Marketing to Car Dealerships?

[Guest]

Obviously you don't have any. The only product you market at dealerships with any degree of success is non-standard auto.
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You must be kidding. The only product you market to dealerships with any degree of success is non-standard auto.

Really? are you this ignorant? I cant even coment anymore, re-read your posts and mine again, and tell me you dont get it?

 

[robb01]

As someone who worked selling cars for a while, avoid them. We called a few greasy, low-class outfits when we needed to get someone insured on the spot so we could contract them. I can imagine they cancelled 10 minutes after the tags went on their car.

Which is why you charge them as large of a policy fee as possible

 

[andy17]

Are you trying to market to dealerships meaning you would like to insure their inventory or you would like to insure their customers and employees? Dealerships with any size are difficult to land because they often pair up with a finance and insurance corporation like Zurich NA. It's hard to compete with someone who can train their F&I Mgrs, provide warranties, and insure their vehicles as well. I'm not saying it can't be done, it's just a big dog you're up against.

 

[The Rabbi]

As I said previous, since he is going to market to car dealerships, he is going to market Homeowners insurance.

Use some friggin common sense dude.

You don't have a clue what the poster is talking about. Why would he go to car dealers to market homeowners? I was in the used car business at one time and very often we had customers who didn't have auto insurance and we needed them covered. The finance manager is the first person to speak to at the dealership.

 

[Quotebroker]

sell them group health?

 

[GeminiGroup]

As someone who worked selling cars for a while, avoid them. We called a few greasy, low-class outfits when we needed to get someone insured on the spot so we could contract them. I can imagine they cancelled 10 minutes after the tags went on their car.

Sounds about, right to me.

BNTRS
"Run far and fast away from this idea. There are way better prospects out there"

Enough said

 

[hello..]

You don't have a clue what the poster is talking about. Why would he go to car dealers to market homeowners? I was in the used car business at one time and very often we had customers who didn't have auto insurance and we needed them covered. The finance manager is the first person to speak to at the dealership.

I feel the need to say that RBA was being sarcastic so we can get over what was just suppose to be funny and get back the the original question.

To the OP, It all depends on what dealerships and if they are in bed with anyone else. I did this when i worked for State Farm and the sales guys don't want people to back out of a deal because the insurance will be too expensive. Most of the time the major dealerships work with an indy agent to get low prices. and if they are small, their business will likely be people who have bad credit and will lapse/can.

So....

1- Are you indy or captive?

2- What kind of dealerships will you be going after (Large name brand, small independent, used lots)?

3- How competitive are you OVERALL in their area?

 

[djs]

I did the car dealership thing for a while. There are a few things to know about this.

- New car dealers are much harder to work with. In some cases, they have internal relationships, some want much larger kickbacks, etc. Also, the clientele tends to have insurance, so far fewer referrals. Referrals are better quality though, and you can usually cross sell to these clients.

- Used car dealers will work with you but you have to understand their issue is to make sure they can place the loan and get the loan funded. Insurance is a requirement for this. Till that loan is funded, they are still on the hook for that car if it gets wrecked. They want to make sure they are covered.

- Car dealers don't care about your business. You need to make sure you understand enough about theirs to know what their issues are for insurance. Don't ever kill a deal for them, you'll get tossed out.

- Most people you write are in the 'not-preferred' category. Some will have no license, some suspended license, most have a dented driving record.

- You'll have the most long term success if you strive to get the client the best overall rate. The bank will help you keep them paying the insurance. Yes, it may lapse, but they frequently call and reinstate the policies. Get used to it.

- 4 months is the critical point. If you keep the policy for the first 4 months without a major claim, the policy will usually stay. Keep in mind, you will have several major claims when that third payment is due though (car payment, not insurance payment). People somehow think this will get them around the repo that was about to happen, or they just didn't care since they knew the car was going to get repo'd.

- You'll grow your book for a while, but the service work will quickly overwhelm you. Be prepared to have someone working to keep the banks satisfied with binders, changes, etc. You'll also need that person to call for payments for a while to the clients.

- Don't go crazy trying to sign up every dealership to send you referrals. Find a few and take care of them. Become friends with the owners. Get to know their business. Figure a number of referrals you want a month, figure out how many cars the dealer sells a month (you'll get to know this pretty well with time) and stop when you hit your limit. This is the type of business that will wipe you out if you go overboard.

- Your loss ratio will be crazy large. Deal with it.

- Make sure you rate all the household drivers. Ask again. Ask about boyfriends, girlfriends, etc. You'll get dinged a lot for accidents for household members not listed on the policy.

- I have clients from used car lots from 5 + years ago still on the books. I do think all lapsed at some point, some re-instate, some don't. My retention numbers weren't terrible, but they were lower than I wanted (83% or so). Like I said, the bank was my best friend in keeping policies active.

- Some clients will shop, my experience is most don't. In fact, when they would complain about my premium (and they always do), I offered to let them use my computer to check online at e-surance, geico, whatever. No one ever did.

Dan

 

[Franz Kafka]

These people tend to value family and personal financial security very lowly. There's also pretty prevalent drug use (cocaine esp. just like bar owners, another yuck stay away).

And gambling as well. They may make 10k a month but are often late on their apartment rents. Just sharing my own experience - maybe it's different in other regions.

 

[VolAgent]

And gambling as well. They may make 10k a month but are often late on their apartment rents. Just sharing my own experience - maybe it's different in other regions.

That pretty well describes salespeople in general. Easy come, easy go.