If Every Car Gets Paint Protection, Everyone Wins

Car shoppers are always trying to angle for the most money they can get for their trade. Everyone thinks their car is worth A LOT more than it really is and most have no idea how to properly book out their car anyway. They look at KBB online and take it as gospel when it comes up with a value.

There are many factors that make up the value of a vehicle at trade-in. One of the most overlooked areas of the car is the appearance, most specifically the condition of the paint.

Dents, scraped alloys, and chipped windshields all carry their own deductions in value but the paint has the largest effect on value when assessing appearance.

Dealerships can help educate their buyers on the condition of the paint at trade-in simply by offering a paint protection warranty upfront as a preload on Line 1. This serves a couple of purposes…

• Since a faded, scratched, or chipped paint job is more expensive for the dealership to handle in the reconditioning process, having paint protection from the beginning helps the customer easily handle those imperfections at minimal cost. It’s already included in the ‘price’ of the car and doesn’t have to be haggled over in the F&I office.
• If the dealership brands the package as an ‘exclusive appearance protection’ that comes with every car and truck, it actually could reinforce to car shoppers that protecting the paint IS an important investment in the overall value of the vehicle. After all, if the dealer saw the value in having every unit protected, customers will be less likely to balk at paying for it.

Sales staff should be trained to relay that benefit and explain that the preloaded paint protection is a low-cost way to safeguard the value of their car should they trade it in or sell it privately in the years to come. Be sure they have statistics on how much it costs to repaint a car in the event of major issues and remind buyers that once a portion of a car is painted, paint meters will alert appraisers of that and value will decrease. It’s not fair but that’s the way it is.

Click here to find out more about how your store can offer a paint protection package with little cost or effort. Your customers will thank you and who knows...you may get that car back in trade, looking sharp and frontline ready.