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Customizing your car used to be reserved for true car enthusiasts. Today, Vehicle Personalization is a multi-billion dollar industry, consistently adding hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of dollars to dealerships’ annual gross profit. It’s not just gearheads from the tuner scene in SoCal that want accessories. It’s Charles from the suburbs. It’s Molly from accounting. It’s the next person to walk into your store.

Although trends change rapidly, the desire to personalize does not. It’s not a matter of if consumers will personalize their vehicles; it’s a matter of when and where they’ll spend the money to do it. 

Economists differ on what’s coming next. One will argue that consumer spending is still strong, employment is still in an upward churn, and we’re just thawing out from the global freeze caused by the pandemic. Another will say an early 2023 recession is inevitable. 

Dealerships have to deal with future forecasts while simultaneously managing current challenges. Will high vehicle prices and low inventory give way to slowed demand?

Regardless of what awaits the automotive world in 2023, cars are an essential business and dealerships are notoriously resilient. 

Insignia Group has been working closely with dealerships since we were fortifying our bunkers for Y2K.

Since then we’ve seen the industry crisis of 2008, the Presidential bailout of the Big Three, the pandemic, and a chip crisis to name a few. 

Cut the fluff. We might be shutting down again.

This time, rather than lamenting, we focus on preparation. In the end, if everything is able to stay open, we’re only that much more prepared to do business.

We could all use a boost to our bottom line right now. 

We could probably use a week off social media, a tropical vacation, and some yoga too, but I digress. With summer ablaze, car dealers have more than a day at the beach on their minds. In the midst of a global pandemic inciting mayhem in our industry, we must soak up every cent of seasonal summer accessories. Say that five times fast.

As COVID-19 shut down America as we knew it, extroverts all across America found themselves taking refuge in their cars. What started with just taking a drive, turned into eating take-out in the driveway. Before we knew what was happening, kids’ birthday parties morphed into drive-by parades. Campgrounds closed and truck beds became the go-to spot for a night under the stars.

As dealers across the nation adjust to selling vehicles online, it’s imperative that we don’t skip vehicle personalization. The easiest way to ensure customers and salespeople have a fair shot at a perfectly adorned vehicle is to make your accessory link easy to find. Trip and fall over it easy. “There it is again” easy. “I didn’t find the link, the link found me” kind of easy. When you strategically place your personalization link, you make your salesperson’s life easier, and your customer more likely to buy. 

Margin compression matters now more than ever. As dealers adapt to selling cars digitally, or with skeleton crews, monthly sales volumes are on a slippery slope. Though our present industry reality is less than ideal, we aren’t without hope. We have the tools to make every car sale count, to the extent of tipping this month’s scale back into balance, precarious as it may be.

St. Patrick’s Day has got us all toting rabbit’s feet. Donning green from head to toe, decorating our cubicles with four leaf clovers, and holding out hope for uncommon luck--all while being largely unsure of what we’re observing on this obscure holiday.

Is there a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? Is the rainbow literal, or figurative? Do leprechauns really eat marshmallow cereal? Don’t take this same level of confusion into your Vehicle Personalization program. Follow me into the magic of the metaphor, and sell more accessories this March 17th.