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The New Car Short List

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Last week I posted about the great new car hunt being on. With Carters surgery less than 2 weeks away, the decision needs to be made pronto.I have received some really great advice and suggestions and here is what I have learned:

  1. Car dealerships are not open on Sunday in Denver. WHAT is up with that?
  2. VW has some of the best, responsive social media reps out there.
  3. I may be better off with a *gulp* MINIVAN. Oh, it creeps me out to even type it. I am a truck/SUV type girl.

While a mini-van makes a ton of sense I am just not sure that  I can do it. The big players in the market are the Sienna, Odyssey and Town & Country. Sienna is the ONLY one that offers AWD and that is pretty high on my list. Plus the 2011 has these wicked cool reclining seats that may look gimicky but for long car rides I can totally see how they could help with Carters leg circulation issues. Topping the reason for a mini-van? They can be converted with wheelchair ramps pretty easily. I just don’t know if I can do it though. Toyota’s have had a lot of issues lately although I was happy to see they are mostly manufactured at a plant in Indiana. But, I may have mentioned, it is a minivan!Topping the list of mid-size SUV’s I need to look at are in no particular order:

  • Chevy’s Traverse
  • VW Touareg
  • Subaru Forester
  • Acura MDX
  • Ford Flex

Can I just say that I am loving the Consumer Reports videos for helping to make this easier? It $5 for the online version for a month and I just may keep it when I am done with this. It has saved me so much leg work!I only have two more Saturdays to look, and this one is pretty filled with basketball. Wish me luck.*Nothing in this post is sponsored or compensated in any way. Promise.

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Comments

  1. Hi Barb – sorry that I missed your first post about looking for a new car. If you’re still interested, I’d be happy to get you some more information about the Chevy Traverse or try to arrange some time in one for you. You can find me on Twitter at @cbarger or email me at the address I’ve used for this comment.Hoping we can work something out for one of your remaining Saturdays… I wish you luck in the search; there are a lot of good vehicles on your shortlist!Christopher Barger, Director Social Media, GM/Chevrolet

    • Thanks Chris. I actually would love to see the Traverse. It’s high on my list. I have only made it out to see the Ford Flex at this point. I tell you what, my husband and I have this Saturday planned out to look. Is there a dealership near my house (South Denver or Parker) that you recommend and someone specific I could talk to? I would love to be able to call him/her ahead of time so I can explain what I am looking for rather than having to go through it at every lot I visit-you know how that is. If I somehow can’t connect this Saturday, would you be willing to have someone bring one over to the house for a few minutes for me on Monday? I just really need to see my kiddo get in it and how his equipment fits.

  2. First of all, kudos to responsive social media reps! I wish you would have had more respond.Let’s face it. The life of a Mom with a child who has special needs is different. You can’t always haul your child to many different places to try things out. Yet, you need to be informed in order to make the best purchase possible.Here you are Barb, cash in hand, wanting to put down your hard earned cash and make a purchase. Not drive around in a borrowed car for a week taking pictures.BTW, what exactly does having a blogger take pretty pictures tell the general audience about how great a car is?I sometimes have to wonder if the dollar I spend as a Mom of a child with special needs is as valuable as the dollar the Mom of a typical child spends to brands out there.Then I sometimes have to wonder if brands realize that special needs represents one TRILLION dollars of spending a year.Yes, what we look for may be a little different. Can this vehicle carry the wheelchair, oxygen bottles, giant sized medical backpack, etc. But we are also after the cool, like the DVD screens, and cup holders in the best placement.And if a vehicle can handle all the gear a kid with special needs requires, couldn’t that also catch the eye of a skier, snowboarder, (I live in Utah) cyclist, a hiker or a camper who also hauls gear to where ever the snow falls or up into our mountains?I also wonder if brands realize that once you have won over the heart of a special needs Mama, then you have a customer for life. And you have won those within her word of mouth (or blog) as customers for life as well. Because there is no doubt that which ever vehicle you purchase will be the one that other Moms of kids with wheelchairs will be out there scouting the next time they are in the market.It’s too bad that the social media reps haven’t figured out how brilliant it would be to advertise directly to the special needs community using it’s own trusted members.Did I mention that we as parents of kids with special needs represent ONE TRILLION dollars worth of spending power a year? And we’ll do pretty much near anything to make sure our kids are comfortable, safe and secure?Giant kudos for the two social media reps taking notice. Too bad there aren’t more who understand this giant market described ‘niche’.Tammy and Parkerwww.prayingforparker.comwww.momitforward.com

    • Huge kudos for Chris for being out there listening. Tammy is right, we need more people like Chris who are willing to step into the conversation and even lend a hand. Perhaps the solution is that more of the social media marketing and customer service needs to be done in house and not farmed out to big agencies, leaving less of a disconnect then already exists. More of a budget given to listening and genuine interaction. The reality is that whatever car I get I am going to write about. I am going to talk about. I am going to authentically promote just by virtue of owning one. And no, I am not a big blogger but I do have a big presence in the disability community. And if it works for me, others will probably notice. Which I am going to bet generates a higher percentage of actual leads than some of the pretty campaigns I have seen. So, then doesn’t making sure I get the right car actually play into SM marketing role??I understand there is probably a disconnect from national brand to local dealership, but in the end, if the goal of the company is to sell cars, should there not be a process to funnel the conversation to them? Everyone recognizes that the way purchasing decisions are made is vastly different than it was a few years ago. I want recommendations on twitter. The convo from my friends on FB have been fabulous. I may not talk to the neighbor over the back fence (he is a jerk) but I sure and heck care what my friends have to say online.

      • Thanks for the kudos, but we have lots of help… my friend Lucretia Pruitt pointed me to your post, so I can’t claim to have just found it on my own. (Although I guess it’s cool that we’re out there enough that people know us and when they see a post like this, I get the “Hey Barger, did you see this?” notes.) :-)By the way, there is no such thing as a “big blogger” when it comes to trying to connect and help people out online. Everyone is a customer — whether they have 200 readers or 200,000 — and we (all of us in social media marketing) ought to remember that no customer will remain one for long if we treat them like they’re not big enough to get our attention.I’ve just connected with our western region team now about trying to help you out. I beg your pardon that I’m about to go offline for a few hours (3rd grade concert is tonight!), but I will check back in when I’m home. Thanks for the nice words.

        • Lucretia is awesome. I am lucky to call her my friend :)Great philosophy on the size of readership. I could not agree more.Good luck at the concert~I am assuming it is for your kiddo since I hope you have graduated from 3rd Grade at this point.

          • Hi – yes, it was my son’s concert. Sadly for me it’s been far too long since I was in third grade. :-)If you could send me your email address or phone number to the email I’ve listed, we have a Chevy dealer in the Denver area who’s ready to work with you. We’ll put the dealer in touch with you (along with my colleagues in the western region who have put this all together). Thanks for giving us a look!

  3. We are picking up our new Traverse this week. We drove one around for two weeks and were in love with it. (I can’t do a minivan either.)The biggest thing I learned…the only features I really REALLY wanted were the split second row seats (so much easier to get people in and out of the back) and the rear view backup camera (big car, I’m not the greatest backer uppper and with little kids? There’s so much peace of mind.)So I had the dealership find the cheapest Traverse out there in the color we wanted (dark) with those two features and then we were able to have the other two features I really wanted added on by the dealership. (Leather, including heated front seats and a DVD player.)To get a Traverse off the lot with leather and DVD player is a minimum of $42K, ours will come out to be about $31K with an additional fee of $2K for the leather and DVD player. We just have to wait an extra week to pick it up.I’m sure most car companies offer this option and it’s totally worth asking what features can be added by the dealership.So one hearty vote for the Traverse from me.

    • You can spam my comments section anytime you want. Especially if you offer me advice on how to save thousands. I honestly would not have thought to order the car the way you described. Brilliance!Did you get AWD? How is it handling in the snow?

  4. (Also, Chevy has the most amazing Social Media people too…@cbarger and @connieburke.)

  5. (Hah! I didn’t even see that Chris already responded!! For real, talk to him. He’s a peach.) I’ll stop spamming your comments section now. Good luck!

  6. Those seats are SO cool!!I have to say, I am NOT a minivan girl either! I tried it once and hated it…of clutter that was prior to Cole and knowing I needed something that could be wheelchair accessible.So..we finally decided to go the route of a conversion full size van instead. And we LOVE it! Our little home on wheels! It’s been the best choice for us as we are at baseball and football fields all year…it rocks to have a place to take Cole to cool off or nap on the bench seat that lays down.Best of luck on your hunt!

  7. Hi Barb, I tried to post this on your blog earlier today but for some reason it didn’t work. Maybe it has something to do with our firewalls… I understand you are already talking to Keith Smith which is great, but I still wanted to reach out to you.I just read your blog post (http://elementaryspirits.com/2011/02/the-new-car-short-list/). First of all, we know you might have a pretty hectic schedule and rely on Sundays for time to thoroughly inspect potential vehicles for purchase. Car guys gotta’ sleep and do laundry too though, so we’re pretty glad about those Sundays off! That being said, Just know that we’re here pretty much every waking hour of the day Monday-Saturday, and would be more than happy to set an appointment whenever is convenient for you.Second of all, you do NOT have to resign yourself to a mini-van! Obviously you have some needs that must be met: space, AWD, little-bit-o-luxury, etc. A mini-van is not the only option that will accommodate you! I saw the Traverse is currently towards the top of your list and I think you’re right on. My father drives one and it’s the all-around best vehicle we’ve seen in a while. It’s great on gas mileage, a whole pack of us plus all of our gear comfortable pile in for ski trips on the weekends, and it looks gooooood. Since it is a cross-over it does not ride too high and would probably be easy for your child to get in and out of.You like videos? Check out this quick testimonial of a Traverse tester and see what he thought about how it handles in the snow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ff2nT3eHXiAFeel free to check out the other videos we’ve made as well, just go to youtube and search for Medved Autoplex.You said you’re into VW social media. Well, I’d encourage you to check out our blog, facebook page, and twitter account to see what we’re doing as well. We’ve got a lot of fun promo activities coming up most of which are mentioned in our various social media outlets.http://www.facebook.com/medvedautoplexwww.medveddrivescolorado.com@medvedautocoBarb, we know you’re on a time crunch and we’d love the opportunity to work with you. Our Chevrolet manager, Keith Smith, will be reaching out to you and hopefully we can get the ball rolling!Best,Whitney MedvedMedved AutoplexSocial Marketing and Networking Director(303) 419-0868whitney@medved.comCheck out our “Medved Autoplex” page on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/medvedautoplexand our Blog: http://www.medveddrivescolorado.com