Category: Automotive

Automotive and Transportation Email Marketing Strategy

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You have recently opened a limousine hire service targeted towards tourists and others who are looking to enjoy a luxurious chauffer driven ride on a special occasion. Your biggest problem is that business spikes at certain times during the year (college graduations, wedding seasons, etc) and experiences a lull the rest of the year.

This strategy will help you stabilize your business all year round and keep the cash coming in even during times of traditional slowdown.

Who is your customer?

Be it a college graduation, prom night, wedding day, or tourists day out, your customer is typically a luxury seeker. He or she prefers to drive around in style, but can only afford to do so on special occasions. To work around this, you need to focus on customers who can afford limousine rentals on an everyday basis. Hence your target profile should be large corporate companies who have their head offices located in the vicinity of your service. This way you would be able to ensure business all year round by becoming the preferred vendor for the companys board of directors and other staff entitled to luxury cars.

What is the best thing you can do for that customer?

Corporate offices expect the very best in terms of service from their vendors and are willing to pay a little extra to get it. Offer dedicated cars and chauffeurs to each corporate that signs an annual contract. Offer value added benefits to retain such customers by guaranteeing them additional cars within a one hour notice period and so on.

How are you going to do it?

Ensure you have a sufficiently large fleet of new limousines as well as professional chauffeurs. If required, you could enter a sub-contract with other limousine hire services located around you to make up for excess demand. Create a database of all the offices within a predetermined radius of your rental office.

Invite them, via email, to join your Privilege Club of customers who are entitled to special benefits when they signed up for half-yearly or annual contracts. Incentivize such deals not only with discounted pricing but more through value added services such as dedicated cars and chauffeurs.

Dont forget to say thank you

Every new member of the Privilege Club gets a thank you email and a gift hamper. Also include a link to a survey with the following suggested questions and others of your own.

What is your companys daily requirement of luxury cars?

Is this a fixed or flexible requirement? Are there any times of the year when the can foretell a spike in requirement? What are the key factors that decide their choice of a car vendor service, pricing, availability, newness of fleet, etc?

When to communicate with your members

In order to maintain ties, send out email newsletters on monthly or quarterly basis. Use the newsletter to inform them of any special offers for employees and one time hires as well as of upgrades to your fleet or service.

Of course you must also contact them one month prior to the expiry of their contract urging them to renew it. If you do not hear from them, send a follow up email one and two weeks after your initial mail.

How do you measure success?

Conduct quarterly surveys of your existing customer database to judge their level of satisfaction across various service and pricing parameters.

Build Build Build. Measure new as well as lapsed corporate partners on a monthly basis and compare numbers and turnover with like periods across the past few years. The more people that sign up for annual Privilege Club memberships, the more stable your business will become!

Automotive V.i.n. Numbers What Do They Mean

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V.I.N. V.I.N.s. You will hear this term tossed around frequently by car sales people, auto insurance people among others in the automotive trade. What does the term “VIN” mean and how it is important to you?

The term V.I.N. is short form of “Vehicle Identification Number”. It’s a unique number that is assigned to your vehicle – be it car, truck, S.U.V., van truck, motorcycle or any other vehicle. Think of the VIN as the Social Insurance Number for your automotive vehicle.

In order to register a vehicle, especially a new vehicle, you will need its V.I.N. In order to insure your vehicle ditto. If your car is stolen it may well be tracked down and identified by this unique listing – it’s V.I.N. If you are in the market for a vehicle and do a vehicle history search – say at Carfax or a similar online service and the lookup will all be done by V.I.N. How else could the system work if each vehicle did not have its own unique identifying number? Through such automated systems you can quickly and accurately determine vehicle history since new – a list of owners , any accident reports , has the car been involved in a major accident , been written off , been in a flood , have liens or charges against it , as well as many additional concerns for auto buyers ,financers , and dealers.

How can you determine the V.I.N. of your vehicle? That is easy if have ready access to your registration and insurance documentation. If not, or if you want to confirm the VIN number assignment you can simply find out your vehicles stamp. Simply look through the windshield on the driver’s side of the auto at the corner of the dash. It should be clearly stamped on a plate attached to the dash. As well that same designation should be clearly listed on your bill of sale. If the 2 numbers do not match – this could be a sign of future trouble if you are ever involved in a collision and have to deal with auto insurance claims and payment to yourself or your auto body shop.

A short course in how to read a VIN to be of use to you – should you be in the car buying mode, need registration information or want to import a car into Canada. Where an auto is manufactured often determines import duties and taxes.

Reading a V.I.N. First things first look at the first number on the left hand side. This first character designates where the vehicle was built – 1 is the US, 2 is Canada, 3 is Mexico, J for Japan, K for Korea for example.

Next the second character in line designates the manufacturer or who built the car. The letter “G: stands for General Motor or G.M. products. Next is the third character – in this example if the number 2 is the third character – this would indicate the Pontiac division of GM. Characters 4 and 5 indicate the car line series, eight represents the body style for example 2 door coupe, 4 door sedan, hatchback. The seventh character indicates the type of safety restraint system that was installed at the factory. Eight character stands for the engine code – each type of engine has its own stamp. Between the eighth and the last sequence of letters is a check digit – a spacer to prevent confusion. The last sequence of digits is the grouping that singly identifies the vehicle and makes it wholly unique.

Why all this effort in creating this system and nomenclature of listing and describing each car individually. How else could the automotive trades work if they could not id each and every vehicle separately , track it , keep detailed records and lastly allow you as a car , truck , SUV , Van or motorcycle driver to research the past history of your new found vehicle.

Automotive Service To Winterize Your Vehicle 2 Components Overlooked!

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To winterize their vehicle, most people are aware of the major parts or components of a vehicle that should be inspected during an automotive service, such as oil changes, tires, transmissions, and brakes. However, there are 2 other components that often get overlooked until they fail, leading to an inconvenient and costly automotive repair.
What are these 2 components? Belts and Hoses!

Your cars belts and hoses are essential to the interior heating system, electrical system, and engine. Dont take the routine replacement intervals of these small parts for granted or neglected during an automotive service, because they can fail unexpectedly and leave you stranded by the side of the road. This is especially annoying and even dangerous in winter driving when the temperatures are below freezing.
What is their purpose?

* Timing Belt This belt keeps the crankshaft and camshaft mechanically synchronized to maintain engine timing. Whether its the serpentine, V-belt or fan belt (the belts on the outside of the engine), they all transmit power from the front of the engine to accessories that need to be driven, such as the heating system, air conditioning, and the charging system and fans.
* Hoses Radiator and heater hoses carry coolant to and from the engine, radiator and heater core. They carry heated water to your cars interior heater which keeps the interior of your car warm when it is freezing outside.

Typical symptoms of wear and tear that are indicators to schedule an automotive service as soon as possible are

* You start to see fluid leaks on your garage floor
* The dashboard light flashes
* You hear squeaking noises coming from under the hood during start-up, or while driving.

Are you looking for expert automotive service? To keep your car rolling down the road, contact our ASE Certified Technicians today by calling (406) 248-2838, or go on-line to www.pricesprecisionauto.com for more information. They will be happy to help you with your car tune up services. Our Tech-Net professional auto repair shop in Billings, MT, also serves vehicle owners in the areas of Shepherd and Laurel, MT.

Automotive Mechanic Checklist-(your Checklist To The Right Automotive Mechanic)

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Automotive Mechanic Checklist-(Your Checklist to the Right Automotive Mechanic)

Your car is a precious investment to you. You probably use it everyday. Just like when your sick you go to a professional doctor, the same to true for your car when it is sick or needs repair. You need to go a professional mechanic.

Finding the right mechanic for your car repairs is not as difficult as you may think. All you need to do is to know what a good mechanic is made of. Have your checklist handy and you will be all set to choosing the right mechanic for your car repair needs.

Relevant Training and Knowledge
Whenever you are trying to check out a good mechanic it is better that you do your homework first before going in and bringing your car for repair or service. You should research if the auto mechanic has acquired the correct training which is being offered in their shop. Training, educational, or specialization certificates or some proof of their achieved grades is of essence. This may seem like a high-standard but this will be surely helpful knowing that the mechanic you are about to entrust your car to is knowledgeable and competent on his field.

Experience and Time
Another good point to add in your checklist is the experience the mechanic has in this field. You may inquire how long have they been in the specific specialization they have, how long have they been doing car repairs as well as what other specific auto repairs have they already accomplished. Having the knowledge about this assures you that your car’s problem will easily be solved and that your car is in good hands. Also, for car repair shops you can inquire how long they have been in business as good businesses providing honest, high-quality service usually endure time and last longer than those other lesser car repair shops.

Services Offered
You may also want to, of course, check what services are being offered in a specific car repair shop. Every car has different needs and not all repair shops may have the specific auto mechanic you want for your car’s needs. Always check if the service you want done is being offered or not.

Cleanliness and Orderliness
Aside from those mentioned, you must also observe and take into consideration how organized, clean and orderly a mechanic or their shop is. This will tell you a lot about your mechanic’s work ethics and personality. It is ideal and advisable that a mechanic must be trustworthy and honest, as well as hardworking. In most cases your will only know this after your car service or repair, unless you have been recommended by a friend or relatives. For beginners, observation is your tool. Observe how clean and orderly a shop is from the lobby and the work area. This simple test will surely help you decide on how careful, orderly, and organize your mechanic is, as well as how their shop is being managed.

There are still other things you may want to add but for the basics, the above mentioned are a must in selecting the right auto mechanic for you.
http://rockinghammechanic.com.au/

Darrell Waltrip Automotive Supports 32nd Franklin Classic

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On Labor Day, September 6, 2010, Mercy Childrens Clinic in Franklin, TN held the 32nd annual Franklin Classic, with proceeds from the fundraiser benefiting their clinical services. Mercy Clinic is a “comprehensive pediatric healthcare facility that serves thousands of children from 32 counties”, according to Event Director Jessica Perry. The clinic has been operating in the Franklin Community since 1999 and, as a non-profit organization, relies on fundraising events, such as the Franklin Classic, to keep its facilities open.

Events at the Franklin Classic included a 5k run, a 10k run, a 4k family walk, and a 1k childrens run. The 5k race winner was Donald Bowman, with a total time of 17:28. Jacob Carrigan placed second with a time of 17:45, and David Scott came in a close third at 17:55. In the 10k race, Scott Wietecha finished first with a time of 32:12. Additionally, there were activities for children in the KidZone, and Scat Springs performed live at the Classic.

The Franklin Classic is Mercy Clinics “largest fundraising effort With an annual budget of nearly $3 million, 50% of which is raised through sponsors and donations, we’re hoping to raise $100,000 through this years event”, according to the Franklin Classic event guide. Official figures will not be out for a few weeks. The number of race runners and walkers totaled over 3,000 and Perry estimates there were additional 3,000-5,000 spectators at the event Monday morning.

Darrell Waltrip Automotive helped the clinic by donating $20 per test drive during the two registration days of September 3rd and 4th. The test drives took race participants and volunteers around a short route, and were met with much enthusiasm.

Darrell Waltrip Automotive donated over $2,000 to Mercy Clinic from the two days of test drives. In total, Darrell Waltrip Automotive donated $12,000 to benefit Mercy Clinic through sponsorships and other miscellaneous donations, including a $500 cash prize to the school that put together the largest team for the Franklin Classic. See Franklin Classic for more information and photos on the fundraising event.