Category: Dealer Tips

Many car dealers wonder if they need to make sure they are in compliance with the recently enacted CCPA or California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 which went into affect January 1,2020. According to the compliance guidelines if the following is true you will need to make some changes to the way you handle personal data of anyone visiting your website:

The CCPA applies to any business, including any for-profit entity that collects consumers’ personal data, which does business in California, and satisfies at least one of the following thresholds:

• Has annual gross revenues in excess of $25 million;
• Buys or sells the personal information of 50,000 or more consumers or households; or
• Earns more than half of its annual revenue from selling consumers’ personal information.

If you meet any of the above you are required to “implement and maintain reasonable security procedures and practices in protecting consumer data”.

For the full breakdown of if you dealership meets these requirements, see the official documentation on the governement website here.

Most car dealerships will not fall into any of these categories, and would therefore not be subject to be in compliance with this law. However, it does raise the serious question of how are the used car dealerships current policies in handling sensitive customer information? This could be in digital form via your website, or physical form when you make a copy of a drivers license before a test drive. You will want to discuss that with your business or legal professional, and this is a conversation that every dealership should have.

Obviously this is not a legal blog and we offer no advice on the matter of used car dealer privacy compliance. However, privacy is something that every car dealer should pay close attention to and that needs to be investigated. For further reading check out this website dedicated to the CCPA and this excellent article written by JD Supra.

Most sites offer a review system related to your Used Car Dealership. Sometimes, an irate outspoken customer voices their frustration with your service. What are your options? What is the best way to handle the situation? Here are some things that you should consider before you reply.

1. Don’t Be Defensive
   Is your place business clean or dirty? Are you rude or nice on the phone? Do you sometimes ignore customers on the lot or do you greet them quickly and with a smile? Instead of getting defensive, imagine that you are experiencing your dealership for the first time thru your customers experience. If you put yourself in your customers shoes you might be a little more sympathetic to their frustration and this will help you make a reply and ultimately remedy the situation.
2. Reply To The Review Kindly
   Most review sites offer the ability for the business owner to reply. Take advantage of this feature and reply to the review. A word of caution however: Make sure you do so in a kind, dignified manner without sounding defensive. This is key. If you are harsh and defensive, it’s not going to look good online. If you are apologetic, factual, and to the point, other users will see that and decide to take your accusers words with a grain of salt, or give them no merit whatsoever. Either one is good for your used car dealership.
3. Analyze and Adapt
   What went wrong? Could the situation have been avoided? Moving forward it may require some changes to the business policy, but these changes will be well worth it. If you can minimize situations like this you will preserve a good reputation online, and that is the first place that most customers come in contact with your dealership first.

So, there are three simple things you can do the next time you encounter a bad review about your business online. You will save yourself a lot of time and headache dealing with a negative review online if you aren’t defensive, you reply in a kind way, and analyze what went wrong so that you can adapt your methods in the future.

Customers frequently ask this question when it’s time to finalize paperwork, and you do your best to explain everything clearly. However, contracts and agreements often present a unique challenge: we think we understand them, but the language can be ambiguous or misleading. This raises an important question—do I really know what I’m agreeing to?

This question becomes especially critical for any contracts you sign as a dealer. Whether you’re entering an agreement with a lender, an advertising partner, or a vendor, it’s essential to fully understand the terms before committing.

Consider this real-world example: a dealer in California sold a high-end vehicle to a buyer who required financing. Once the bank approved the loan, the dealer delivered the vehicle and submitted the paperwork. Months later, the lender still hadn’t received a payment. Upon investigation, it turned out the deal involved identity theft and fraud. The customer had vanished, and the bank demanded repayment.

At that point, the dealer learned a harsh truth: according to their agreement, they were liable for the loan balance in the event of fraud. You might assume insurance would cover such a situation—but not necessarily. Many policies exclude identity theft. Had the dealer understood this clause from the outset, they might have taken extra precautions to protect themselves.

Similarly, dealers have shared numerous cautionary tales about advertising partners—particularly regarding domain name registration. Ideally, the dealership should register its own domain name. Yet, when an ad partner offers to handle it as a courtesy, some dealers accept without hesitation. Trouble arises when the dealership decides to switch providers. Suddenly, the ad partner refuses to release the domain name, effectively holding it hostage.

This creates a costly dilemma: the domain is printed on everything from license plate frames to business cards and digital ads. Changing it disrupts operations and requires significant time and expense. Worse, if the agreement includes a clause granting the ad partner ownership of the domain when they register it, legal options are limited.

To avoid this, consider migrating the domain to a third party before ending the agreement. At Auto Ad Manager, we firmly believe the dealer owns the domain—regardless of who registers it—and we promptly transfer it upon request.

The takeaway? Always read contracts carefully and know exactly what you’re agreeing to. A few extra minutes of diligence now can save you major headaches down the road.

When times get tough, a lot of dealers like to employ the old adage “When it’s slow, lay low”. But is that what successful Used Car Dealers do? We talked to a few and here is what some of them do when those times come.

Make Dealership Enhancements – This is a great suggestion and one that has a lot of merit. A lot of dealerships are a bit lax when it comes to maintenance. Why not use the down time to wash the windows, paint the trim, add some decorations, or do a deep cleaning. Customers do notice the little things and if you spend the time, you will get more customers who write positive reviews.

Purchase Quality Vehicles – Instead of taking a risk on a vehicle that is cheap but may have been neglected and abused, why not spend a little more money per vehicle and get a more quality inventory. You will be building your reputation and probably receive more referrals in the slow times than the dealer that sells the lemons. It’s better to buy two clean $7,500 cars than three bad $5000 cars with $15k.

Get Social – Are you effectively using social media to engage your customers? Sites like www.pinterest.com, www.instagram.com, www.facebook.com, and www.twitter.com are all ways to engage with the public and just might get you that extra customer you are after.

Take Better Photos – Was that BMW dirty when you took pictures because you wanted it on the website right away? Why not look down the inventory list and pick a few vehicles where the lighting was bad, the car was dirty, or the recon wasn’t done completely and retake your photos. That just might make for a better showing for your customer and be the motivating factor to schedule a test drive.

Spend On Advertising – Just because it’s slow doesn’t mean you should cut your ad budget. If the other dealers do that, that will leave you with the customers when thing pick up, as your cars will be found and seen. See if there are other ways to trim your cost first, this one should be a last resort.

So you’re getting ready to close the deal. The profit looks great, the buyer checks out, and he wants the car. The buyer then asks if you would accept a credit card. No problem you reply, your credit card processing machine is ready to go. The buyer remarks that there is just one thing you need to do. You will need to “force” the approval and call the merchant to get an approval code.

Wait a second you think, that sounds a little fishy. Everything is fine your customer explains. It’s just because XYZ happened and this is the way that his credit card company told him to do it  because of XYZ. Go ahead call my credit card company at this number, he explains, you’ll get the approval code I’m talking about.

You proceed to call the number and give the merchant the credit card number and the person on the other end replies that the process is fine, albeit unconventional, providing the approval code you need. So you proceed, following the process your customer guides you through, swiping the card, navigating thru the options, and holding the “Force” option to get an approval. The charge goes through and everything seems fine. You get an approval and print out the receipt. Wow, this person knows more about credit card machines than you do, you think to yourself. You shake hands and the customer drives off in his brand new car.

A few days later you check your account to make sure the transaction posted, but to your chagrin, it hasn’t. You call your bank and explain the story. But unfortunately, you have been had. There is no money in your account.

You call the customer, no answer. You call your insurance company who regrets to inform you that they don’t offer coverage on Force approvals. Now you call the police. Hopefully you have Lojack installed on that vehicle.

Moral of the story? Never do a force entry. If you have to do it for some odd reason, get an approval from your merchant, not the buyers.