Automotive SEO

How do you help a customer go from thinking about a car to buying one? Without being crude, it’s the pushing of a customer to your side of the proverbial fence by closing a sale. Many times that means adding something to the deal that will give the customer a price break, added items, or special financing.
There are various ways to talk about these items, but most of the time, they are called incentives. With special programs and incentives added to the sale, both your dealership and the customer win.

What Customer Incentives Are Available?

Typically, there are five categories of incentives that benefit customers. These OEM programs help to sell cars and give you more sales each month. These five programs are:

• Cash Back Rebates
• Finance Incentives
• Lease Deals
• Loyalty Programs
• Bonus Cash

Let’s take a look at each one briefly.

Cash Back Rebates

This is typically advertised as an instant price break for the customer. These rebates often range from $500 to $5,000, which is redeemed at the price of the vehicle. Sometimes, dealer finance teams will list the rebate in a way that it looks like a down payment on the vehicle to help close the sale.

Finance Incentives

When you have customers with good credit, this is one of the best incentives you can offer. Some programs allow financing as low as 0%, which means the customer is only paying for the car and not anything on the interest rate. Offering low interest rates helps close sales with people who have protected their credit score and need to buy a new or used vehicle to drive.

Lease Deals

While a typical lease deal doesn’t offer a lot of incentives, some lease programs give price breaks to customers to help them spend less up front. Often, customers have to pay a large amount to start a lease program, but special programs can reduce this by quite a lot. Even if you don’t have incentives for this program, customers pay a lot less for a lease than for a vehicle purchase.

Loyalty Programs

This is a great way for dealers to help customers play the “long game.” Customers can sign up for loyalty programs and enjoy discounted rates on maintenance, service appointments, and future vehicle purchases. Some of these programs build up points toward the next item and allow customers to cash them in when they buy the next model from the dealership.

Bonus Cash

If your dealership or manufacturer offers bonus cash, you need to find out of your customers qualify. This is a program to offer an additional discount to veterans, recent college grades, first-time buyers, and other subsets of the population. This is a great way to give your customers just a little bit more off the price they will pay.

What Does Hyundai Offer?

Your Hyundai dealership currently offers several OEM programs and other incentives for vehicles on the lot. There’s a slew of bonus cash options, including $500 back for Students/College Grads, Military, and First Responders. This brand also has special APR financing and alternative APR financing to reduce the rate paid by most customers. For the hybrid and EV models that Hyundai sells, a $7,500 Federal Tax Credit is offered. This tax credit is not an OEM incentive, but it is something every driver of a hybrid or EV can enjoy.
Most of the incentive programs for the Hyundai brand apply to every model in the lineup. This means your customers could drive home in a new Hyundai Ioniq 5 that has special financing, a reduced price for qualified members, and the Federal Tax Credit. Can you really stack all the benefits that way? Yes, you can.

Does Ford Offer Any OEM Programs or Incentives?

Yes, you will have a variety of excellent programs to offer your customers when they visit your Ford dealership. Almost every remaining 2021 model on the lot qualifies for low lease payment with no money down to get into the vehicle. This is a great way for customers to drive away in a new Ford and for your dealership to move some of the remaining inventory.
For those customers that don’t want to lease a vehicle, you can offer cash back rebates that reduce the price but thousands of dollars. Once again, the remaining 2021 models offer the greatest amount for these rebates to pass savings onto customers. Those customers that choose these rebates can also enjoy the benefits of special financing rates. These rates vary from 0% to 2.49%, allowing customers to enjoy a low price and low payments.

Can You Offer Savings at Toyota?

Even though most Toyota models are considered some of the most affordable in the market, there are several OEM programs that allow you to pass savings on to your customers so they can pay less and enjoy the vehicle they drive more. Currently, almost all Toyota vehicles qualify for a no money down lease program and low lease payments. In fact, the 2022 Toyota Tundra has one of the best least programs in the market right now.
A few of the Toyota models offer some cash back rebates, with the Tundra leading the way in this category as well. Your customers will appreciate the savings and enjoy them even more once they add the special financing to the mix. For Toyota, the financing programs mirror that of Ford with a range from 0% to 2.49% to keep the prices down for your shoppers.

Get Ready to Sell a Lot of Cars

Whether you operate a Hyundai, Ford, or Toyota dealership, the OEM programs and incentives offered to allow you to sell more vehicles and pass special savings on to your customers. Those shoppers that are on the fence about whether to buy or lease a new vehicle can easily be brought to your side of the fence with the amazing programs you’ve got available for them. Use these programs and close out the month with some record sales.