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Define A BETTER Dealership website...

Our marketplace & car shoppers are very different.
In the US, There are 22,000 new car dealerships. Each Dealer has hundreds of cars in stock, ready for delivery... today.

All car shoppers, on their way to work, drive by a dozen Dealers that have thousands of cars in stock ready for sale and fast delivery. Shoppers will go to several dealerships, see, touch, feel and smell the inventory. When they're ready, They want to buy the car, trade-in the old one and drive it home that same afternoon.



If Ling brought her existing biz model to the USA, She'd have to use her super creative energy to look for sales opportunities for this marketplace.

Yes, I guess the UK and USA are very different.

In the UK, people select their new car and expect to wait. No one (ever) drives off in it the same day. To drive off the same week would be rare. To have a brand new car the same month, is fortunate. Many cars I am selling at the moment (eg: Golf R, £32,000, I have about 20 or so on order, are due for delivery next March-ish... and that date may slip) take a long time to arrive. That's the factory-build schedule. It's not exactly like a 20-year waiting list for a Trabant in the DDR, but there are some definite similarities. Some cars are available immediately, but immediately in the UK translates to "about 3 weeks".

There are upsides: there is no glut of cars (except in certain cases), cars are factory-fresh, dealers in general don't have to have fire-sales.

I think it is more to do with the mentality of people... Brits are just more patient and happy to queue and to take their place in the queue.

The author Andrew Davis has noted that LINGsCARS is a good example of hedonic decline, where getting the thing we want actually makes us less happy than we were wanting it. For example, he cites: "A Dutch psychologist found that survey subjects were 8 times happier planning their vacation than actually on vacation." So, my website gives people leasing a car an interesting journey as well as a happy purchasing experience. "Hedonic decline" is a bit of mumbo-jumbo to me, but... there is definitely something in it.

Note: If in the USA people can get the new car the same day, that takes away a massive joy of anticipation and longing for something (eg looking at Xmas gifts for weeks, waiting to open them) that is surely a great experience. People log into my LINGO system hundreds and hundreds of times before a car delivery, because they are excited. That excitement is a magical thing.

Drop Shipping

But my model is far more than drop-shipping. I am the only customer contact for the whole process. Customers need managing and maintaining for the whole period (in the Golf R case, 6-months) and I do this on my transcribed on-line LINGO system - the best in the World. Customers get personal chats with real humour and sometimes it gets hairy. We laugh, joke, rip the piss and get angry. It's not benign. But at the end of it, we know each other, and they love my service, because I tell the truth, warts and all. Very few car dealers in the UK do that, they take the "never say anything bad" route, which means customers often get lied to, and get frustrated.

I organise everything, the first contact my customers have with the car dealer is often the delivery guy on the day. They often don't know who the dealer is, until the delivery day.

Dealers get a ready stream of qualified orders, confident they are real. They have no showroom overhead and the deals from me don't need salesmen, just an administrator. The cars often don't touch the dealership, they can be delivered from logistic compounds by the logistic companies direct to my customers if the dealer prefers.

As I say, I have £millions of new cars on order. No money changes hands on the orders, it's all done 100% on trust. My customers don't pay deposits. The upside of that (for me) is that I can have zero borrowings, no credit lines, no bank manager telling me what to do, no money worries, a large positive bank balance, cash coming out of my ears, and I spend my day with customers...not worrying about cash-flow and gearing and leverage.

USA

To run my business in the *whole* USA would be hard, it's just too big. The UK is a perfect size, for that.

I think I would have to compete on service (which wouldn't be too difficult) but I think the emotional slapping into shape that every customer goes through (in my system) would be wearing on me in the USA. People are so much more unreasonably demanding and expressive.

In the UK (to generalise), people are self-deprecating, and do everything with humour, and know they are usually wrong, old chap. They were bombed by the Germans and said "bad luck, old bean". They step back and have a cup of tea and consider stuff. Cricket and cucumber sandwiches. British Top Gear, is real life. They hate the Europeans, know they will lose the Eurovision Song Contest, and it's how people are. No one has a Union Jack in their garden, they have The Queen and they mumble the national anthem. 15 years ago when I couldn't swim, and capsized a sailing dinghy in a big lake in Norfolk (Alan Partridge, not Virginia), people sailed past shouting "nice day for a swim".

In the USA it seems (to me) there are far more people who think they are right and can be set in their views and it's "ME" "NOW" or you will be shot, etc. It's definites... gays, abortion, Trump, NRA, tea-party, everyone has a flag, Fred and his Westboro Baptist Church etc. Cops have guns and V8s, people call people "sir". Napalm. US Top Gear isn't funny. Footballers wear helmets and there are commercial breaks after each kick. Crack and crystal meth. Pick-ups are trucks and they are BIG... hence your system. People don't travel, they don't need to. Texas. Awful fizzy beer. Fliippng the finger. California girls. But, in the end: you're PROUD.

(I understand that's a massive generalisation)



Ling
 
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But, in the end: you're PROUD.

(I understand that's a massive generalisation)

That sums up quite a bit of what you said. Personally, I am Canadian, but half of this applies to us as well.

I think I would have to compete on service (which wouldn't be too difficult)

Not so sure about this one. I think you would be surprised.
 
The author Andrew Davis has noted that LINGsCARS is a good example of hedonic decline, where getting the thing we want actually makes us less happy than we were wanting it. For example, he cites: "A Dutch psychologist found that survey subjects were 8 times happier planning their vacation than actually on vacation." So, my website gives people leasing a car an interesting journey as well as a happy purchasing experience. "Hedonic decline" is a bit of mumbo-jumbo to me, but... there is definitely something in it.

Note: If in the USA people can get the new car the same day, that takes away a massive joy of anticipation and longing for something (eg looking at Xmas gifts for weeks, waiting to open them) that is surely a great experience. People log into my LINGO system hundreds and hundreds of times before a car delivery, because they are excited. That excitement is a magical thing.

#LingoBAM!
#TryToScaleThatBitch
Epic post Ling! Jeff, this should be a front page blog post!


Ling,
Car shopping is the US matches your "hedonic decline" observation, but with a twist. Over 80% of US car shoppers are shopping online for 3 weeks or more (>50% shop 3 months or more) Almost all car shoppers use the internet, not to make the final descision, but to narrow their consideration set and prep them for the dealer visit. So, US car shoppers enjoy the journey and anticipation, but they wait till the final hour to visit the dealer(s), pick a car & commit.

In the final hour the US car shopper uses the dealership as an extension of their internet shopping. When they arrive, they're focused on their car buying goals, yet are open to other discoveries that the were lost in the noise of the internet. This workflow makes the dealer AND the product the final authority in the US car shoppers visit.

Summary: The dealer visit is the last leg in the internet shopping journey. The dealer has to have it's operations running in top form to have the highest closing ratio (right inventory, great building, great people).
 
...In the USA it seems (to me) there are far more people who think they are right and can be set in their views and it's "ME" "NOW" or you will be shot, etc. It's definites... gays, abortion, Trump, NRA, tea-party, everyone has a flag, Fred and his Westboro Baptist Church etc. Cops have guns and V8s, people call people "sir". Napalm. US Top Gear isn't funny. Footballers wear helmets and there are commercial breaks after each kick. Crack and crystal meth. Pick-ups are trucks and they are BIG... hence your system. People don't travel, they don't need to. Texas. Awful fizzy beer. Fliippng the finger. California girls. But, in the end: you're PROUD.

(I understand that's a massive generalisation)



Ling

When it comes to the noise that comes form US media...
"Don't believe the hype... it's a sequel"

 
So, US car shoppers enjoy the journey and anticipation, but they wait till the final hour to visit the dealer(s), pick a car & commit.

In the final hour the US car shopper uses the dealership as an extension of their internet shopping. When they arrive, they're focused on their car buying goals, yet are open to other discoveries that the were lost in the noise of the internet. This workflow makes the dealer AND the product the final authority in the US car shoppers visit.

Summary: The dealer visit is the last leg in the internet shopping journey. The dealer has to have it's operations running in top form to have the highest closing ratio (right inventory, great building, great people).

How do you feel that Carvana fits into this description of US car shoppers?
Are they not selling successfully now? At Driving Sales now I also met two other dealers that are selling online to customers all over their state.

I'm aware that there are many generalizations being thrown around here, I'm just curious if you think America is ready for this?
 
How do you feel that Carvana fits into this description of US car shoppers?
Are they not selling successfully now? At Driving Sales now I also met two other dealers that are selling online to customers all over their state.

I'm aware that there are many generalizations being thrown around here, I'm just curious if you think America is ready for this?

I've studied Carvana in great detail. A bold & Impressive effort. IMO, Carvana's success, much like Ling's success, rests on the training & execution of the phone representatives (i.e. peeps in the office). Well trained staff is req'd to talk the shoppers thru the process and assume them all along the way.

Craig, What are the 2 dealers?


I'll guess they're in Tx or Fl, or, sitting within the Northeast megalopolis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Note: If in the USA people can get the new car the same day, that takes away a massive joy of anticipation and longing for something (eg looking at Xmas gifts for weeks, waiting to open them) that is surely a great experience. People log into my LINGO system hundreds and hundreds of times before a car delivery, because they are excited. That excitement is a magical thing.

:iagree: My grandfather (a retailer and dealer over 70 years) likes to tell stories about the products that were sold on an order basis. One in particular was quite genius where he successfully mimicked the UK system by building a large fence blocking the view of the excess of VWs in the back lot. The sales people were trained to act as if the only cars in stock were ones for test driving. He said this system worked for a few years when VW wasn't going for huge sales numbers, and there weren't that many competing dealers. He said this was the most profitable way to sell a car.... create a low supply/high demand perception. Customers were more grateful of their purchases. Of course, people who pay more are usually more excited and happier.

I think I would have to compete on service (which wouldn't be too difficult) but I think the emotional slapping into shape that every customer goes through (in my system) would be wearing on me in the USA. People are so much more unreasonably demanding and expressive.

There are over 600 choices to a consumer buying a car in the $30,000 to $35,000 price range. All built by reputable manufacturers who back up their quality automobiles with very decent warranties and reputations. The price incentives on those vehicles are also very similar. Because these vehicles' build quality are improving every year these cars are breaking less and less. We have reached a point where the physical products the dealer sells sell themselves and the appreciation of repairing a car is no longer common place. We are in the maintenance world, and within that world the only thing a dealer can sell is an experience. The smart dealers are waking up to this now.

Ling, no doubt that your aggressive and fun approach would succeed within the United States. Just being different would make you a winner and I don't believe too many US dealers have the guts to go to the lengths you have in presenting a fun personality. You'd kill it in the race to selling an experience!... you already are.