How to Prepare Your Car Dealership for the Busy Season

It might come as a surprise to those new to the business, but the auto market actually does have a busy season, but it’s not one that is dictated by weather patterns or holidays. In fact, there is always an influx of car sales and purchases around March because of the issuing of new license plates, according to a recent article from AA Cars.

Whether you deal in used or new cars you’re likely to see an influx of new stock – everyone buying a new vehicle will be selling off their old ones, after all – and if you’re not prepared for this sudden shift in the tempo of your business you could suffer for it. Here are just a few tips to help you stay on your feet during all the chaos.

Clear Out Old Stock

You only have so much floor space, and if you want to take advantage of all the shoppers looking to pick up a new car you’ll need to make as much of it available as possible for the desirable new stock.

This might mean cutting prices on old stock – even to the point of taking a loss if you have any aged units (unsold for thirty days or more) on your lot – but the profit margins on a large quantity of brand new cars will more than make up for it.

Find Time-Saving Measures

You need plenty of stock to keep up with demand in the busy season, but there’s no use in having so much if you don’t have enough time to properly attend to every customer. There are lots of ways to save time or make time.

A simple, if somewhat expensive, one is to bring on more staff, even if only temporarily, to ease the burden and ensure there’s always someone around to help a customer. Another is to have certain matters taken care of ahead of time – if you have a website, make sure customers can shop around and reserve vehicles before they come onto your physical premises, and ensure as much of the paperwork is filled out ahead of time as you possibly can.

Make Sure You Can Cover the Initial Investment

Bringing in a lot of new stock will take a certain amount of capital ahead of time. Naturally most of the stock should have paid for itself by the end of the busy period but before that it pays to take any money saving measures you can – consider cutting down on overhead costs wherever you can.

If there is a shortfall between the money you make from your old stock and the cost of the new, consider a small business loan.