The holiday season is not just a big time for retail stores, but also for car dealerships. During our research, we visited some car dealerships in the Hattiesburg area to compare holiday sales promotions.
The dealerships we visited included Ford, Nissan, Suzuki, Toyota, Chevrolet, Pontiac, and Cadillac. One of our group members spoke with Mr. Wells at Courtesy Ford. He stated that they were not necessarily offering a holiday sale, but instead they were making price tags more visible to customers. They were doing this by posting prices directly onto the vehicles. According to Mr.
Wells, what makes Courtesy Ford different is that they have low interest rates and more affordable cars, not just for the holiday season, but every day. Nissan offers online purchasing as well as on site purchases. During this holiday season they are offering an internet cash rebate with a low interest rate. Nissan also has a special deal for all college graduates where they receive a $500 cash rebate towards 2009 vehicle.
Suzuki is offering a zero down Christmas sign and drive sale where customers can buy any new Suzuki and receive up to $500 in Christmas cash.They are also offering an internet coupon which is redeemable for $450 off the purchase of any pre-owned vehicle. Toyota is running the Toyotathon for the month of December which is a low lease and low interest rates. They are also offering a $1000 rebate on the purchase of the car. In a personal interview with Mr. Tisdale, one of the salespersons, he stated that they are number 1 in the world.
Chevrolet is offering a Red Tag event for the holidays, which includes low interest rates and the best buys. Dossett car dealership sells Cadillacs, Pontiacs and GMC. They are offing 0 down APR for 72 months for qualified buyers.The sales at the various car dealerships in Hattiesburg showed that they offer great deals. During the holiday season it is a good time to buy new as well as used cars. The retail stores are not the only ones who are busy during this season, car dealerships also play a major part in the busiest time of the year.
This research also revealed that all of the dealerships displayed similar promotions to attract new and returning customers to the car lots. The majority of the dealers, offered low interest rates and give cash back to the customers. While some of the same strategies were used, each dealer differed in one or two categories.
