Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

Why don't you set up short interviews with some folks at a few dealerships near you and ask THEM the question.

Don't look at these as sales calls. They are for information only. Who makes this kind of decision? What benefit can they see? What problem of theirs does it solve? What's it worth to them?

Prepare your short list of high-gain questions and ask them, then listen carefully to the responses, and take detailed notes. DO NOT TRY TO SELL THEM ANYTHING.

You may get different answers from different people -- at the same dealership or at other dealerships -- so be sure you ask enough people to get a sense of the right answer(s). I'd guess you'll need/want at least a dozen interviews at 6-8 different dealerships.

Typically the marketing department would make decisions on promotional materials. Is your product something that can be custom imprinted? The car dealerships get a lot more value out of a giveaway if they can have their own logo and contact information printed on it, as a reminder to their customer of where they received it. If your product COULD be custom printed, have you considered selling it through promotional products distributors instead of directly to the dealerships? There are two main associations in the industry you can join as a supplier - ASI and PPAI:
https://www.asicentral.com
https://www.ppa.org

You can get more information about becoming a supplier through either of these sites. There are also many companies that can do the printing for you and handle the fulfillment when your product is ordered by distributors. My company is a distributor but we also have many different types of in-house printing capabilities for this type of program, so I know quite a bit about it. I'd be happy to discuss the idea with you further if it's an avenue you decide to explore. Feel free to contact me through my profile any time.

Hope this helps!
Rebecca