Make the good old test-drive part of your sales strategy - and see the difference

The newly released McKinsey’s report shows that more than 80% of customers take test drives during the car buying process, underscoring the continuing strategic importance of diminishing touchpoints within the new environment of customers purchasing a new vehicle.

This is particularly true for used car sales, as it is difficult to describe the exact state of a used car using words and photos: potential buyers want to physically examine the car before making a purchasing decision.

Overall, an average of 82 percent of customers conducted at least one test-drive as part of their buying process. Despite their preference for the online channel for many phases of the purchasing process, even younger customers still want to physically feel and experience the car of their choice before making a final decision.

As these customer insights show, it is critical to design and execute a superior test-drive experience for the customer, ranging from providing a well-selected route to a detailed explanation and demonstration of the vehicle’s features.

Dealers will therefore remain essential for organising test-drives.

With that in mind, we should make sure that our sales teams are well informed, well presented and good listeners, as this is the time when the customer will ask the most critical questions. The answers may just convince your customer to close the deal.

Make the test-drive part of your sales strategy and see the difference.

We share the best used car sales for February 2017.

The top 5 used passenger vehicle sales per manufacturer (only IDA dealers on the Signio platform)

FORD
VOLKSWAGEN
TOYOTA
BMW
NISSAN

The top three used commercial used vehicle sales per manufacturer (bakkies)

RANGER 2.2TDCI XL P/U D/C
RANGER 3.2TDCI XLT A/T P/U D/C
RANGER 3.2TDCI XLT 4X4 A/T P/U D/C

Top 10 derivatives used car sales

RANGER 2.2TDCI XL P/U D/C
RANGER 2.2TDCI XL A/T P/U D/C
RANGER 3.2TDCI XLT A/T P/U D/C
POLO 1.4 COMFORTLINE 5DR
FIGO 1.4 AMBIENTE
POLO GP 1.2 TSI COMFORTLINE (66KW)
POLO VIVO GP 1.4 TRENDLINE 5DR
POLO VIVO GP 1.4 CONCEPTLINE 5DR
ECOSPORT 1.5TIVCT AMBIENTE
ETIOS 1.5 XS 5DR

The average age of used vehicles sold in February was 4.76 years.