Auto Dealership Mailing List

The Garage Predictor, R.L. Polk’s answer to the challenge of slowly depleting accuracy was, for a while, one of the few options used to combat decreasing response.  The Garage Predictor is a modeled product using current and actual Department of Motor Vehicle data, but....it's ultimate data is modeled.

Then there was the rise of pre-screen credit score data.  Still a popular auto dealership list favorite, but pre-screened credit data is expensive and cumbersome for many.  Using this list product requires the mailer to make a “firm offer” of credit and include a lot of fine print within the mail piece.  No one likes fine print, especially the graphic design department trying create a presentable offer among so many paragraphs or small words.

Before the economic woes began to take hold and zap car buy ability in and around 2008, saturation mail was becoming an answer to many who needed a lower cost direct mail solution to boosting showroom foot-traffic.  The cost per piece is, on average, a lower investment.  Far too many people simply would not be interested, would qualify for financing, or respond to the offer.

At about the same time, self-reported automobile mailing list data came about.  Self-reported data is considered a reliable product in terms of accuracy, but, for a while, the volume of available list records was simply too small to be considered a viable option.  Mailing service providers struggled with the low numbers of available database information.  Self-reported data also did not address the issue of loan qualification.

For a while, the automobile “trigger lead” had become something worthy of testing.  This was a telemarketing product requiring the sales force to pick up the phone and cold call people who had, just the prior day, been out shopping for a new car and applied for an auto loan.  The problem with automobile trigger lead data is that many of these people had signed with a different dealership that day, and were already driving their new car.  Auto trigger lead data doesn’t allow the marketer to choose the type of vehicle a potential buyer is currently driving or shopping for.

Car dealers got a break with the Federal auto incentive program, also known as, “Cash for Clunkers”.  And, for a while, the auto industry was looking up but the funds ran out and the deal ended at 8 p.m. on Monday, August 24, 2009.

Slowly but surely, the self-reported auto mailing list database grew both in size and popularity.  The collection of this data developed by accessing it from proprietary sources such as oil & lube type chain stores, service stations, surveys, etc.  Household vehicle coverage includes multiple vehicles within the household and is updated as new vehicles are collected from these sources.

A few database providers developed a work-around that allowed for State public data to be accessed, manipulated, and repurposed (under the guise of “database altered”) information.  Only available in a number of states, this file seemed promising.  Still less expensive than credit data, this State accessed automobile mailing list seemed to work well enough to be a worthy contender to pre-screened credit score list data.

Today, auto dealerships are full steam ahead with a variety of options.  The most of which is the self-reported database in all 50 States.  Self-reported mailing list data offers quality data at a fair price.

What to make of the future?

As the market has evolved in the last 10 years, change in the automobile dealership marketing is certain to continue.  Unlike so many products sold via direct mail marketing programs, the automobile is a high ticket product, which most Americans cannot think of going without.  Most all of us were raised with a vehicle in the garage, and for all of us, this will continue for the unforeseeable future.  Because of the demand and cost for this transportation, direct mail works well and will continue to do so.