Question

Topic: Taglines/Names

Tagline Needed For Car Dealershp

Posted by Anonymous on 12/15/2004 at 5:10 PM ET 125 Points
Hi. I'm a designer working with a car dealership. I'm not a marketing person and I'm beating my head against the wall trying to come up with a tagline that will differentiate our client from the hundreds of other ads in this hand out magazine.

They sell cars to the sub-prime market. Target market are people with little or bad credit. They are a company with a US patriotic name, but I want to steer clear of a hoaky tagline but still make some connection.

Competitors taglines types that we want to avoid:
"rebuild your credit"
"buy here — pay here"
"a free car is the only deal better than ours"
"home of guaranteed financing"
"bad creit? we don't car"

Unlike most of these dealerships, they don't mark up the prices to those with poor credit.

I could use any help as like I said, I'm a designer and would really appreciate someone with an expertise in the marketing world.

Thanks alot.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Inbox_Interactive on 12/15/2004 at 5:31 PM Accepted
    Well, first of all, let's be candid and admit that, while they may not be jacking up the price of the car, they are almost certainly jacking up the interest rate to whatever they can get. This is how the sub-prime market works; they charge 24-30% or whatever they can extract, knowing that they are going to suffer losses on some of the paper. Of course, that's the problem for whoever buys the paper, not the dealer.

    In any event, I think there's a reason that most of these dealerships have similar sounding taglines and slogans is because the market has a very similar set of circumstances. Your buyers are people who, although they have jobs, have terrible credit, either through no fault of their own (medical, divorce, whatever), or because they are just bad at handling their money.

    I'd stick to the basics:

    Home of second-chance credit
    No credit application refused
    All credit applications accepted
    No credit? Bad credit? No problem.
    Apply today, drive home tonight.
    Your car. Your terms. Today.
    The right car, right now.

    And so on.

    You'll get other good ones here, I am sure.

    Good luck,

    Paul
  • Posted by SteveByrneMarketing on 12/15/2004 at 7:08 PM Member
    also agreeing with Paul's input. How about ..

    “We’ve financed over 10,000* people with credit problems”

    *use your number

    hope it helps,

    - Steve
  • Posted by Deremiah *CPE on 12/15/2004 at 10:19 PM Member
    Your Car Better Terms

    Best Terms & Rates

    The Car of 2nd Chances

    First rate 2nd chance

    "A" Car on B Terms

    "A+" Car on B Terms

    Deremiah, *CPE (Customer Passion Evangelist)

    B Rating "A" Car

    B Rating "A+" Car
  • Posted by ReadCopy on 12/16/2004 at 7:39 AM Member
    Your tagline MUST mirror your primary benefit, which I guess is giving great value for money! Or something like that.
    Taglines are usually better recieved and remembered when they incorporate a company or product name. If you want a tagline, you want it associated with your clients business and not just part of the competitive noise.

    So something like:

    Like a friend, [name] are here for you.
    [name], your new best friend.

    And I like some of Pauls choices:

    Home of second-chance credit
    No credit application refused
    All credit applications accepted
    No credit? Bad credit? No problem.
    Apply today, drive home tonight.
    Your car. Your terms. Today.
    The right car, right now.

    Good Luck
  • Posted by SRyan ;] on 12/16/2004 at 10:46 AM Member
    I spotted a good tagline for a car dealership in Houston:

    "Expect a great deal."

    Can you apply that to yours?
  • Posted by SRyan ;] on 12/16/2004 at 2:49 PM Member
    Susan, you would think that obnoxious advertising would drive customers away. I see it for car dealers, furniture stores, and carpet retailers all the time.

    My guess is that loud, moronic, low-budget ads are just planting the seeds of the business' name into a viewer's head so that when the time comes to actually buy something a year later, the awareness is there.
  • Posted by ReadCopy on 12/22/2004 at 6:21 AM Member
    Maybe they just know the market ... if I want a cheap car, I know where to go in my city to find one! Thats all they want out of their marketing spend, and it works.
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