Click’s Expert Tips For Faster Used Car Stock-turn Part Two

Every dealer at some point will have been stuck with a car that lingers on the forecourt a bit too long. Stock management plays a crucial part in producing profit for your sales department so mastering the art can help you keep your stock flowing through your dealership, rather than building up.

If you haven’t read part one of this blog yet then you can catch up by clicking here, but feel free to read them in any order you like!

Work in Reverse

The driving force of the automotive industry is no longer the wholesale market, working from the retail price backwards is now common practice. Identifying what a car retails for, and how much it will cost you to sell the car will give you the figure you can afford to pay for an individual vehicle. You’ll need to factor in your profit margin, commission, any refurbishments required, if it needs a service and MOT, and any factory fitted extras. Whenever you’re buying stock don’t compare it to what your competitors are selling them for, they might have a different business structure that allows them to sell their vehicles for less profit. By using real-time pricing data you can work out the likely selling price of a car before you buy it and work out if it’s worth bringing in to stock.

Be Social

Customer engagement and joining groups on Social Media could help you find great value cars and market them to a broad national audience. Facebook especially offers features such as ‘Facebook Marketplace‘ which will allow you to list your stock with details, photos and links to your website. You’re marketing your stock in a place where consumers are already looking regularly. You’re not relying on them to find you via Google Searches or an advert in the paper. Facebook has a message feature that allows customers to easily send enquiries your way and make offers.

If you don’t have the knowledge or time to expand on your social media presence then it could be worth giving Click a call. Our in-house team of Social Media experts can help you maximise your potential. Or you could look at our Accelerator Pack, which includes the Facebook Marketplace feature, feeding through stock from your website without you needing to do any extra work! And that’s just a slither of what the Accelerator Pack can do.

Time to Review

If a car hasn’t sold for a couple of weeks or isn’t receiving any enquiries, then you need to look into why this might be. Consider it might not just be a small issue, but more of a big world problem that has come from recent bad press for a manufacturer, model or fuel type. There’s not a lot you can do about this other than look for news from the manufacturer about how they are combating the bad publicity and share their statement if it’s positive. For things, you can control you can check…

• Image – Are they high enough quality and are there enough of them?
• Attention Grabbers – Have you highlighted the absolute key information that would attract a buyer? ‘Low-mileage, One Previous Owner, Full-Service History, Manufacturer Warranty etc, is much more important than the colour of the car and if it has a SAT NAV or heated seats.
• Specification – This is where you include all the details about things like if it has a SAT NAV, Reverse Camera, Sunroof, Electric controlled seats… Be thorough, include everything, because the more spec a car looks like it has, the better value it looks.
• Position – Where is the car positioned on your forecourt? Maybe it’s just been unlucky to have been surrounded by more attractive cars, maybe it’s too far away for customers to walk or difficult to see in full because of how tightly your pitch is packed. Try and find your optimum spot for selling cars. Make a record a which section of the forecourt has the most sales and use this area going forwards to shift sticky stock.
• Vehicle Condition – Is the vehicle clean and damage-free? This includes in pictures, videos and on your pitch. What you might consider a small scratch or dent, a customer is going to see as a flaw in their ‘new’ car before they’ve even bought it.
• Enquiry Review – Is your enquiry process effective enough? Are you sending detailed videos to any customer who asks about one of your vehicles, offering free test drives from their home or workplace? Just these simple tweaks to the enquiry communication and process could turn ‘I’ll think about it’ into ‘Wow, that’s great, when can I book my test drive?’

Action Plan

Remember to cast a wide net for potential purchases. Buy nationally but price locally. Control overage before it becomes a problem. Be strict on your digital presence and camera work. Start with the selling price when buying. Review your processes frequently.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s blogs! For more information on Click Dealer’s services, contact The Clickers on 01782 478 220. You can also reach us via marketing@clickdealer.co.uk or through our contact page.