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In the next month I plan to buy a car. Whether or not it is new will depend on pricing and other details but the main gist of my car hunt is to find something for Carter and I. Let me repeat that—for the first time I am looking for a car that fits just Carter and I. That feels so good to say! Finally! Bob will take the older SUV and pass that to Con next year when he starts driving. So, this car is really about making life easier for the two of us to get around-wheelchair and all.I’m wondering how I can bring social media and blogging into this hunt??? Cause the deal is, I AM buying the car. I have no illusions that by being a blogger I should get any sort of deal, let’s face it, I am not that popular of a blogger~LOL! What I am hoping is that the social media departments of some car companies may help to make sure I find the RIGHT car for us. I am going to be blogging my way through this both here and on Spina Bifida Connection because in the disability world, the right car makes all the difference in your level of independence-whether you are the driver or not. AND for a mom with a wheelchair using kid, it makes all the difference in how much work is involved getting the kiddo out and about. Ideally, as part of this hunt, I would be able to try out several different cars in more than a 20 min test drive.I would like to really examine some of the options out there. Right now I am pretty open but I have narrowed a few things down.What I want:
- Super easy access for Carter to transfer into the front, passenger seat. It should have as little of a difference in height from his wheelchair seat as possible. Our current car is too low and the SUV is too high.
- Probably looking for a ‘cross over’-a mix of a car and an SUV. I rented a cross over Kia Sorrento this past summer and liked the overall feel of this style of car.
- Decent leg room all around. While Bob and Connor won’t be the main riders of this car, they are 6’2 and 6’8. They should be comfortable if we need to use it as a family.
- Something with an easy lift up SUV type trunk that I can throw the wheelchair in without having to do any breakdown.
- All wheel drive for those CO roads.
- High crash and safety ratings
- Easy, fold down seats
Somethings that will weigh into the decision if I find a few models with the above criteria:
- Gas mileage. Would love to explore alternative fuel options-not big on the corn fed alternatives though
- Socio-economic and ecological impact of the manufacture
- Cup holders-big ones, in the middle of the passenger and driver–yeah, silly I know but it’s the little things 🙂
- navigation system
- ipod jack and satellite radio (we are passed the days of needing dvd entertainment systems for the kids)
- LOVE the safety of ONSTAR in the SUV I have now….would like a system like that again
- High reviews from current owners and places like Consumer Reports
- Thinking I want a silver color-seems like it would blend road sludge the best
- Would like to look at ramp/lift systems but we are not ready to go there yet. Carter can still transfer safely given the right environment.
- Heated seats
SO, who has suggestions on what I need to add to my list or a car they love I should check out? He is having surgery in 2 weeks and I would like to spend this last bit of time we have before the major recoup visiting lots and having him try them out.
Gosh Shannon and Connor will be on the road next year. That’s food for thought. Good luck in your search.
You know, if there’s ever a point at which Social Media is relevant in the car buying conversation? This is definitely the point it should. Especially as reputation will weigh into your pre-screening process heavily.With as much as I pre-screen my own car buying process using the Internet, I still end up doing test-drives on the 3-5 brands, makes, and models that have made it past all of that – but that’s without needing to add in the additional hurdles you guys contend with.I will be paying attention to this Barb. Have you reached out yet to the visible Social Media reps for the Brands you know are on your radar? What about sites like http://www.edmunds.com/ and http://carwoo.com/ that help you irrespective of Brand?When you do move get past all of the pre-screening, buying, and recovery from C’s surgery? I’d love to hear how (or how not) Social Media helped. Obviously, I doubt there are a lot of car salesmen hanging out on Radian 6 and the like looking for bloggers who need car advice. But then again, maybe some of the brand folks or dealerships are listening on Twitter? If not, it seems like they’re missing an opportunity there. I know that we’ve been talking about how your competition may be listening if you aren’t. Will be good to see your real-life case study! :)p.s. Can I tell you how happy I am that you are looking for *help* with the buying process and resources rather than looking to see if someone will ‘give you a review car’ or the like? (Not that I would expect differently from you!) The odd concept that having a blog means people won’t have to buy things any more just weirds me out. I get the review/sample idea – but I feel much better knowing that your decision will be based on the right fit (including price point and all of the other stuff you listed) rather than on who offered free stuff. But that’s a whole other topic isn’t it?
As always-you have brilliant points. This has been an interesting ‘experiment’ for me but one that is completely necessary for so many people in my situation. I desperately need to get a new car, have the funds, but I lack the time and ability to spend all day combing through car dealership.I did tweet the ‘big guys’ but @ their company handles. Let’s face it, most moms trying to do this the way I am aren’t going to know Chris and Scott by name, let alone twitter handle. Sending tweets to the companies handles returned crickets chirping. Perhaps they thought I was just another mom blogger looking for something free. I tried to make it clear that was not the case.But here is sort of the thing that I have to shake my head at? This week several prominent bloggers were sent cars to test for a photography contest? I think, to tell you the truth, I haven’t paid all that much attention accept when a friend asked me to check out her picture. But that is kind of my point, how does that help me *average consumer* decide to buy a car? It doesn’t. Not in anyway. You could give a car to my favorite blogger in the world and she could jump up and down about how wonderful it is, it really isn’t going to influence my purchasing decision. I think we are all passed the stage of being wooed by a sponsored post by anyone.However, in doing a google search for cars that work with wheelchairs, I found this blog: http://www.dannyandallison.com/all-in-the-family I have no idea who this mom is but I can tell that her kiddos needs are a little more involved than mine and she was thrilled with the Ford Flex. Guess what? The only car I have gone out to actually see at this point is the Ford Flex. I have also found tons of comments on forums about how the Flex is great with elderly people because of its low seats. That clued me in that this may be worth looking into a bit more.This is what I want from this conversation. Real words. Word of mouth marketing at its best, the kind you get over the back fence with a neighbor. What was I hoping brands would do? Honestly? HELP ME spend my money. The biggest reason I haven’t tested these cars is I have a kiddo who cannot leave the house at this point. Which means I have to have someone else home with him. That gives me Saturday because in this crazy state car dealers are closed on Sundays. Saturdays are filled with the older ones basketball up to this point. I think it would have been awesome for someone to say, hey, you live right down the street from XYZ dealership (most brands have one about 10 miles from me). How about we have someone run one over for you to look at? I am not asking for a week review, to me, that is so pointless. I can tell you in 10 mins if the car would work for me. Why not spend more time in social media being the brand that, literally, goes that extra mile?I am certainly not a brilliant strategist like Lucretia and I realize car salesman aren’t combing Radian 6—but shouldn’t the social media dept. of these companies? and then alerting potential dealerships? Seems like a much better use of social media to me.
I feel similar to Lucretia. I use Edmunds.com http://www.truecar.com and haven’t really found a use for social media in car buying.