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Uncle Joe's Makeover Diary 2.0

Price = "Contact Us" Dealer VDP

woa, all 155 used VINs: Price = "Contact Us"
Just another example of why maintaining 2 separate sites is a bad idea. Likely an inventory feed issue that they haven't noticed since they never visit that site.

Primary Off-Program Vanity Site - Dealer E-Process:
Has Pricing -> https://www.hhchevy.com/auto/used-2023-chevrolet-silverado-1500-high-country-omaha-ne/90756553/

OEM Approved Site - Ansira/Sincro/CDK/Cobalt:
No Pricing -> %NEW/USED_CAP_FIRST_LETTERS% %YEAR% %MAKE% %MODEL% For Sale Omaha NE | %VIN%
 
good catch RE.

H+H is aggressive.
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The new FTC rules will blowup favorite pricing games.

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"...Dealer service/document fee of $999 is not included in quoted price. Tax, tag, and electronic registration fee of $399 are not included"

New thread? FTC Pivot Watch. ;-)
 
good catch RE.

H+H is aggressive.
View attachment 8912

The new FTC rules will blowup favorite pricing games.

View attachment 8913
"...Dealer service/document fee of $999 is not included in quoted price. Tax, tag, and electronic registration fee of $399 are not included"

New thread? FTC Pivot Watch. ;-)
Yes, that is also a GM AIS violation - a GM dealership can face serious financial implications if they receive 3 non-compliance strikes.

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PSA: Drop Google, use Perplexity.ai it's really improving fast.
Our startup (AutoMagic Labs) has subscriptions to ChatGPT4o, Claude 3 Opus, Gemini Advanced and Perplexity Pro. When it comes to research, Drop Google, use Perplexity. Give me a like or a comment if you like Perplexity too.
Out of the four ( Perplexity, ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini), Perplexity is my go-to for search at the moment.
 
Perplexity - interesting.

It's faster than chatGPT.

I like how they add relevant content.

I think I'm done with google. too many searches to only end up on their sponsored ai generate crap pages.

I'm going to give duckduckgo a chance.
 
+90% of car shoppers don't know trim hierarchy.
We, as an industry, have yet to solve this puzzle for car shoppers. CarMax is the leader: https://www.carmax.com/research/chevrolet/equinox/2018

Anyone know of a great solution for this puzzle?

User story: I know the YMM of what I'd like to buy, I have some fav features, but IDK much about the trims.
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This is an interesting study of FRICTION:
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Take a min and reflect on this info. From your shoppers POV, the distance to your store is a big deal and it's totally overlooked. (table construction details below). As a merchandising expert, I need to create content to 'work' this audience.

LONG DISTANCE SUMMARY:
• 60% of this stores leads are far away and the shopper knows it.
DISC TAKEAWAYS:
• Anyone that is this far away AND sent you a lead is VERY interested in that VIN.
• Help your long distance shoppers feel more confident with helpful concierge-like services.
• Create special word tracks that specifically address this friction
• Find a way to get this process into your CRM (i.e. add to autoresponder)
• BONUS: Get this dialed in, then add this content on your VDPs, your long distance shoppers will see less friction. (idea: use dedicated phone # for concierge svcs)

Table construction details:
•••DL your leads into a csv, then use BatchGeo.com. You will get straight line distance, I added a 1.3 multiplier to approximate drive times for this store.•••

I created these 'drive time buckets' to approximate the planning required to see the car (i.e. Think FRICTION)
• Under 30 min drive is local. No significant planning is needed, no need for an appt, just show up. Shopper is highly likey to visit other stores.
• All over 30 mins is a planned visit. Shopper wants a productive visit.
• 30-60 min drive is semi local. Planning is required. Shopper is highly likely to visit other stores.
• 1-2 hrs away is a 'day trip'. Shopper has landed hard on your VIN, they are NOT likely to visit other stores.
• >2 hours away, Shopper has landed hard on your VIN, great planning, communication and concierge-like services. Shipping as a service may reduce friction for some.

Love to hear what the grand master of long distance selling has to say... @BillVaughnAlWestNissan ?
 

✨ AI Highlights

Joe Pistell, formerly of Cars.com, relaunches his 'Makeover Diary' series to share automotive digital merchandising experiments and strategy, inviting community challenge and debate. Discussions range from practical tips like showing CarPlay in vehicle photos, to AI-generated detailer imagery, to Carvana and CarMax's superior vehicle merchandising loops that focus on sales productivity metrics rather than lead volume. The key insight is that fragmented dealer website vendors lag far behind vertically integrated players like Carvana, whose tight engineering-to-sales-floor feedback loop enables rapid, conversion-focused iteration.

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