Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

The automotive industry is indeed fascinating these days - and dealers are doing a whole lot better than manufacturers! As to your questions:
1) special events are definitely the hottest way to get customers to test-drive; e.g. reserving/building a special race parcours to show what the Jeep can do. Even though some customers might damage a vehicle or two, it's all worth it: car dealers get lots of great leads from those events, and can show off new car features you have to 'feel' to believe
2) buy: offering the exact car the customer want is a start (a friend of mine spend weeks on the Internet to find only 2 vehicles that fit her special color preference on exterior-interior combination), in my region, a retailer chain is also communicating their involvement in the local community (donating part of the profits to charities and local employees)

Hi riddings,

I've always thought that letting a qualified prospect take a vehicle home for 24 hours was a great way to convert to a customer.

The key here of course is qualified, you need to be able to perform a quick background check and maybe leave their current car, but if you can do a credit check in 5 minutes, you could do this also.

I bought my last car that way, and would not have bought it otherwise.

Taking a 20 minute test drive doesn't cut - it's not like the new Volkswagen commercials anyway.

A Jeep? Let them go check it out! How else are they going to be sold on its capabilities?

I hope that helps.