Is There a ‘Right Time’ to Reach Out to Your Customers About Trading In? | Driving Decisions

If there ever was a typical length of car ownership, there isn’t one anymore. Now there are opportunities to win trades and sell cars after any length of ownership for both new and used car buyers.

Recent car buyers reported how long they owned the vehicle they were replacing, and it was more common for them to say 10 years or more. Currently, this group accounts for 15% of buyers, and very few dealerships would want to target trade units of that age. The closest thing we have to a typical length of ownership is half of car owners replacing their vehicle between 2 and 6 years of ownership, but even if you could focus on such a wide window of time, it would still exclude half of your potential deals. So, with the length of vehicle ownership being inconsistent, there are opportunities to sell inventory and acquire trades from customers at any time in their ownership experience. Vehicle buyers are motivated to buy if a new vehicle will meet their wants or needs, whether it’s been 6 months or 16 years. Maintaining relationships with your customers can help you understand their buying patterns.