Buying a new car or truck is a big deal. There’s a lot of research that goes into it. Picking out the right vehicle, the right color, the factory accessories, the finance options. It’s more often than not the second largest financial decision that people make so they want what they want.
You might be tempted to think that once people finally get the keys to their new ride, they take a picture to send to their mom, then they just sit back and look at how pretty their new shiny toy is. That’s not really the way it works.
Almost everybody wants to “Pimp My Ride!” or at least “Lift My Truck!”
From tinting the windows and adding fender flares to lifting the vehicle and adding a turbocharger to boost horsepower, almost 3 out of 4 car buyers At Gary Crossley Ford in Kansas City Ford aka #MyKCFord wants to make close choose to customize, personalize, and accessorize their new vehicle with aftermarket accessories.
Many will choose custom accessories for their new car or truck that very day before they leave the dealership. Many, however, will come back to the dealership within a week or two when they think of ways to personalize their car and improve their driving experience.
They paid good money, and they want what they want.
Nick Sherman is in charge of making sure customers get what they want at Gary Crossley Ford.
Nick is the Crossley Customs a.k.a. aftermarket department manager that means he’s the last person you see when you purchase a car or truck, and it’s his responsibility to make sure you leave happy.
“We want to make sure that they had a good experience,” says Nick. “We also want to make sure that if they didn’t have a good experience with something that we find out about it.”
The entire team at Gary Crossley Ford wants to make sure your experience is 5 stars across the board and for 3 out of 4 buyers that means adding a few personal touches.
“Everything’s great,” they’ll tell Nick, and then they say the magic words. “But, I wish…”
“I wish the windows were tinted.”
“I wish it were lifted.”
“I really wanted blackout rims.”
“Can I paint a leopard on the hood and light it on fire?”
The answer is of course yes. Your options are literally unlimited.
“That’s one thing that Nick brings to the table. It’s almost unlimited the stuff you can do, and we’ll take it even to the next step,” says Todd Gentry, General Sales Manager at Gary Crossley Ford.
“If we’ve got to start talking about fabrication even and stuff like that.
If we don’t have the resource at the time the customer is requesting it, we’re going to get it because we think it’s cool too. We’re just as engaged about it as the customer probably is.”
Seriously, if you want to paint a giant leopard on the hood of your new truck, light it on fire, wipe it all off and paint a new design next week, Crossley Customs can hook you up.
“Our ceramic protective coating that we put on the vehicle,
anything you put on there, you can just wipe it right off,” says Todd.
“You can have a design of the week if you wanted to. If you put something on the side of your vehicle, if you decided to draw on the side of your vehicle and leave it there for however long, you can just wipe it off and put something different on there. Spray paint. Light your car on fire if you wanted to. It protects for that.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Our bosses, our lawyers, and our common sense all strongly encouraged us to remind you this is hyperbole for dramatic purposes. Please do not light your car on fire.
Anything else your little heart desires, go ahead and ask. We’re in the “yes” business. If it makes you happy, it makes us happy.
The Ask a Car Dealer podcast can be found on your preferred podcast listening platform including:
Ask A Car Dealer is hosted by Joey Little and Todd Gentry. Keep those questions about life behind the scenes at a car dealership coming in. Dozer says the envelopes that contain beef snacks will be answered first. Our bosses, our lawyers, our commons sense want you to know that any views or opinions expressed are our own. We’re out a limb, baby. Free as a bird, and this bird you’ll never change.
