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Does the thought of selling accessories get you bent out of shape? When it comes to presenting personalization at the point of sale, there’s a process you can follow to the letter to snap you back.

Even dealerships that throw accessories at the wall to see what sticks make money. While a haphazard approach isn’t sustainable and surely not the best way to do things, accessories just hold their own. 

Your customers are hard-wired to personalize. That’s the facts—so if you opt not to offer accessories out of fear of losing the sale or confusion on how to do it, your customer will head to the aftermarket vendor down the street. 

Keep your money in-house. Ensure your customer is getting OE accessories (under warranty) installed by factory-certified technicians. And then reap the benefits! 

"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. 

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.