Over the next three years, dealers are expected to face ongoing inventory challenges, with a shortage of about 8 million used vehicles and lease returns down by 50%.

In some cases, dealers are going to have to offer vehicles they may not have thought of as retail units in the past.

One thing to keep in mind: There is no such thing as a bad car — only the wrong one for that customer. The solution is to provide shoppers with all the relevant information and let them decide.

Customers don’t expect used vehicles to be perfect. Except for certified pre-owned models, they can be skeptical when used cars are presented as “perfect.” It’s true they don’t want to be embarrassed when driving them, so things like cosmetic issues (scratches and dents) should be repaired before showing the vehicle.

Shoppers want to know what the vehicle was like when the dealer traded for it. They’d like to know what was wrong, what was fixed — or maybe wasn’t.

Vehicles with accident or damage events are the ones that dealers tend to shy away from. About a third of vehicles from 1 year to 6 years old have had some sort of accident or damage event. To pass on that available inventory would be a very costly mistake. Dealers tend to be more critical of these vehicles than the buying public is.

Bottom line, consumers are afraid of uncertainty. By being transparent and educating the consumer on the total history of a vehicle, dealers may deflect some traffic or leads for a vehicle but, at the same time, this will increase the percentage of actual buyers.

The question is, do you want 100 leads — or 10 people at the door? Let the internet do what it does best, which is find the right buyer for your vehicle. The truth is, vehicles with accidents are more profitable and sell faster because there’s a much smaller competing market than there is for non-accident vehicles, they’re typically less expensive and therefore appeal to a wider audience that’s looking hard at affordability.

The way to find the right buyer is to write a quality description that includes fully disclosing any accident/damage events and walking the shopper through the full history of the vehicle. Descriptions that included terms such as “HOMEGROWN,” “One Owner,” “Personally Leased” and “Well-Maintained” oftentimes outweigh those accident or damage events.

Remember: There is no such thing as a bad car. Take the time and educate your sales staff on the vehicle’s history of your used car inventory. Then, your sales team will be more effective talking to customers, turning them into buyers.

DO NOT let your sales team be less educated than your customers. They, by the way, are making their buying decisions based on the information they find in the history reports!

–Just The Fax

By Robert Grill, Carfax Director of Partner Development

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