CDK Global

There’s nothing wrong if a dealership wants a little promotion after they’ve made a sale. However, car owners often have strong opinions on stores affixing a sticker, decal or badge to their new ride. License plate frames are easy to remove so there’s usually no argument to be had and often, they’re left on a car long after it leaves the lot.

Personalized license plate frames cost dealers only a few bucks each, but that money goes to waste if customers don’t keep frames attached to vehicles.

Let’s look at how your dealership can rethink this critical branding element.

Whether it’s at the dentist’s office, the airport or a car dealership’s Service department, nobody enjoys being sequestered in a waiting room. But if you go the extra mile — or even the extra one-tenth of a mile — and provide your customers with a comfortable place to wait for service, it can help make them happy, loyal customers. And it won’t cost you much.

Data is at the heart of everything today, and car dealerships are no exception. Whether it's understanding customer preferences, managing inventory or figuring out the best strategies for sales, effective data can make all the difference. Here are four areas that highlight how data can transform dealerships and why it’s so important for success.

Hiring and retaining talent is one of the most challenging tasks for dealerships. While a career in automotive offers a lot of perks, like high-earning potential, the downsides of long hours and high-pressure sales environments can dissuade job-seekers. So, what can dealerships do to draw in talent?

CDK wanted to find out. In our recent workplace study, we asked 400 current and former dealership employees about different aspects of their jobs. What we learned may surprise you.

Haggling, at least for the average consumer, may reach its zenith in the car-shopping process. However, that doesn't mean that the stereotypical image of a car shopper doing battle with a dealership’s entire Front Office actually holds true.

In fact, the opposite may be the case. In a recent study by CDK of over 1,000 car buyers*, we learned that nearly 85% of them reported spending less than half an hour negotiating the overall price or their monthly payments. That’s it: just 30 minutes or less — about the amount of time it takes to get through a TV sitcom.

Nearly two-thirds (65%) of car shoppers surveyed in recent study* by CDK said that they ultimately decided to purchase from a specific dealership because it offered the highest value for their trade-in vehicle.

Sixty five percent of customers said they decided on purchase from the dealership that offered the best trade-in value.

While women have an outsized influence on car purchase decisions, they’re a clear minority of car dealership employees. According to NADA, approximately one in five dealership employees are women. That’s why CDK wanted to learn more about these employees as part of our recent 2024 Dealership Workplace Study.

The results are stark.