dealer race teams

[HAWTHORNS TVR]

DO DEALERS WHO RUN RACE TEAMS IN GT OR TUSCANS ATTRACT TVR ROAD CAR PURCHASERS MORE SO THEN THOSE DEALERS WHO DON'T RACE?

[Marshy]

I think anyone who does the research, and is lucky enough to stumble onto Pistonheads pre-purchase, is much more likely to purchase based on personal recommendations and experience than anything else. Whether a dealer races or supports racing doesn't make a lot of difference to everyday customer service, which is what so many dealers (generally, not TVR specifically) are badly lacking. I can say from bitter experience that a dealer's racing heritage is no indicator as to their ability to compentently deal with customers and their problems, and to occasionally phone up trying to get hold of someone to find that they're "out racing" isn't always welcome...

[Dan]

I agree with Marshy. I think dealers get good exposure from sponsoring cars, but racing cars doesn't make them a better dealer.

[dubbs]

That's not the question though. The answer to the question is yes they do attract more customers. TVR are starting to get a good race pedigree, especially in GT if 2001/2002 goes well. This will get customers that were considering Porsche etc., into the showroom. A dealer's name all over the car gets the customer in their showroom. I would agree though that just because a dealer runs a race team it doesn't mean they are any more respected by the customers. The other thing to consider is that because of the reputation of the marque customers tend to be a lot more clued up and do their homework before setting foot in the dealership. This means they quite often already know which dealers are good and bad and also why some dealers tend to have people coming in from far and wide whereas others can't even get regular servicing custom from a guy owning a TVR two roads away. IMHO, To get more customers into dealers the dealers need more support from the factory and the factory needs to take a little more ownership of the dealer's running process/procedures

[MikeE]

I certainly think that dealers with a racing team would get more support if they occasionally provided complimentary PowerTours tickets (say for this coming weekend at Silverstone?). Hypothetically speaking I would image this would be particularly well received by anyone who had also sponsored that teams racing activities (hint, hint, Jonathan/Jamie/Rod!!!!) Mike.

[duncanb]

Bit of an odd quesion from a dealer! If looked at from a bigger perspective, racing improves the breed, sales go up, but to sustain racing needs support from sponsors. If dealers support TVR racing activities it will help TVR, which ultimately helps the local dealers. It will not necessarily help specific dealers though. TVR's are specialist cars bought by people who do their homework (David Beckham excepted!) and generally visit sites such as this. People buy from dealers who have a good reputation for after sales care and servicing. DuncanB