Cash for Clunkers

[Alex Snyder]

How do you convert sales NOW is the big question.

Think outside the box and make sure your sales managers are too. We've already converted at least 15 to now deals, but it is done on a per-deal basis.

 

[kevinfrye]

We have a competing dealer that is already making "Cash for Clunkers" deals. They have the customer write up the deal twice (once with a $3500 voucher, and another with a $4500 voucher). Seems to be a very dangerous move to me, as if anything changes, the dealer could be out the money - or - they are pounding so much gross on the deals that they don't care...

 

[ejyoder]

We have a competing dealer that is already making "Cash for Clunkers" deals. They have the customer write up the deal twice (once with a $3500 voucher, and another with a $4500 voucher). Seems to be a very dangerous move to me, as if anything changes, the dealer could be out the money - or - they are pounding so much gross on the deals that they don't care...

Not to mention the fact that if they did it wrong, they could not get the funds, and be subject to a $15,000 fine per sale!

I'm trying to figure out where we can send a car to be actually scrapped. All of our local places are just regular junk yards.

 

[danoneil]

Are you trying to make your salespeople smarter to convert sales now or keep everything a secret , you know, what the customer don't know won't kill em...

I made a handout with all the details of cash for clunkers to give to the salespeople. But one manager suggested I do not hand them out. He's afraid we'll lose sales if the salespeople know to much... I'm thinking that there are customers who think they may have a "clunker" , when in reality they do not... If the salespeople know, the easier to convert the sale now.

What do you think ?

 

[danoneil]

Not to mention the fact that if they did it wrong, they could not get the funds, and be subject to a $15,000 fine per sale!

I'm trying to figure out where we can send a car to be actually scrapped. All of our local places are just regular junk yards.

Maybe we have a Transformers 4 in the works

 

[ejyoder]

Are you trying to make your salespeople smarter to convert sales now or keep everything a secret , you know, what the customer don't know won't kill em...

I made a handout with all the details of cash for clunkers to give to the salespeople. But one manager suggested I do not hand them out. He's afraid we'll lose sales if the salespeople know to much... I'm thinking that there are customers who think they may have a "clunker" , when in reality they do not... If the salespeople know, the easier to convert the sale now.

What do you think ?

I think the salesepeople need to be able to somewhat intelligently answer customers' inquiries. We're giving salespeople the information, particularly from cars.gov and provided by our manufacturers, but we are not doing any actual "Cars for Clunkers" transactions or promotions yet.

 

[Alex Snyder]

Day 1 results:

Not all stores registered. Damn NHTSA system kept breaking. But hitting refresh all day did pay off for a few stores. In the meantime we did 54 CARS Deals yesterday with quite a few scheduled to happen today. I have heard similar numbers from other dealers, so I wonder how long this money is going to last?

We screwed up 2 deals by mis-reading the 136 page document of program details. We sold 2 Double Cab V6 Tacoma's thinking they would be category 2 vehicles (2 MPG increase = $4,500), but then noticed the truck categories are based off the wheelbase length of the base model. That means all Tacoma's are category 1 trucks. Because the MPG increase wasn't high enough, we're going to end up getting refunded only $3,500 on those 2 deals. But $2,000 for 54 deals - we can live with that.

Monday, service will be busy seizing motors. This is a really dangerous task the government is asking us to do. A lot can go wrong when seizing a motor.

 

[Brian Tucker]

Same here it has been crazy trying to get on that damn site and get registered finally completed this morning. On the disablement procedure- they did put a caution disclaimer stating wear goggles and gloves
Starting to feel like 2007 again around here with all the inquiries and traffic on the lot and internet.Only bad thing is it feels like we are playing musical chairs and hopefully we won't be left without one of those 4500 chairs when the billion dollar fiddle quits playing.

 

[joe.pistell]

Day 1 results:

...In the meantime we did 54 CARS Deals yesterday with quite a few scheduled to happen today. I have heard similar numbers from other dealers, so I wonder how long this money is going to last?

Nice Alex!

What "hook" do you have for those that don't qualify? How many are qualifying vs not qualifying?

 

[Alex Snyder]

Actually, we haven't had to turn anyone away yet. Everyone has been quite educated before they show-up :thumbup: