'Twas the night before New Year's, and all through the town, every car dealership had a red tag sale hoping to attract boomers one and all.
I know, because my husband Dan and I were in the market for a car this recently passed year. And given my immersion in all things boomer, I found it impossible to take a break from my ethnographic studies of the marketing habits of those on all sides of the sales transaction while completing the car purchase process successfully.
"For the rest of today's blog, continue at The Boomer Blog"
We looked at Jeeps, two Saturn dealerships and for fun, the new Mercedes C 300. And as all the statistics predict, I--boomer woman--influenced 80 per cent of the purchasing decision, although the car will technically be primarily Dan's wheels. I did so by a carefully orchestrated series of smiles, grimaces, bored wanderings and enthusiastic involvements.
Only some of which had anything to do with the car, itself. In the end, here were the considerations that rose from the depths of my consciousness to the forefront of the decision-making process.
1. Younger salesfolks pretty much universally got the tone wrong, while we saw ourselves as cool customers and they treated us as hot prospects.
2. Don't know if it was planned this way, but those dealerships who shot over a boomer-aged salesperson our way had the edge. The boys dished about Viet Nam and rock bands while we test-drove the cars (and remembered that even though I was in the back seat, I was not invisible, shooting relationship-establishing questions my way, as well) establishing an organic level of trust and bonding. Still wasn't necessarily enough to sell us the car, though.
3. At our age, we don't need the car to establish an identity, but it best not be violating who we've become. In other words, we were in the market for a car that could deliver the best ride at at the best cost, but still work within our own sense of self. We are savvy and self-confident enough not to pay extra just for the name.
4. We wanted to find a car that we'd fall in love with--that indefinable "it" quality that screams "I'm yours." This is the part that does have to do with the car, itself. How does it feel to drive it? How does it feel to sit in it? Do they happen to have the one that is the right color, inside and out, on the lot?
5. What is the car's reputation for service? This is, after all, not just the purchase of an object--but the beginning of a hopefully long-term relationship.
I won't keep you in suspense. The car that satisfied these top five considerations was the Saturn Aura. And it didn't hurt that this was the salesman who also happened to love Lucky, our dog who came along for the ride, the most. And I don't really want to know whether it's true or not that he has a dog named Lucky, too. When it came to my 80 per cent's worth of influence, that's what closed the deal.
Carol Orsborn