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Automotive accessories are a multi-billion dollar industry largely unaffected by the constant ebbs and flows in the car business. 

Still, dealerships are often hesitant to present and sell accessories at the point of sale. In some stores, customers have to ask for the accessories to access them. In others, there are haphazard approaches that use accessories as a closing tool or an afterthought, often doing more damage than good. 

Is there a better way? Of course!

And don’t simply take our word for it. We’ve also asked an industry veteran of twenty years for their insight.

Buying a new car isn’t always filled with giant red bows and excitement. Car buying can be out of necessity. For some customers, the prospect of a new car with the latest features can’t dislodge loyalty to a beloved automobile.

Leah, a mortgage lender from Charlotte, reminisces on buying her new car before Christmas. “I don’t hate my new car necessarily. It’s just that my old one took me everywhere and always brought me safely home. There’s a lot of memories in that car and I was used to it. I spent more time in that car than in my house these last few years. Unfortunately, it had 370,000 miles on it, and it was just time to move on.”

Dealership management does a lot of gymnastics to keep things running smoothly. 

And managing personalities while meshing departments is a big part of daily life in a car dealership. 

The “every man for himself” culture in car dealerships can be a pervasive problem. It’s there below more pressing issues like inventory shortages or shrinking profit margins.

When will it all bubble up over the brim?

Winter is the season for new potholes. As we approach months of snow, freezing temperatures, and harsher overall conditions, roads are prone to crack under the pressure. The result is blown tires and bent wheels on your customer’s vehicles. 

Now is the opportune time to be proactive about better serving your customers. Seasonal tire and wheel programs will benefit your customer base while adding profit to fixed ops and striving towards those year-end goals.

One of the first steps in creating an accessories powerhouse in your dealership showroom is selecting the right person to champion the project. 

While we recommend a dedicated accessory manager as a best practice, dealerships of varying brands have succeeded in three different ways. Your store can be successful by finding the right fit for your store size, brand, and unique customer base. Examine your dynamics and see who you can lean on as your expert in all things Vehicle Personalization. 

A well-laid process that works for your store is the key to your success. There’s room for variation in the details. 

"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. 

The art of accessory sales presents one golden opportunity. There are other opportunities along the way, yet only one is golden. While the accessory sale is a multi-step process, the actual presentation begins with a lead-in product. 

You’ve started at the trade, gotten to know your customer’s lifestyle, mentally filed away the best personalization options to suggest, and then closed the car deal. In this blissful moment, you tarry your customer with a Coke and a smile, knowing the dreaded F&I wait time has been subdued by Vehicle Personalization.  

The golden opportunity has arrived, and we call it utilizing a lead-in product.

Salespeople are learning how to sell cars again after a long period of being order takers. Having empty lots and vehicles on backorder got us all out of practice. As inventory and prices stabilize, there’s inevitably going to be a relearning process. 

Retraining car salespeople after the industry upheaval means addressing changes in customer behavior, understanding industry trends, and adopting more efficient ways to meet goals. Wise management should take advantage of the potential in training by integrating accessory sales into the process. 

Here are some strategies to consider.

Being a salesperson often means playing an exhaustion game. The final “X” on the board at the end of the month is liberating and brings a sigh of relief, only to usher in the beginning of a new month with a fresh slate. 

Car sales, in particular, can be especially stressful because the number of cars a person can sell is subject to fluctuations in the market. Even the best salespeople have months where their numbers are down and their pocket takes a hit. 

Yet there’s a way to increase your monthly income as a car salesperson, without selling one more car.