Like I See It:Obstacles and Opportunities Shaping the Future of Retail Automotive
Book Summary
Buying a car can be a gut-wrenching experience with so many models and options to choose from. And that is well before price negotiations have even started. For decades, dealers have been accustomed to setting the right price at the right time. However, dictating terms of negotiations is now under a full-blown attack in the new reality of consumers empowered by the Internet.
Dale Pollak lays out a straightforward and convincing overview of what dealers are facing now and how these newly empowered customers are ratcheting down margins. The authors provide a backdrop of how a decades-old symbiotic relationship between dealers and auto makers is coming under increasing strain as both parties are struggling to keep their business models intact.
Increasingly, consumers are shopping for cars online, stopping at the dealer only to collect cars – a process that is invetably forcing more and more dealers to operate on razor thin margins, mostly relying on servicing and repair revenues. Those who succeed actually do so through increased levels of efficiency rather than through selling more vehicles.