Dealerships have been around since the early 1900’s. We pass them every day and have seen their commercials about seasonal specials. We may have our own ideas of what dealerships do, which can lead to misconceptions. Some common misconceptions about dealerships include:

1. Most of their money comes from new car sales.

Au contraire, dealerships make very little money from their new vehicles. Although they have a higher price tag, the profit margin must be kept low in order to sell them at competitive prices. According to the National Automobile Dealers Association, dealerships only make 1-2% net profit on new car sales. Their main source of profit comes from the service department.

2. Dealerships can’t learn new tricks.

We often see a balloon man waving its arms in dealership parking lots. In fact, it’s so well known for dealership use, an online search for “dealership inflatable” will bring up its picture. Although this is a popular decoration, we see dealerships moving toward digital advertisements to attract customers as more of the car buying process happens online. Reynolds and Reynolds helps dealerships with these digital ads and their other digital marketing. Dealerships are revolutionizing their advertising, as well as their customer service methods to adapt to changing consumer habits and expectations.

3. Dealerships aren’t convenient.

Limited hours once made this a reputable complaint; however, dealerships have since made their service departments more accessible. Many of them have longer hours than the new and used sales departments to provide more time for customers to conveniently schedule maintenance.

4. The service department can only work on designated car brands.

If you find yourself with a Ford in need of repair, and the closest dealership sells Dodge, Jeep, and Chrysler, fear not. Dealerships usually can fix any vehicle you bring in, even if it doesn’t fall under their brand. We would always recommend matching the dealership with your car brand, but there’s no harm in stopping into a nearby dealership to schedule maintenance or a repair.

There are many misconceptions about dealerships that Reynolds and Reynolds is working to reverse. Reynolds provides technology and forms to dealerships to help them give you a great customer experience in a modern way. The next time you stop into a dealership, see if they are going against the misconceptions listed above!