Car Shoppers Get Serious on Fourth of July

People phoning car dealerships this Fourth of July weekend likely will seriously want to buy a vehicle.

Meanwhile, new-car buyers of certain brand vehicles are prone to sell them faster than others.

And in the U.S., preferences for American, Asian and European vehicles vary from region to region in the U.S.

Those are the results of three automotive studies.

Customer-relationship management software provider DealerSocket pulled dealership CRM data from 2014’s July 4 activity to give indications of what to expect this weekend.

The vast majority (93%) of people calling dealerships during the same time last year ended up making a formal appointment. That emphasizes the need to field phone calls effectively and follow a formal appointment-confirmation process, DealerSocket says.

Despite an increase in communication channels, the telephone remains one of the most important sales tools for dealerships. The number of phone conversations per customer and call durations matter.

The difference between average and top-performing dealerships is that the latter spends a total of six more minutes on the phone per prospect, DealerSocket says.

Last July 4 saw more customer interest in pre-owned vehicles. Sales resulting from used cars outpaced those from new cars, 44% to 38%. Average profit on used vehicles was $2,072 compared with $1,428 for new cars.

Brands with impressive profit margins were Jeep ($3,378), Nissan’s luxury brand Infiniti ($2,995) and Buick ($2,647), DealerSocket says.

The Buick Regal tops the list of vehicles new-car buyers are most likely to sell after a year of ownership, according to data crunching by iSeeCars.com, an online used-car marketplace.

On average, 2.7% of U.S. consumers who buy a new car sell it after a year. Following the Regal at 10.7% are the Chevrolet Sonic (8.9%), BMW X1 (7.8%), Dodge Charger (7.7%), Mercedes-Benz C-Class (7.4%), Chevrolet Cruze (7.2%) and Nissan Frontier (6.9%), iSeeCars.com says.

Consumers’ new-vehicle preferences differ by region, with American, Asian and European brand interest higher in some places than others, according to a study by the CarGurus.com shopping site.

American brands do best in the heartland, while imports get more attention in coastal regions.

The Detroit market tops the list of areas showing the most interest in American brands. That reflects a home team preference but also price discounts for auto-industry employees.

Following Detroit at 69.5%, consumer interest in American-brand vehicles by region includes Oklahoma City (58.6%), St. Louis (57.7%), Indianapolis (57.2%) and Pittsburgh (57.1%).

The top five cities where Asian brands draw the most attention are San Jose, CA (43.7%), Boston (43.1%), San Francisco (42.5%), Harford, CT (41.9%) and Los Angeles (41.9%)

For European brands it’s San Francisco (27.7%), New York (27%), Miami (26.3%), San Jose (25.7%) and Los Angeles (25.4%).

For the study, CarGurus analyzed customer inquiries submitted to dealers on car listings.

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