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"Tracking orders and communication between departments is great—it holds people accountable with the new reports that are available."

- Peter Boothe, GM at Wild East Town Honda

When you think of selling accessories at the point of sale, your first thought may be dollars and cents. While profit is a major benefit of selling accessories, there are other aspects of an accessory process that can benefit your dealership at a high level. 

Accessories do more than increase front-end gross, boost CSI scores, reduce turnover, and create repeat business. And they're more than a resource for making customers sticky or benefiting fixed operations.

In today’s dynamic automotive industry, car dealerships are no longer only about selling vehicles; they’re the gateway to an experience and avenue of self-expression. 

Enhancing the car buying experience with accessories isn’t a secret sauce. It’s a proven process, and anybody can do it. Drivers crave a vehicle that integrates with their lifestyle, offering cutting-edge features that go beyond the ordinary. Car dealerships have a golden opportunity to cater to this demand by strategically presenting and selling accessories. The truth is, if dealerships don’t meet the demand, customers will seek out aftermarket accessories somewhere else. 

Whether you’re Papa’s Car Lot sitting on 1 acre or a corporate mega-store spanning multiple lots, you can boost your bottom line with accessory sales. It’s that simple. Accessories are a multi-billion dollar industry, largely unaffected by the pandemic. Selling them at the point of sale is a proven method of increasing PNVR. The caveat is this: dealerships who pitch accessories chaotically will stumble into success on occasion and overall miss the mark. A successful accessory program requires a process catered to your store. The good news—dealerships are quite accustomed to a process. While the exact flow will vary from store to store, many best practice fundamentals remain the same.

The rapid adoption of automotive digital retailing kept the doors open for many stores in 2020. Raking in over $230 billion, experts predict explosive growth in automotive digital retailing throughout the decade. Today, it's more important than ever to outfit your website with advanced digital retailing capabilities to cater to the masses online. Digital retailing is more than pictures of a car and a contact form; it's the ability to buy a car from start to finish online. 

Dealerships can no longer avoid digital retailing if they want to compete in today’s market. As the industry adapts, dealerships can avoid common mistakes that will affect their online sales.

Over half of customers (approximately 62%) stop doing business with a company because of bad customer service.

Used cars are having an influencer moment. In incredibly high demand, boasting lofty price tags they once only dreamt of, used cars are center stage in the automotive industry. Gone, at least temporarily, is the stigma of used vehicles being old clunkers. The used car stereotype has been replaced by an image of a shiny 2017 model, being fought over by prospective buyers. In 2021, used car buyers aren't always strapped for cash, looking for a bottom dollar deal, or someone hardly interested in aesthetics. Used car buyers are everywhere you turn, and the profit potential is limitless. By adding protection accessories to your used car lineup, you'll increase the car's longevity and create a satisfied customer—who will soon forget they were ever after a 2022 model. 

The automotive industry had one of the most striking yo-yo effects, from the onset of the pandemic to today. First, Covid shocked the globe and shut dealerships doors, causing everyone to fret about the industry's future. Today, we're navigating chip shortages and selling units for more money than we were before the virus. In a fascinating turn of events, used cars are increasingly harder to come by, new vehicles are selling like Black Friday specials, and inflation is staggering. With no end to the chip shortage in sight, dealers are progressively focused on moving used vehicles. Through the use of technology upgrades, you can create the vehicle your customer really wants—regardless of inventory. You'll give any old vehicle a serious makeover, create a satisfied customer, and turn a profit without overcharging. 

Around 330 million people said they'd consider buying a used car for their next purchase. That's nearly 70% of the American population, and those are pre-pandemic numbers. Now that we're maneuvering a chip shortage, the door of opportunity is wide open for used car sales, despite inflation. Customers are hardly thinking of a deal when they buy a car in the fall of 2021; they're mainly trying to get a fair price. Today, you don't have to bottom out prices to drag someone in the door. Instead, price your used cars the same way you would if they weren't impossible to come by and boost profit with accessory sales. Used car buyers were already populous and are now joined by other buyers who couldn't even find a new car to buy. There's a straightforward strategy where everybody wins. 

Releasing a young driver onto the road can be a nerve-wracking time for parents. Car accidents are the leading cause of death for teenagers in America. When moms and dads come into your dealership during the back-to-school season, set their minds at ease with safety tech accessories for their kid's car. 

The year was 2009, and I'd just moved to the big city for my first job out of college. Sporting a pink razor flip phone, I was ready to take on my first sales territory. The problem was, I didn't know how to get there. So a co-worker loaned me his TomTom navigation system, gave me a crash course in how to use it, and I set out into the world. 

Fast forward a couple of decades, and we're projecting navigation onto our dash—after getting in a car that we started from inside. The kids are watching YouTube videos in the back seat, and we're holding a casual conversation with Alexa as we merge onto the freeway. Those are just the basics, of course.