the price!"
Prices on website... yes or no?
- Thread starter NHHarleyguy
- Start date
From coast to coast, over and over... "Wow, we got lots of ups, why did you drop the price so low? C'mon, just get 'em in, run a sale and don't drop the price!"
There are several tools on listing sites like autotrader and cars.com to help you see if your prices are competitive for cars, and perhaps for bikes if you are using these vendors.
HOW to price vehicles is a struggle every dealer confronts. too high and the phone won't ring; too low and as it was said above, you don't have room to negotiate. build value in your product by maximizing your VDPs with:
• detailed comment descriptions
• short videos (put a girl on them like Tampa Harley if your owner will let you - pm me for advice on that)
• FB and Google Adwords.
PS - how do you make money in the winter???
HOW to price vehicles is a struggle every dealer confronts. too high and the phone won't ring; too low and as it was said above, you don't have room to negotiate. build value in your product by maximizing your VDPs with:
• detailed comment descriptions
• short videos (put a girl on them like Tampa Harley if your owner will let you - pm me for advice on that)
• FB and Google Adwords.
PS - how do you make money in the winter???
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pricing is important, no question.
want to know what I love about HD? they haven't given in and plastered their invoice / cost / whatever all over the net. I'm sure you could find it if you start some serious digging, but it's not on a million sites out there.
want to know what I love about HD? they haven't given in and plastered their invoice / cost / whatever all over the net. I'm sure you could find it if you start some serious digging, but it's not on a million sites out there.
So...to price or not...Well, I have to say the 2 months ago my dealer had a staffed sale and management chose to take the price of all used cars off of our website (I was able to save AT & cars). The inquiries for that week tripled.
However, I would liken this to buying Facebook Likes. Just because some deal hound from 500 miles away sent in a lead doesn't make it a sell-able customer. Add to the influx of leads the fact the BDC could not quote prices for the duration of the sale and you wind up with a TON of angry non-customers and a damaged reputation. If they were to have called in, the guys on the floor were giving out quotes on the phone-and this happened to a number of people that when the BDC did their follow up calls they were screamed at for not providing the requested information.
My opinion is that not only did my BDC have to spend a lot of time chasing non-customers and take a beating, but we lost customers that would have bought by not having prices on our site for the reasons others have noted. My bounce rate went up 40% and the closing rate fell by 65%. If the BDC would have been able to quote and it had not been a staffed sale, maybe things would have gone better.
OH..and if these numbers weren't reason enough to price your cars...give me another 2 months, we have the same sale at the end of next month at our other store.
However, I would liken this to buying Facebook Likes. Just because some deal hound from 500 miles away sent in a lead doesn't make it a sell-able customer. Add to the influx of leads the fact the BDC could not quote prices for the duration of the sale and you wind up with a TON of angry non-customers and a damaged reputation. If they were to have called in, the guys on the floor were giving out quotes on the phone-and this happened to a number of people that when the BDC did their follow up calls they were screamed at for not providing the requested information.
My opinion is that not only did my BDC have to spend a lot of time chasing non-customers and take a beating, but we lost customers that would have bought by not having prices on our site for the reasons others have noted. My bounce rate went up 40% and the closing rate fell by 65%. If the BDC would have been able to quote and it had not been a staffed sale, maybe things would have gone better.
OH..and if these numbers weren't reason enough to price your cars...give me another 2 months, we have the same sale at the end of next month at our other store.
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- Jul 25, 2012
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- Kevin
Amazon shows prices, Apple shows prices, small shops on Etsy show prices, Craigslist, Kijiji and everyone knows eBay shows prices. I'm sure you can find more, and they've touched almost every single online user, this is what people expect.
People want prices, people want fast, if you make anyone in any market work to get the information they need, they can easily find someone else online who will make it easier for them.
Don't Kid yourself to think they'll be 'intrigued' by the mystery and give you (the dealer) their time first.
People want prices, people want fast, if you make anyone in any market work to get the information they need, they can easily find someone else online who will make it easier for them.
Don't Kid yourself to think they'll be 'intrigued' by the mystery and give you (the dealer) their time first.
- Jul 28, 2013
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- Abby
At my dealership, not only are prices listed. We show the discount as well as the bottom line price on all new vehicles in red. When we started doing that, it increased our sales volume tremendously.
- Apr 20, 2009
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- Ryan
Great stuff Abby!
I just finished reading this-(click here for the thread) enthusiast forum post on a bad experience directly resulting from the customer's perception of advertised pricing decisions made by the dealer.
It probably goes without saying in these parts, but "artificial pricing" is still a very quick way to lose a customer for life. I'm not prepared to say that is a strategy at the dealership mentioned, but I do think it is important to realize that it doesn't have to be in order for the consumer to FEEL like it is their strategy. This thread is really interesting in that it covers everything from "forced add-ons" to "Interent vs Lot price."
As is probably expected in a SVT forum, I did notice a few "classy' avatars, so avoid the left margin if that sort of thing offends you.
Last Thought: This might be a little off topic. There are a few dealership employees posting here as well. One is representing their dealer VERY WELL in this thread, the other is not. What are you doing to encourage your staff to be active in their personal sphere's of influence? Do you have a Social Media policy that protects your brand? Better yet, does your Social Media policy promote your brand?
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- Dec 30, 2009
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- Yago
Kevin,
I don't disagree but the difference is that in the car business we deal with somewhat of an intangible value:
How much is a used car worth with the options, mileage, availability, color, etc that it has?
As a note is also well know that in Craigslist (I don't have as much information from other sources) if you don't put prices call go up significantly (doesn't mean you will sell more cars) and that you also capture a different type of client by going that route.
Ryan, thanks for the kick in the pants! We all know I'm not shy about my opinions. 
I wanted to make sure to share the numbers I've seen in the short time we did pull down prices. (BTW, Facebook just got um-blocked from the floor computers last week & the suggestion of a SM policy fell flat). I would hate to see anyone damage their business by removing prices because they saw a study somewhere noting price removal to increase leads. Thank said, I'll not edit my post but negative light I placed my dealer in is discomforting. I hope the gain to others by my sharing of an honest opinion & data outweighs any pain caused.
Also, I know of some great people at dealers that could add a TON to the community but are contractually obligated not to post (or really talk about) any auto related info, opinions or data. Transparency & Freedom rocks!
