Clean Sells.
My father is 81 now. He was and still is, a car dealer. As a young boy, he brought me in to help clean the cars in his inventory. It wasn’t just busywork. He let me know then what an important job it was that he was entrusting to me. “Todd, clean sells,” he would always tell me. These words I took to heart.
If you want to sell a car, especially a used one, it needs to be exceptionally clean regardless of your asking price. A prospective buyer wants to see the car as perfect, not unloved and neglected. Who wants to put themselves behind the wheel of a slob-mobile? I challenge you to walk your lot and look at just how clean your inventory is. Pull 10 random keys to your new cars and 10 random keys to your used cars.
First, judge the exterior. Can you find:
Checking the inside is just as important. Check for:
Cleaning up and correcting any issues you find will be well worth the trouble.
While we are on the subject, I also challenge you to walk your dealership, especially all of your customer-facing areas: the showroom, service drive, customer waiting room, and restrooms. See if it's really clean…
Look out for:
Customers coming to any type of car dealership are going to be spending a considerable amount of their hard-earned money and often more than they expected. Look at your inventory and your dealership through their eyes. Would you eat at a restaurant if any part of it was dirty? Your table? A counter? Even the parking lot? Your dealership is no different. Have high standards of cleanliness for all areas of your business and all of your inventory. The last thing you want is for people to be turned off and go somewhere else. A spotless dealership and squeaky clean cars will help convince your customers that they are in the right place! Please remember these words from my father: “Clean Sells.”
If you want to sell a car, especially a used one, it needs to be exceptionally clean regardless of your asking price. Cleaning up and correcting any issues you find will be well worth the trouble.
