Hey car dealers, here's a radical idea

iMax

How about instead of closing at 3 on a Saturday & remaining closed on Sunday, you open those days & close midweek instead, that way most people who want to buy a car can go see them when they're off.

You, never know, you might just manage to survive the recession...

-Corkie-

Local guy beside me opens till late on saturday and sunday if you need him and is closed every monday.

Berty

I remember the garages were open 7 days a week sometimes as they were struggling to keep cars on the forecourt at some stages.

People window shop at the weekends, serious buyers come in during the week these days.

mikemac

That's how many motorcycle dealers work
Open all day Saturday and for a few hours on Sunday afternoon.

Monday is a day off

Car dealers should do the same

colm_mcm

Do we really need this though?
Working on Sunday sucks. service customers would be whinging if garages closed Monday or any day of the week.

Vicxas

Im working on a sunday and i feel like climbing a clock tower with a high powered rifle, do you really want a car salesman behind the wheel of a car in this mood?






I wouldnt.

Owen

When I was selling it was bad enough on a Saturday, then the garage opened on a Sunday. It was pointless. There was about one customer a month despite an advertising blitz. And even if we doubled our footfall to two customers a month, you can't do anything on a Sunday. You can't get finance checks done, you can't get settlement figures on part exchanges, you can't ring traders for values on trade ins as they're off enjoying the weekend with their families.

Honestly, working weekends was the sole reason I left the sales game. Life's too short to be working on the weekends.

iMax

iMax wrote: »

How about instead of closing at 3 on a Saturday & remaining closed on Sunday, you open those days & close midweek instead, that way most people who want to buy a car can go see them when they're off.

You, never know, you might just manage to survive the recession...

Anyone looking to buy a car from a dealer that closes at 3pm on a Saturday should call into the dealer before 3, radical idea :cool:

colm_mcm

Any time I ever did it, you'd get mammy and daddy out test driving cars with the kids with no intention of buying.
I honestly don't think there's a need for it, if anyone is that intent on buying a car, there's 6 other days in the week and dealers that will open on appointment.

Vicxas

Isnt bad luck to buy on a saturday and sunday anyway?

colm_mcm

there's ancient superstition involving retailing of cars on weekends?


I'd say that was invented by SIMI

_Kaiser_

colm_mcm wrote: »

Do we really need this though?
Working on Sunday sucks. service customers would be whinging if garages closed Monday or any day of the week.

Speaking for myself I'd much rather the Service departments were open on weekends as I end up having to take a day off work every time it's due.

Bens

Thats always annoyed me.
Sunday is the only time myself and the mrs have to go car shopping.
She needs a new car and I am thinking of changing mine.
For the last 3 months we were trying to organize a day to go car shopping for the two of us but it didnt happen.
Now im moving to the uk and shes coming over after a few months the whole car shopping thing is on hold now.

Sunday opening is so important for everything in a recession.
You must be ready to take someones money every day you can.

Owen

mikemac wrote: »

That's how many motorcycle dealers work
Open all day Saturday and for a few hours on Sunday afternoon.

Monday is a day off

Car dealers should do the same

But the bike market is predominantly weekend. I'm a biker, and the bike's a weekend thing, you get to go out and have fun after the week of work/commuting. Cars are predominantly sold during the week, it's a completely different market altogether.

Bens wrote: »

Sunday opening is so important for everything in a recession. You must be ready to take someones money every day you can.

What's the point in that though? Nearly every garage I know that tried opening up on a Sunday did it, met hardly anyone, and it cost them far more money than it made. We paid wages for about 12 staff between the franchises, on top of lighting/heating/other costs. We'd need to be selling 2 cars each week to even break even let alone make profit. When we were seeing one customer every other week, the chances of that are extremely slim - especially when the average closing rate is 1 customer for every 10 you meet.

SomeDude

PaintDoctor wrote: »

the average closing rate is 1 customer for every 10 you meet.

That sounds very low. I've been told 20% to 30% is the 'conversion rate' for enquiries on new car sales that end up as a registration. I guess that depends on what you classify an enquiry as. Anybody care to offer an opinion?

Owen

That was the stats I dealt with for 7 years. 20-30% might be achievable for the volume based brands though, I've no experience of that, but other guys here would know a lot more than me. Even if it was 20-30%, you're still talking having to see a lot more customers than what's even possible on a Sunday to break even, let alone make money.

The additional downside to working on Sundays, is it demoralises your staff too, leading to poorer overall performance. The IMI did research a few years ago on staff work satisfaction, and found that money was the last of the motivational factors in the motor trade. People valued their time off intensly, and it ranked highest in nearly all of the surveys.

Most sales people work about 60-70 hours a week (Hardly any take tea breaks, or lunch breaks, they come in early, go home late, and most don't get paid for saturday work either). Asking them to work Sundays is a stretch too far. And before anyone says 'Well, if you're in Sales, you have to go with the flow, tough!' - try explaining that to a parnter at home who's abandoned 7 days of the week with kids.

iMax

Beer Baron wrote: »

People window shop at the weekends, serious buyers come in during the week these days.

I can only buy at the weekend, taking time off to look at cars is not feasable

colm_mcm wrote: »

Do we really need this though?
Working on Sunday sucks.
Service customers would be whinging if garages closed Monday or any day of the week.

Yes.
It's a job.
Leave the service as is.

RoverJames wrote: »

Anyone looking to buy a car from a dealer that closes at 3pm on a Saturday should call into the dealer before 3, radical idea :cool:

I got to three garages yesterday, starting at ten & finishing at three. Then that's it for another week.

PaintDoctor wrote: »

Nearly every garage I know that tried opening up on a Sunday did it, met hardly anyone, and it cost them far more money than it made. We paid wages for about 12 staff between the franchises, on top of lighting/heating/other costs. We'd need to be selling 2 cars each week to even break even let alone make profit. When we were seeing one customer every other week, the chances of that are extremely slim - especially when the average closing rate is 1 customer for every 10 you meet.

I bet you didn't close on a midweek day though. You need to transfer the custom to make it worth your while.

PaintDoctor wrote: »

Most sales people work about 60-70 hours a week (Hardly any take tea breaks, or lunch breaks, they come in early, go home late, and most don't get paid for saturday work either). Asking them to work Sundays is a stretch too far. And before anyone says 'Well, if you're in Sales, you have to go with the flow, tough!' - try explaining that to a parnter at home who's abandoned 7 days of the week with kids.

What I'm suggesting though is that the closed days move mid week & transfer the traffic/business to the weekend when there's a higher likelihood of people who want to buy a car having the time off to do so.

Owen

It'll never happen.

Honestly, if you're making the second biggest purchase in your life apart from your house, you can find the time to get into a Dealership. Most will actually wait for you if you phoned in and asked could you meet someone at 6.30 some day. They're not unreasonable. Worst coming to the worst, do what you'd have to do if you wanted to go to the dentist, or if you wanted to go into any other type of shop which is open Mon-Sat. Take a day off.

Bens

PaintDoctor wrote: »

But the bike market is predominantly weekend. I'm a biker, and the bike's a weekend thing, you get to go out and have fun after the week of work/commuting. Cars are predominantly sold during the week, it's a completely different market altogether.



What's the point in that though? Nearly every garage I know that tried opening up on a Sunday did it, met hardly anyone, and it cost them far more money than it made. We paid wages for about 12 staff between the franchises, on top of lighting/heating/other costs. We'd need to be selling 2 cars each week to even break even let alone make profit. When we were seeing one customer every other week, the chances of that are extremely slim - especially when the average closing rate is 1 customer for every 10 you meet.

People all know that shopping for a car at the weekend is a no no, because nowhere is open or hey close early. So if one or two garages open at the weekend nobody knows about them.

There is no possible way that if you compare shopping on a weekend, to during the week, that during the week will win.

Nobody wants to have to take time off work to buy a car. Just because right now it is the only way they can buy a car, doesnt mean they wouldnt prefer to do it at the weekends. I bet if it all car dealers were open at weekends then most sales would actually happen on a Saturday and a Sunday.

What has to happen is that all car dealers open at the weekend it becomes the norm to buy a car at the weekend. People will then all know weekend = car show rooms open = we have the time to look at cars today.

Right now if you hear a car dealer is open on Sunday, you wouldnt bother, because when you are finished there, if you havent bought a car, the rest of them are closed. If they were all open, different story.

Atlantic Dawn

My last 4 cars I have all bought on a Saturday, having said that it was always in the morning when they were open but there's been plenty of times I've spotted cars that I would be interested to view but the garage has closed in the afternoon or all day Sunday. I think extending servicing on the weekend would also be a good idea and close the place for 2 days during the week. I'd imagine if you were the only BMW, VW or Toyota dealer open the whole weekend you would clean up.

PaintDoctor

PaintDoctor wrote: »

............ especially when the average closing rate is 1 customer for every 10 you meet.

SomeDude wrote: »

That sounds very low. I've been told 20% to 30% is the 'conversion rate' for enquiries on new car sales that end up as a registration. I guess that depends on what you classify an enquiry as. Anybody care to offer an opinion?

My opinion would be someone who worked in car sales would have a fairly good idea

colm_mcm

If 30% of all test drivers bought cars, and each test drove 5 different cars each, then everyone who drove at least one car would buy one car. It doesn't work like that.

bazz26

If I spot a car at a a dealers I am interested in then I do a bit of reconnaissance on it at the weekend when the garage is closed (assuming the forecourt is still accessible) and I'm under no presure from sales staff. If I'm still interested in the car I will then call into the garage during the week, test drive it and agree a price or walk away. I've collected new cars on Saturdays but any deals I have done have always been during the week.

colm_mcm

Maybe they should open 24 hours too just incase someone can't go in during the day

oregano

I've owned my own garage now 3 years. Saturday is the busiest day, in every respect. But come 230 pm we get tumbleweeds. And I'm not willing to pay a salesman to play solitaire on a Sunday. When I worked in Hyundai, BMW and Toyota we always tried to dictate the market by opening Sundays. We lost. The odd punter isn't enough to make it work. And as for closing deals, my ratio midweek is 3 out of 5. Saturdays, 1 in 6. ish. 'Nuff said!

Eric Cartman

colm_mcm wrote: »

Maybe they should open 24 hours too just incase someone can't go in during the day

as much as im not defending the OPs idea , it would definitley make me more productive if everything opened 24/7

ninty9er

I could understand a late night during the week, but given the nature of the Irish market most delaers round here open on Saturday and Sunday for the first 6 weeks of the year to manage deliveries and it's busy for second-hand shopping. By mid-February it dies off though.

As said above, the finance issue is a big barrier to selling cars at weekends.

-Chris-

I'll chime in with the others who have experience of sitting staring into space from 3pm onwards virtually every Saturday.
Someone who turned up at 9am, was deadly serious. Someone who turned up at 4pm, was rarely serious.

Sunday was even worse. The closing ratio is tiny compared to mid-week, and comparing the one or two or three cars sold on a (good) Sunday - and the resultant profit - compared against the cost of opening, lighting, heating and staffing the dealership for those 6-8 hours, just isn't enough.

And I say that as someone who worked in a dealership who only opened on Sundays as part of an Open Weekend, with the accompanying local flyering, radio ad campaign, mass text messaging etc.

oregano

Having just re-read the OPs point, I can see how annoying it is but at least you know the hours... I won't be open this coming Wednesday and the first thing the neighbours will think is I've gone bust...!

Instead of going around each saturday to test drive three cars, why not contact the dealers selling cars you're very keen on and ask them to meet you midweek of an evening, halfway between your home and their garage? I do this often enough, and only ask that should the customer decide not to buy the car that they simply have the courtesy to text/call me with a reason.

PARKHEAD67

iMax wrote: »

How about instead of closing at 3 on a Saturday & remaining closed on Sunday, you open those days & close midweek instead, that way most people who want to buy a car can go see them when they're off.

You, never know, you might just manage to survive the recession...

We dont all have office jobs.9-5 Mon to Fri.Not me and not thousands of others.

Mr.Boots

I sometimes work 7 days a week so i can understand where the car sales guys are coming from...i can also understand the customers side.
We dont live in a 7 work day week here in backword Ireland and untill we do commerce wont happen on a sunday....No point a garage opening if banks etc are closed.
Most people i know who dont ever work weekends arnt very productive with them anyway....its a mental thing..they switch off.