Northern California Online Auto sales
If you've been in the Northern California area for long you've likely seen a rise in used car dealers over the last 10-15 years followed by a sharp decline in used car and new car dealers over about the last 3-4 years. The Redding and Red Bluff area has seen the closing of many dealerships and small used car dealers in the last few years.
While some of the dealerships can blame the major can manufacturers decreasing the number of dealers that can sell their cars, this isn't the case with used car dealers. Some of the reasons for the decline of used car dealers include a decrease in people shopping for a used car due to the current recession. At times I have heard car lot owners complaining of the cost and availability of quality cars for them to add to their inventory due to less cars being traded in to the new car dealers. Another reason stated is there is just too many used car dealers in the area.
Other the last few years that last reason, too many dealers, has started to be reduced. In the Redding and Red Bluff area we have seen a sharp decline in the number of dealers for both new and used cars.
The used car dealers that have weathered this storm usually have a few things in common. Highest on the list is a loyal client base because of selling trustworthy cars, giving good service before and after the sale, and of course being fair in their prices. One other factor is that most of these dealers are also visible online.
Online Auto Sales
The age of the newspaper is coming to an end. More and more frequently people are heading online to get the most update news. By the time news reaches your door in the form of a newspaper the news is usually 1-2 days old. Online news can be only minutes old. With this huge decline in readership means a decline in the effectiveness of the ads in the paper.
With increasing frequency people are turning to online classifieds and checking out the used car dealers' inventory online instead of driving to each individual dealer. This new trend makes it more and more important for dealers that want to survive to be visible online.
Most of the better online dealer websites also tie into stronger used car sales websites. For example the used car dealer North Valley Autos has their own website for Redding Used Cars, but in addition to this site, their inventory is also displayed on one of the strongest used car websites in Northern California Nor Cal Cars.
While some would argue that larger sites like AutoTrader are a better deal for small local used car dealers due to their higher traffic, it is good to remember that often very little or none of that traffic may come from the area around the dealer. In the case of a more regionalized site like NorCalcars.com almost all of the traffic comes from people within buying distance of the used car dealer, giving the dealer a much higher return on his investment.
The future of used car sales
The internet will never replace the need for people to walk onto the car dealers' car lot. Except in the case of specialty sales like some classic cars, high end sports cars and rvs there will always be a need for the potential customer to come to the lot and check out the car personally, the question is "What is the used car dealer doing to bring the person to the lot"? If part of the promotion doesn't include displaying their inventory online they are likely leaving money on the table and as people turn more and more to the internet, jeopardizing the long term sustainability of their dealership.
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