Can we expect some innovative marketing this festive period?

Most car dealers are busily erecting their Christmas trees, dressing the showroom and gearing up for the festive season. In years gone by you could virtually write off December, but recently that trend has changed dramatically.

Of course as with any seasonal downturn the fact that prospective customers are in the throes of fighting over the gift purchases with other shoppers means that car dealers find the first two weeks of December challenging to say the very least.

However on the positive side they can use the time to ready themselves for the stampede when the sales start and ensure that all their cars are updated on the web and correctly price pointed, cleaned, prepared and ready to go.

Salespeople who are busily sorting out their Christmas parties should realise that they still need to earn their keep and the constant din of all the Christmas records playing in the showroom will at least give staff and customers alike a warm feeling inside and, who knows, may even encourage some customers to contemplate that big ticket purchase before prices rise in January as they always do.

Simply put car prices go up in January so how do car dealers jostle for position in the crowded Christmas market and encourage the big ticket purchase?

We doubt, however, we’ll see the kind of promotion currently available at Frank Myers Auto Maxx in North Carolina, USA (where else!) Kindly Frank has really gotten into the festive spirit and is offering a “No-Cost Christmas” for “deserving families”. As the dealer put it themselves; “When you buy a car this month from Frank Myers Auto Maxx this Christmas you won’t have to make a payment on the nicer, newer vehicle you desperately need and really want until after the Holidays, PLUS you’ll get up to $1,500 to use to buy gifts for your family and friends!”

Apparently “This offer is good even for people with credit problems” so it would appear that sub-prime lending is alive and well and living in North Carolina.

Myers explained, “I realize that all of us run into bad luck eventually. It’s just not fair to make some people suffer because they’ve run into hard times. So we fight every day to help hard working, honest people get approved for the car loans they really need right now. It’s all part of our approach to doing business.”
So (Santa) hats off to Frank and here’s to some imaginative marketing this festive period!