Categories
Dealer Tips

How To Handle Negative Reviews Online

how-to-respond-to-bad-reviews-onlineMost 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.

Categories
Features

Auto Ad Manager Adds New Features

Several new features have been released for all of our customers available immediately. They include:

Download Images

Need to download your images from the admin area? No problem! Just click the download button from the images page. A zip file is automatically created with all your images as they appear on the site.

Carstory Integration

The team at Vast has a new product that we think you might like. It is a free service called Carstory, and it shows car shoppers on your website vehicle details page how your vehicle compares to the rest of the market. Check out their demo at carstory.com for more information. If you would like to sign up click here and check all of the products to enroll in. Again, this is totally free!

Image Watermark

2013-Porsche-911-1-5708012470631
Would you like to have your logo appear in the lower right of every vehicle image you upload? If so we can setup your account to automatically watermark your images when you upload them.

New Import Option

You can now use the bulk data uploader to import your data from PRCO Power. Simply export your data to your desktop and then upload it using the add multiple vehicles page.

Want more information on how Auto Ad Manager can help your used car dealership? Read more about us here.

Categories
Features

Auto Ad Manager Offers Updated Car Dealer Website Templates

As the internet changes, styles come and go and it is important to keep your website design fresh and in step with the times. Here at Auto Ad Manager, we strive to make sure that our customers have the latest and greatest websites and features. Check out a few of the new designs we have done for some of our latest customers.

Autolinx
This car dealer website is powered by Auto Ad Manager and was developed in conjunction with local staff. It represents the latest in design and features we offer.

Taj Auto Group
This dealership website received a complete rebuild from the ground up with an emphasis on the mobile user experience. Check out the simple yet elegant design.

Pleasanton Auto Sales
Simple, fast, and easy to use was the request from Pleasanton Auto Sales for their website. We built the site using the bootstrap framework and tweaked the design to deliver the look and feel that this dealership wanted. As with all of our websites since November of 2011, this one was built to be responsive using HTML5 and CSS3.

Can we help you? Contact us on our website or give us a call at 925-399-1310 and we’ll get your website brought up to date. We have a growing list of satisfied customers that are happy to have individualized service that the big box competitors can’t match. Experience the difference yourself today.

Categories
Dealer Tips

What Am I Agreeing To?

What are you agreeing to? It’s a common question from customers when the time comes to finalize the paperwork, and you do your best to explain it all. The problem with contracts and agreements is many times we think we know what they say, but in reality, the wording and meaning can be altered and confused. Which begs the question, do I really know what I am agreeing to? This question is especially important for any contracts that you as a dealer sign. Whether the agreement is with a lender, an advertising partner, or a vendor, it is important to take the time to fully understand the terms. For example, a dealer in California recently sold an expensive vehicle to a buyer that needed financing. Upon bank approval the vehicle was delivered and the paperwork sent in. A few months later the lender still had not received a payment, and upon investigation, it was discovered that identity theft and fraud were involved. The customer is nowhere to be found and the bank wants their money. The dealer was contacted and informed that according to their agreement, in the case of fraud, the dealer is liable to the bank for the balance of the loan. Thank goodness for insurance right? Maybe not, as some policies do not cover identity theft cases. Had the dealer known that they were responsible in a case like this they may have taken a few additional steps to ensure they were protected. This is also true of advertising partners. Auto Ad Manager has had multiple dealers relate horror stories of problems with former advertising partners, especially in relation to their domain name registration. Typically, a dealer should always register their own domain name. However, a friendly offer from an ad partner to do that for them is gladly accepted by some. When it’s time to try another solution though, the claws come out and ad partners have been known to hold domain names hostage. The dealership has the domain name plastered on license plate frames, business cards, and ads. Now they have to change internet addresses and this can be a slow and expensive process. Sadly, if the ad partner has a clause in the agreement that states they own your domain name if they register it on your behalf, their isn’t much legal recourse. Perhaps migrating the domain name to a third party before you cancel your agreement is the best option. Auto Ad Manager has always held that the dealer is the owner of the domain name whether we register it for them or not, and is quick to transfer to a third party or new provider whenever needed. The moral of the stories: Always know what you are agreeing to.

Categories
Dealer Tips

If You Spend It, You Will Get It

When things are slow should you lay low?
When things are slow should you lay low?

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.

Categories
Dealer Tips News

Car Dealer Websites and Automotive SEO Video Updated

We put the finishing touches on our video that shows the main features of Auto Ad Manager. Mainly, video snippets and screenshots show the new user interface that also works on mobile for used car dealers. We also have put more of an emphasis on Automotive SEO and Car Dealer Websites.

Categories
Dealer Tips

Detailing The Force Approval Credit Card Scam

force-approval-merchant-scamSo 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.

Categories
News

Auto Ad Manager Welcomes Used Car Dealerships

Used Cars VallejoWe are excited to be providing Used Car Dealer advertising services for some great customers.

Used Car Dealerships

Barocci Motor Group

Founded by a team of individuals with the goal of providing high end used cars in the Richmond, CA and surrounding areas. The dealership has been fully remodeled and provides a spacious, bright, and attractive environment for buying a used car. The website has been built with our latest technology allowing for quick searches, integrated slideshows and videos, and search engine optimization all included. \

Genel Inc.

Located in Jackson, NJ, Genel Autos is a small family owned and run used car dealership that offers a variety of quality used cars for great prices. The company slogan, “The Wholesale car markets best kept secret, cars and trucks sold at wholesale or below” signifies the mission of the company and their inventory and prices show that.

Autolinx

Autolinx Inc. is  on of the Used Car Dealerships in Vallejo, CA that offers a wide variety of pre-owned vehicles for sale. The inventory is constantly changing and includes a wide range of makes like Audi, BMW, Chevrolet, Infiniti, Lexus, Mercedes Benz, Porsche, Mitsubishi, Range Rover, and more. Most of the cars are close to new and are extremely clean with almost no reconditioning done. Low mileage high quality vehicles are what you can expect from this dealer. The partners that started the business early last year have over 30 years industry experience, and it shows in how they have taken care of the details at their location. They already have raving reviews on yelp.

Website: www.autolinx.com

Categories
Features

Auto Ad Manager Now Offers Dedicated Mobile and Printable Window Stickers

Our dedicated mobile sites are now included with every package as well as printable window stickers, buyers guides, and full inventory with thumbnail photos.

Dedicated Used Car Dealer Mobile WebsiteDedicated Mobile Website Features include:

  • Image gestures for photo navigation
  • Clickable maps for directions
  • Click to call phone number
  • Quick loading for slow connections
  • Contact form for customer call to action

If you are on a smartphone, browse to m.autoadmanager.com/91 to get the full experience now.

In addition, most of our websites are designed with a responsive theme for car dealers, which means your desktop website also looks great on various sized screens for tablets and other devices.

Buyers Guides, Window Stickers, Check In Sheets, and Printable Inventory

It’s easy to print buyers guides, front and back, window stickers, check in sheets and your full inventory with Auto Ad Manager. Dealers just login to their account, click on their vehicle list, and click the print button next to each vehicle. Your print out is available in PDF form so that formatting is consistent on your printer. It’s as easy as that!

Buyers Guide Front

Categories
Dealer Tips

Reading the Fine Print

Have you received a document in the mail from DNS Services or a similar company that looks like this?Should a dealer pay this

At first glance you might have assumed that you are a current customer, after all, their is an account number on the form along with your company name.

It may appear at first glance that you are already a customer

Lets examine the document closer. The center of the document has your domain name listed and even your dns information, along with an annual fee of $65 for managed DNS backup business services.

Lets Read the Fine Print

But let’s read the center area closely. That’s right, they have spelled it out for you on the third line down in all caps, “this is a solicitation for the order of goods or services or both, and not a bill, invoice, or statement of account due. You are under no obligation to make any payments on account of this offer unless you accept this offer.

So you do not owe DNS Services, INC any money, this is merely a solicitation and if you send in a payment, you are accepting their offer.

Make sure to read all documents thoroughly that ask for any type of payment. You may have incorrectly assumed that money was due, when indeed it is not.