How Much Time To Sell A Car?

[crowe]

I was reading an article recently that said if the process takes more than 1 & ½ hours the gross drops significantly. The article also said to cut the road-to-the-sale steps in half because sales steps are skipped anyway.

I don’t know if the author is a true maven or another instant expert. The bio looked ok but I always wonder why a consultant didn’t remain w/ a dealership to cash-in on all that knowledge. I also remember the old saying those that can do & those that can’t teach.

I don’t mind if the road to the sale steps are done out of order sometimes but I wouldn’t recommend skipping any steps.

For us 2 hours is fast & the average is probably more than 3 hours. Our closing ratio is close to 25% & gross averages about 2,800 a copy.

Here a write-up & appraisal takes about 15 minutes, a good credit app is submitted & approved in about the same time. F&I sign-up 15 minutes or less if the customer is reasonably intelligent & we’re not chasing stips for secondary finance.

We don’t do a lot of back & forth negotiations. If the salesperson needs another $100 or 2 or an equal comp they know they can get it & part of is coming out of their end.

Most of the extra time is spent by the customer deciding on the model, options or color along with the customer not bringing their trade-in, the other decision maker or required documents.

I would agree time is not on our side & once the customer commits you better hurry up.

Years ago I was out on the lot w/ an old-timer that averaged 40+ units a month. A customer pulled-up rolled down the window & asked from inside their car how much he could buy the new car we were standing beside. The old-timer pointing at the MSRP window sticker said, “its printed right here”. The customer said, “I’m not paying sticker price do you think I’m crazy”? The old-timer said, “well I wasn’t sure but I didn’t want to miss an opportunity to make some money if you were". 3 hours later the customer bought car.

[steve_biegler]

Humor is the best sales tool.

[XDCX]

Interesting theory - I'd be inclined to agree that a slower deal is a less profitable deal.

That said, it may be more of a reflection of the type of customer as opposed to a flaw in the process. The customers who want to grind every last dollar of gross out of a deal are likely to be the ones that take 3+ hours to close.

Concerning taking the steps out of order, I used to do that on a regular basis when I was working the desk. If we were working with a customer we didn't know I'd try to get a credit app early in the process so we knew who we were working with and knew which cars to show the customer. In my opinion nothing "craps out" a salesperson more than spending two hours with a customer only to find out the customer doesn't have the ability to buy.

[XDCX]

Thread bump for more comments.

How long does it take for a customer to buy a car at your store?

Do you agree with the theory that the longer it takes the lower the gross goes?

[79LilRedExpress]

Originally Posted by XDCX

Thread bump for more comments.

How long does it take for a customer to buy a car at your store?

Do you agree with the theory that the longer it takes the lower the gross goes?

Only if you are talking about the car deal the entire time...

We spend about a 1/2 hr "getting to know" the customer and finding common ground.