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Too many automotive centers are taking advantage of the consumer’s lack of knowledge about their vehicles when it comes time for repairs. While there are many trustworthy shops that do honorable and reliable work, there are always places that are quick to take the consumer’s money while not making the necessary repairs.

The government, the press, Better Business Bureaus and other consumer rights advocates are working hard to intervene, and while some shops are getting caught and being indicted with fraud, too many are still under the radar and getting away with it.

Here are some tips on how to become better educated about your vehicle so that when repair work is needed, you will have a better understanding of what is actually being done.

Talk to Everyone

The most important thing of course is to find a reputable place thats been in business for several years. The best way to find this kind of information is to ask your family and friends where they have their vehicles maintained. Ask your coworkers and anyone whose opinion you value. Why do they like the shop they frequent, what their fees are, and how long they have been using that particular place? This is where doing a little research will save you a ton of headaches and a lot of money.

When its time to take your vehicle to the shop, be very specific in what you are there for. For example, if you are replacing tires, let them know you are there just for tire work. If the service adviser tells you that you need additional work done, question why it’s needed. If you feel the mechanic is trying to up sell you unnecessary repair work, this should raise a red flag. You have every right to request a quote for their suggested repairs and get a second opinion.

Don’t be Shy

There are times when a service adviser may tell you that you need new brakes or that you have a leak, both of which can be relatively easily spotted when the vehicle is in the air and the wheels are off the vehicle. This is generally the time these types of potential problems are found. Ask the adviser for measurements of components that are worn, such as the brakes, and ask if you can take a look for yourself. If you feel they are not being forthcoming with the information you need in order to make a decision, or they will not allow you to view the problem, do not approve the repair. Most reputable shops have no problem with these kinds of requests.

If you need major repairs, such as engine replacement or transmission repairs, always get a second opinion from another reputable shop. If you have built up a good relationship with your existing shop, this may not be necessary. But if this is the first time you have brought your vehicle to a new shop it’s important to get that second opinion.

If it’s not practical to move your vehicle, take the time to get “ballpark” estimates by telephone. Reputable shops understand the need for their customers to get additional quotes. Its in their best interest to accommodate you in any way they can in order to get and keep your business.

Be Prepared

Be a knowledgeable consumer. Read your owners manual and be prepared for the regular wear and replacement work that will arise every few thousand miles. Keep your vehicle on its proper maintenance schedule and when larger problems arise, you are not hit unawares with a huge expense.

It costs money to own a vehicle and keep it in good repair, and it can cost more than you bargained for if you are not careful. Don’t be afraid to ask for input from others and gather as much information along the way as you can. Being prepared, you stand a much better chance of avoiding automotive repair fraud.

For most dealerships, times are hard. The leads have slowed down, the obstacles of financing should qualify as an Olympic sport and advertising just doesnt work like it used to.

And the truth is that many dealers are going under. Theres going to be a lot of casualties after this one.your store included.

OR maybe not.

This current financial crisis may really be your best blessing as a small business owner.

Sounds crazy, however heres the deal.

Many dealers are going out of business. No doubt. Its already happening. Your job is to be sure its somebody elses business going under not yours. And there are very real ways to do this, if youre really serious about being among the 20% of dealers who will survive the storm.

Im going to give you some cold, hard stats and ways to aid you in simply a moment, but let me begin by saying that if you dont have the correct systems or processes in place, work them out now. If you have personality conflicts, deal with them today. If you dont have a system for staying in touch with past customers and unconverted leads, get one.

If you dont have a crystal clear answer to the query, “Why should somebody choose me over other dealers?” figure it out this weekend. If you dont have a predictable way to get new clients into the door, at will, now is the time to do something about it. If you have floor plan issues or problems with your lenders, it’s better to sort it out this month than next.

Why?

It all comes back to the timeless 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto Principle.

If youre not acquainted with the Pareto Principle, this rule dictates that 20% of dealerships naturally get 80% of the business. In different words, the 20% of dealers who can survive this current economic storm will do so because they make 16 times as much as those in the 80%.

And because of this capability to earn additional capital, when the market does come back (which it invariably will), theyll be larger and higher than ever, readily positioned to eat up new shares of the auto market.

That may mean more dealers go out of business once more-but it wont affect you if youre among the 20%.

So what can you do to make sure your dealership quickly and easily ends up among the 20% if youre already in, or teetering towards the 80% category?

Well heres what dealers in the 20% group do, and what youll need to do if you plan to survive:

1. Theyre sharpening their axe to make sure the dealership runs smoothly
2. Theyre going through extra lengths to make sure the staff is well skilled
3. Theyre getting a dense hold on the marketing engine that will drive their business over the following few years

And most importantly, they wont panic or talk themselves into defeat. They know individuals will still buy cars. Just not as many. They also know theres going to be less deals to go around and theyll do what it takes to safeguard that business.

Now, what happens if things get real unhealthy, and unemployment rises to 15% or a lot more? Well if youre in the 80%, you’ll be forced to lay off and you wont have the required sustain employees to run your store.

BUT, if youre in the 20%, 15% unemployment rates mean youll have the pick of the litter of who you would like to work at your store. It means that youll have the cash to dismiss your deadbeats and riff-raff and be ready to replace them with competent, skilled, hard working folks in an instant.

Therefore high unemployment rates can be a good thingif youre in the right group.

The 20% group will see these hard times as an opportunity.

Smart people (those in the 20%) know that now, and the months ahead are prime time to invest in stock, real estate, human capital, marketing, inventory — and theyll be the ones who really rake it in when the market comes back.

Thus where can you fall as it relates to the 80/20 rule?

Heres something else that we know for sure

1. 80% of the individuals reading this can create solely 20% of the results they have to be successful (harsh, however true)
2. But 20% of the dealers reading can create 80% or more of the results they need to make itand make it huge!

A small percentage of the dealers reading this right now are prepared to make marvelous progresses in the coming months, whereas the rest are destined to mediocrity.

Now here’s where things get really crucial. The eighty/twenty rule repeats itself, infinitely. Which means the top 20% splits itself into eighty/twenty. Thus theres the top 4%.

Then it happens again. 20% of the top 20% of the top 20% — the top 0.8%. Thats where you really need to be. If we didnt already challenge you enough to be within the top twentyif you REALLY want to come out ahead, try to become a top 0.8% person.

Let’s take a closer look at the .8% person:

Each decision is carefully made by a 0.8% person because its way more important than a decision made by an 80% person.

A 0.8% person knows a way to focus and slim their labors on those things that are actually crucial. Even though he might have a list of 43 things to do, hell hone in on the three or four that are more important than all the others combined. But the 80% people treat all things as if theyre the same, or worse, work on the forty less crucial tasks before they tackle the three or 4 that really matter! They have no sense of priority and hence they “busy work” themselves out of survival.

The 0.8% person carefully discriminates what information he will allow into his mindwhat he reads, listens to, or watches on TV who he surrounds himself with. The 80% people are “open minded” and “tolerant” to just about anyone or any idea.

The 0.8% people belongs to some kind of mastermind or “good ol boys” club. This can be the sort of group that can support, hold up, and go the extra mile for its members. And most of the 0.8% folks pay BIG money to be in these clubs! However again, unlike the 80% who would see it as a waste, they understand the worth and that some of the most brilliant men of all time, (i.e. Carnegie, Henry Ford, Ben Franklin) all participated in the same.

The 0.8% person is perfectly immune to disapproval from othersdoesnt care what most folks think is not affected by pessimism on the news, from neighbors or family members. He realizes that the mass of humanity is nearly always pathetically wrong. The 80% folkswell, theyre the masses.

So, friend, whats it gonna be for you? 80%, 20%, 4%, 0.8%? Your actions now will finally determine your fate of your future. So choose the winning team and start down the road to success-even in these tough financial times!

Are you still placing ads in newspapers or billboards and waiting for people to show up at your dealership? Do you have a nice website but are unable to get quality leads? Is your competitor grabbing all the prospective buyers in your market? Then it is the time to rethink on your marketing strategy.

We all know that there are a limited number of potential car buyers in the market. Now the question is, how do you direct these potential car buyers to your dealership? Though consumers like to physically inspect a car before purchasing, it is the Internet they approach first in their car buying process. Needless to say is how dramatically the Internet has changed the car buying process almost 90 percent of consumers use the Internet to research vehicles (source: ‘Capgemini Cars Online Study 2009/2010). The survey also states that many consumers today are starting their research on vehicles with search engines, then moving to manufacturer and dealer sites.

So, it is very important for the auto dealers to have a solid internet marketing strategy; which includes automotive SEO, PPC, Email campaigns and automotive social media marketing media to get quality online leads and stay ahead of their competitors. A well planned internet marketing strategy enables you to access a wide number of potential customers, which then translates in to huge sales.

Simply put, investing in the website design is not enough. Proper care and nurturing its performance should be the top priority of an automotive dealer. It is very important to make sure that your website is ranking on the first page of all the major search engines in order to get highly qualified, exclusive leads to your website.

Sources to get quality leads
As a smart auto dealer, you should embrace all that the Internet offers. In order to survive, sustain and succeed in today’s competitive environment, you should take advantage of all the tools that are available; such as SEO, PPC advertising, e-mail campaigns, and an aggressive social media marketing strategy.

SEO
Automotive SEO is one of the major sources, which provides quality online leads for your dealership. A solid automotive SEO strategy lists your website among the top rankings for all your keywords. Ranking on the first page of the search engines makes your website credible, which in turn provides more traffic, more quality leads and eventually more sales. Proper optimization of home and inside pages brings up all the content related to services and products you offer – making it easy for the customers to know about your services.

PPC
Pay Per Click advertising involves purchasing sponsored links on the top of page of a search engines. These campaigns can generate instant sales to your dealership if used within the right context. PPC attracts highly targeted traffic to your dealership based on the keywords you have selected. An important aspect of a PPC campaign is that they can be launched quickly, which ensures that you get quality leads in no time.

Email campaigns
E-mail marketing is one of the most effective marketing methods that generate quality leads. Email campaigns increase sales, downloads, inquiries, registrations and overall sales. Through email campaigns, dealers can contact potential customers on a regular basis, increase customer loyalty by sending newsletters or other information related to products or services they offer. Through email marketing, dealers can target large number of customers with minimal budgets. In short, it is a cost effective, highly responsive and opportunistic medium to generate quality leads.

Social media marketing
Millions of people are using social platforms like Twitter and Facebook on a daily basis nowadays. It is one of the latest and the fast growing marketing base today. High-quality social media content can raise brand awareness and consideration levels. It can also change customer perceptions of a brand. Social media marketing improves your dealership’s reputation online and thus provides quality leads.

Automotive dealers can get quality online leads using Search Engine Optimization along with the other three campaigns mentioned above. But even today, many auto dealers are still not embracing these highly effective marketing campaigns because they either fail to understand them or they think that it is time consuming and difficult to implement. If you are one from them, it is very important for you to approach a reputed internet marketing firm that specializes in helping automotive dealers, to get quality leads that result in sales opportunities.

Its just a great feeling to drive my new car! With this pearl of technology I can conquer the world and experience lots of adventures. The leather smells really nice and with my new sunglasses I am completely the king of the world.

Did you however made any thoughts about the complexity of designing and manufacturing your fancy car full of great and modern things? Creating a safe, nice, dynamic and environmental friendly quality car is not an easy task.

Just not difficult to understand that all the processes secured by car manufactures and their tier suppliers will need to reflect all these requirements in a shorter and shorter timeframe. Changed market expectations have indeed forced the automotive guys to accelerate nearly everything . with occasionally negative consequences in terms of quality.

Also the procurement solutions used in the automotive industry are known to be one of strongest of all industries and are often referenced by many other people as the target or objective to be reached.

Hereby just some examples of the high maturity level in this functional field:

– elements like just-in-time (JIT) and just-in-sequence (JIS) are on top of the logistical pyramid

– the audit mechanisms used to validate suppliers are very detailed and challenging

– the end-to-end process and cost-effective approach from innovation up till industrialisation are strongly followed and documented

– risk analysis and creation of contingency plans is a well-known sport

– the early involvement of specialized suppliers with the engineering community of car manufacturers speeds up the process while (hopefully) securing an intense and early match

– the more sophisticated cost-reduction methodologies like VA/VE, reverse auctions, standardization or simultaneous engineering are used on a daily basis

– the streamlining of material flows and reduction of inventories is well developed

– the push for yearly cost-reduction or productivity via supportive process improvements is a quite familiar topic Without any doubt there are major differences between the various players. Just like a Jaguar is different to a Mercedes or a Volvo is different to a Peugeot.

Also the supply chain models and organizations are not exactly the same for the after-market compared to the original (high volume) market.

Just talk to specialists in procurement solutions for automotive to learn more. Lets hope you are not driving your car blindly!