How Automakers Can Involve Dealerships Now in Their Autonomous and Shared Service Plans

 

With the 2017 North American International Auto Show came a focused discussion on both the success of shared car services like Uber and autonomous vehicles, two areas that seem destined to combine at some point in the not-so-distant future. 

Caddilac revealed the creation of Book,  a subscription service allowing a customer to pay a flat monthly fee for unlimited use of the automaker's lineup. Ford's Chairman Bill Ford remarked that shared services could provide a revenue stream "Unlike they have seen". Add that to GM's sizable investment in Lyft and it's clear that automakers are hedging their bets on a shared vehicle future. 

All of this is leading to claims that OEMs are planning products and services that are in direct competition with the current retail sales model, a prospect that concerns many of their franchised dealers.

Rather than face massive revolt later, manufacturers can start by including their dealers now. Here are some ideas...

Dealerships as Sign-Up Centers: 

While the telecom industry is a mobile focused area, in person stores are still utilized to give subscribers a place to experience the products and sign up for service. Creating a plan for utilizing the existing footprint will give dealers a share in the future (when paired with incentives for subscriptions). 

Dealerships as Service Centers 

This idea may be a little obvious as Dealerships already represent the service network for existing OEMs, but there are steps that can be taken now to prepare them for the change in customer expectations. Planning for vehicles that drive themselves into the dealership for work and how to manage that business is one step and developing methods to replace down subscription vehicles is another.  Service departments will also have to plan on how to expedite service on these vehicles as they will be in more frequently and excessive downtime will impact profitability of the subscription model.

 The Pre-Owned Problem

Witt shared efficiency and autonomy, vehicles will be constantly transporting customers to and from their destinations with minimal downtime. This means that vehicles will accumulate mileage extremely quickly and exceeding the markets current definition of average miles. This will create a huge supply of hike mileage late model cars that Dealerships can help with via used car operations. 

There is no doubt that self-driving cars and subscription services are going to change how consumers use vehicles in the future and how smoothly automakers integrate their current dealer network will likely determine the winners and losers of this new frontier.

CPR for Aged Inventory

We've all been there, staring at a car that several months ago seemed like the perfect acquisition, with a great profit potential and the promise of a short lot life.  

Now look at it, 100+ days old, with not a crack of the door by a prospective buyer. The time has taken its toll with a film of dirt and failure that's causing your sales team to ignore it completely. 

Here are just a few things you can do to re-merchandise the car and put a renewed focus on getting it sold: 

1. Clean It Up! Whether it's going to auction or someone's home may not be clear at this point, but it will likely need another detail. See if you can negotiate a "re-detail" cost with your vendor or internal department to make these more affordable.
2. Re-Photograph: By now it might be a completely different season outside and the original photos were clearly not doing the job. Have the car re-shot, but give it to someone with an artistic flair and buy them lunch for the favor! 
3. Comments! Does "1OWNER, PW, PL, CLN CARFAX!" Say anything meaningful about the car? Consider re-writing the comments with more fun and excitement. Go one step further and pair these photos and comments together for a kick-ass blog post. That post will be great to display on... 
4. Social Media: I'm not a proponent of using social media to promote a different vehicle every day, but if you've got a good mix of informative and relevant content going, the occasional vehicle won't hurt you. Consider boosting the post and giving it a little more distance in your area. 
5. Talk About It! Mention the vehicle specifically in the next sales meeting, covering its highlights and the reasons you bought it in the first place. A good part of the staff may have just forgot it.

If none of these have an impact, auction may be the way to go. That said, these added steps may help save a few good cars for a great new home. 

Being a Good Bad a News Taker

Probably the single most important skill I've picked up over the last few years is how to be good at taking bad news. This single skill has reduced my workplace stress, made me a more effective manager, and kept me more focused on major projects thhen temporary distractions.  While I'm still perfecting this skill, here are some thing I do to improve my ability to take bad news:

Take a Minute to Process 

 Chances are that if you're hearing a bit of bad news that it's unexpected. The 5 minutes after hearing the news will completely set the tone for how you handle the situation. So, take a moment to breathe, process the info, and ask questions for more detail. 

If you can do something about it, don't worry about it. 

If it's something that is within your power to fix, find comfort in that simple fact. While you may not have a solution right away, knowing you'll eventually find one can provide immediate calm. 

If you can't do something about it, don't worry about it!   

If it's something you can't control, you've got a choice here: You can let it completely ruin your day or work process, or you can suck it up and keep going. Don't waste your time worrying about something you can't control.

Be the Calm 

Your team is going to look at you for leadership during crisis, so it's important to broadcast a calm demeanor and avoid causing alarm or stirring the pot. The second your team sees you complain, the second that it becomes part of the culture. 

Work it Backwards 

If it's a problem that can be solved, take a methodical approach and avoid jumping to gut conclusions. Work it slowly and from a perspective of future prevention. 

By becoming a better handler of difficult news you'll be able to keep your team running smoothly and reduce your own stress levels

What do you do to take bad news well?

Managing OEM Initiatives

For marketers that manage dealer groups with multiple franchises, or even those who only have a single brand represented, it can be hard to balance our own campaigns and initiatives with those proposed by our OEMs. Whether it's new prospect process adjustments, website guidelines, or marketing adjustments, it can feel like we're hampered or downright weakened by directives from the manufacturer.

By following a few guidelines we can manage that stress and do our best to make the best of our relationships.

1.  Open Mind - It can be easy for every new program or set of guidelines to elicit an eye roll. While this may be a result of past experiences, try to evaluate each time individually and logically.
2. Data-Focused -  When rolling out a new OEM directive, make sure to identify what measurements need to be used to evaluate the success of the change and establish baseline values of those before making the change. Then after measuring those items after, you can develop a more logical opinion of the impact those changes made. 
3. Clear Communication -  Whether positive or negative, make sure you're sharing your findings with your factory representatives so that they can pass it along up the chain.  
4. Choosing Your Battles -  In the scheme of things, it's important to maintain perspective. Going along with minor changes and monitoring results without protest can allow you to save up for a situation where an OEM program does need to be addressed.

Staying open, measuring outcomes, and communication can all help reduce your stress levels when implementing new OEM programs and allow you to have a more meaningful communication process with your brands. 

Responding to Negative Reviews

Anyone out there managing their business's reputation knows that monitoring reviews can be exhausting and that finding the perfect way to answer each one can be mind numbing. Here's a short and helpful guide to responses. 

1.  identify -   From the information given, can you determine who the customer is in your database? This will make the difference between being able to contact them or having to solicit a response in the review.
2. Apologize -  If they took the time to review, it's likely that somehow expectations were not met. Note: apologizing doesn't necessarily admitting fault.  
3. Take it Offline   - Let them know that you'll be calling to find out more information on what went wrong and appreciate their feedback in improving the business. If you can't tell who it is, list your contact information and ask for an outreach.
4. Do Not Feed Trolls -  For 99% of negative reviews, the process above will either allow you to fix the problem that was caused or at least do your best. Some customers won't call to give feedback, but at least people looking at reviews will see you made an attempt to fix the situation. However, if a reviewer replies to response and wants to keep the debate online, they are likely baiting you into argument and should not be indulged. Fortunately this occurs very infrequently, but it's worth exercising caution.

That's it! By following the above guidelines you should be able to handle most negative reviews in a professional way that allows you to solve customer problems. I've listed a template below for a final example: 

 NAME, we're very sorry to hear about your experience with us. A member of our team will be reaching out [or/ from your review we can't determine your contact info. Please contact me directly at #] for more information to resolve the situation and to learn where we could improve. We really appreciate your time to let us know.

 Best of Luck! 

CES and Your Dealership

This year the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas once again broke attendance records for a convention / trade show. Additionally, while many automakers and suppliers were gearing up for the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), they also hosted simultaneous booths at the consumer trade show. This represents a continued belief that automakers need to match consumer demand for more tech-forward vehicles. 

While this doubling-down on consumer tech doesn't guarantee that all of these concepts will make a difference on the retail auto industry, it's important that dealers be aware of these trends and plan accordingly. Some of the major trends this year at CES included:

Autonomous: While we're some years away from fully autonomous vehicles roaming the roads, CES 2017 had an eye towards what technology is ready now, including semi autonomous features. Does your sales and delivery staff know what features are equipped now? Do they know how to demonstrate these features, like autonomous braking and self-parking, to consumers? Does service know how to differentiate between something being broken and a poorly trained consumer? Getting your staff ready to review what capabilities do exist can create a more progressive look for your store and protect against untrained consumers.

Connected: Infotainments systems are nothing new, but each year brings more advanced systems to the new vehicle lineup. Are we reviewing year to year changes with sales associates, including model specific technologies? Are we fully explaining to consumers the proper way to setup these devices, including the myriad of subscription services often required to make them function fully? Part of the reason that Tesla has become a consumer darling is that it's owners are very well trained on how to use and explain what makes their vehicle advanced and different. 

Virtual Reality: With Samsung announcing that it has 5 million of its GearVR headsets already in the market, it appears that VR is becoming a more mainstream trend. While it's not necessarily clear that this will have an immediate impact on the dealership, we already know that 1/3 consumers would buy a car without a test drive, so we should consider how the model changes when consumers can "test drive" a car in the comfort of their own home. 

There were many additional trends (drones, wearables, etc.) and many more to come, which is why it's important that the retail auto industry keep our eyes open on them and plan for how these developments will impact our business going forward.

Creating an FAQ Page for Employees and Customers

If you knew exactly what a customer was going to ask prior to coming in to your business, you'd plan for that occasion. right? If doing just that is so easy, why do customer facing employees fumble common questions asked by new customers?

By creating a list of frequently asked questions, you can make sure you have the perfect answer to each questions assembled ahead of time to provide the highest levels of service to you customers. Here's how to get started:

1. Give each of your customer facing employees a legal pad and have them write down every question they are asked for a week. For repeat questions, have them put a check mark or tally next to the question for each time the question is asked again.
2. At the end of the week collect the sheets and tally the number of times each question was asked and rank them by frequency.
3. Take the top 10 questions listed by employees and put together the best possible response for each of them. Make sure to include the team members on this part of the process so that they can give feedback and get bought-in to the answers.
4. Distribute this list of 10 answers back to all of your customer-facing employees as a handy guide for the best way to approach each of the customer questions.
5. Don't forget to post the FAQs on your website in a dedicated page. Make sure to link the answers to relevant content areas on the site. Chances are that what your customers are calling about is also being searched for online, so an FAQ page can do wonders for organic traffic.

Most companies miss objectives or create customer issues through a lack of planning and communication. By planning how we communicate through a simple FAQ guide we can reduce the frequency of these occasions.

Your Dealership's Snow Day Survival Guide

Fresh powder is usually the last thing an auto dealer wants to see. Traffic drops, the lot becomes a mess, and a large portion of the staff can't make it in. What if we thought about snow days differently? What if we used them to our advantage?

Here's a couple big snow day advantages:

1. Customers are Home: How often does a sales associate follow up with  a customer and find them to not be home? Snow days increase the chance a customer is home dramatically, especially if they have kids whose school has been cancelled.
2. Customers are Shopping: The next time winter weather visits, pop into your site analytics. You shouldn't be surprised if you have higher traffic and/or leads of any day in the past week. 
3. Customers are Reading: With the roads clogged and the kids driving them nuts prospective customers are either watching tv or passing time on their mobile devices. Wouldn't that make the perfect time to promote your online showroom via a text or email campaign?

If we know the opportunity is huge, how can we make the best of it?

Campaign Ready

Have a snow day campaign saved in your CRM ready to go. That way you can just click send while you watch the traffic and weather segments on TV.

Mobile Equipped

Ensure you're using a CRM system with a mobile app or the ability to access from home. That way even your team members who can't make it in will be able to get follow up done.

BDC-Ready

Make sure whoever you have doing lead response is ready to surprise customers with a quick answer. The couch-stranded customer will be impressed and likely to continue dialogue.

Lot Parties for Porters

For the sales / BDC staff that does make it to work consider having them inside and making calls while other support employees (or you) focus on getting unburied.

Appointment Focused

Make a focus to load up your appointments for once the snow clears. Consider adding a BDC or sales contest for whomever sets the most appointments that day. Execute this right and it will be like the weather never happened.

Snow sucks for dealerships and we all know it, but how you prepare and execute a snow event can be the difference between missed forecasts and your best January ever. 

2017: The Year of Streamlined Dealership Communication

Photo by Rawpixel/iStock / Getty Images

As we get started into the new year many dealerships will keep their focus solely on unit sales and profitability (like they did last year and the one before). That said, for many dealers, a new year represents the opportunity to streamline and modernize their communications with customers. By implementing the trends below dealerships will reduce their opt-out rates, improve sales, and reduce the overall volume of communications they are sending:

1. Platform Consolidation: Are you communicating with your customers through a single platform (CRM)? Or are you communicating through a text tool, an OEM service portal, a third party email system, and via CRM? By having multiple platforms it's easy to oversaturate a consumer, send an irrelevant message, or to expose yourself legally by not standardizing the opt-out procedures. Consolidating all of your communications to within your CRM system will allow you to more easily follow #2.
2. Communication Calendar: Have you ever laid out or sat down to consider how many communications a customer is receiving? Here's a list, but I bet you can think of more:
   • Monthly Sales Specials (12)
   • Monthly Service Specials (12)
   • Emails from OEM Credit Services (12)
   • Emails from OEM (12)
   • Follow-Up Emails from Sales (4)
   • Follow-Up Emails from Advisor (4)
   • Doubled-Up Promotional Emails (6)That's 62 communications a year, just counting email! How many of those are really necessary?
3. Greater Relevance: As you work to plan out your calendar and reduce unnecessary emails, placing a focus on relevance will be your greatest ally. Will you target a service special to all owners, or just those that have missed their normal interval? Will you focus a sales promotion to your whole database, or just to customers who have an equity position in their vehicle? By making your campaigns more targeted, you'll be able to reduce the overall number of customers, while increasing the relevance of the ones who you do contact.
4. Helpfulness: Ask yourself: Would I want to receive this call/email/text? Does it add value to the customer's ownership experience? Chances are that the answer is no in a lot of cases. By making sure that helpful content is included amongst the action-driving information, you can improve how your communications overall are received by your customer.

By streamlining our communications, reducing overall volume, and focusing on relevancy, we can both improve the customer ownership experience as well as the success of our campaigns. 

Something I missed? Drop a line in the comments below:

How do you react to a Mariah Carey moment?

Photo by Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images Entertainment / Getty Images

With millions of people watching in Times Square and on television, an alleged equipment failure caused a catastrophe during Mariah Carey's New Year's Eve performance. It revealed that not only revealed was she lip-synching, but caused her to stumble through a song, complaining out loud about her equipment, and eventually giving up.

Her reaction afterwards? "Shit happens."

Is that the same reaction that you take when catastrophe strikes? What do you do to prepare in advance to minimize how glitches impact your performance or business. Here are a couple handy ways you can work to avoid your "Mariah Moment":

1. Consider the Worst-Case Scenario: By visualizing the worst possible outcomes of a situation, we can plan for how to work through them. A massive technical failure on the world's biggest stage would have been disastrous, which is exactly why they should have planned for it. 
2. Have a Plan for Expected Problems: If you know that 95% of the time when a customer/client/partner has an issue and it's normally one of 4-5 common items, those are situations you can plan for. Think through all of the times an interaction or business pitch went south and write down all of the reasons why. There is your list of scenarios to plan for. Audio problems are something live performers experience constantly, So it's something that should have been planned for.
3. Take Responsibility. Period. In the days following the performance blame was shifted from the performer to the TV production company, with no one willing to take responsibility for the failure. Regardless of what factors play in to a disaster, take ownership of the problem and the responsibility for what went wrong. Even if an outside factor does play into an issue, accept and own your role in how it came to play. Your customers, co-workers, and partners will respect that. 

We all know that things can go south quickly and the difference between handling them smoothly and an on-stage meltdown is a result of planning for the worst, planning for common problems, and accepting responsibility when something does go wrong. 

Other suggestions for the list? Leave a note in the comments below!

Furency Version 0.2

Ever since we presented Furency several months ago, it has been a complete whirlwind. From our kickoff at 1 Million Cups at the Kauffman Foundation it has been a non-stop period of growth and improvement. 

While we initially wanted to launch in tandem with 1MC, we were slightly delayed by the App review process and didn't make it into the app store until a week later. Thankfully the delay only caused more anticipation, giving us a large volume of downloads to kick off the app. 

From there it was all user-driven. From the cutest cats to the most beautiful dogs, along with other species, Furency has produced some of the best animal content I've ever seen. 

That said, we have a lot more work to do. We've received tons of feedback on ways to improve the product. We're proud to say that some of those requests are now possible.

With version 0.2 comes the following major enhancements:

• Multi Human Support - Now pets with multiple human assistants can have their content shared from several devices.
• Deletable Posts - It's hard to type with paws, so posts now can be deleted.
• Additional Pet Types - Hello Bunnies, Birds, and Lizards!
• UI/Bug Updates - Even apps need flea treatment occasionally!

We look forward to adding even more in 2016, so stay tuned for more information!

Download Furency in the App Store today!

Furency

As many of my closest friends are aware, I have been working on a pet project over the last year, literally. 

With our presentation on 11/11 at One Million Cups we am proud to launch Furency, the world's social petwork. Furency allows domestic animals the ability to share their experiences while rewarding them for engaging content. 

I'd like to give a shout out to the Furency team for the hard work leading up to today. We'll be live in the App Store in the next few weeks, so check us out. Android support is on the horizon.

Here goes nothing....

See You at the Driving Sales Executive Summit!

In just a few days it will be time for me to break out the suitcase, pack up the laptop, and head to Las Vegas for the Driving Sales Executive Summit. Having never been to #DSES I am a little excited, to say the least. That said, if the speakers are any indication of quality of the conference overall, I should be in for a great few days.

Having attended and spoken previously at Digital Dealer and other digital events, most of my conference experience has been focused towards online marketing. DSES looks to provide a much broader focus for leaders and a great view of where the auto industry is headed as a whole.

That said, here are some topics I am excited to learn about:

• Leadership: Despite being a leader within my own company, I am always excited to see how other leaders motivate their teams. While I’m excited to see the leadership focused speakers, I’m equally as excited to network with other dealership managers and to get the best of what they use to keep their stores on course.
• Consumer Experience: Most of us in the industry know that the old ways of forcing the consumer through a 10-step process are no longer working. I’m excited to learn more insights on how to improve our sales experience from the second a consumer starts researching all the way through their ownership lifecycle.
• Marketing Personalization: While most of us recognize the opportunity in “big data” to create more 1-to-1 personalized marketing experiences, it doesn’t seem like many are doing it very well. I want to learn what the best are doing and how they manage it all without seeming automated.

While those are just a few items I hope to find in the sessions, my favorite part of any conference is to work and chat with industry peers. From finding different solutions to common problems to having that “okay Kris, you’re not crazy” moments, the interaction is always most helpful.

Are you attending #DSES? Want to chat? Shoot me a message via Twitter @KrisNielsenKC . 

Twenty in Their Twenties 2015

Holy cow! When I found out I was nominated for Ingram's Magazine's "Twenty in Their Twenties" 2015 list of young KC professionals I was excited, but to find out that I was chosen among so many other amazing professionals in KC, I'm (almost) speechless.

From the article:

"It doesn’t matter whether you’re selling Jed Clampett’s jalopy or Doc Brown’s DeLorean, if it isn’t pulling ’em into the dealership to kick the tires, your on-line site isn’t driving sales. As eCommerce manager for Soave Automotive Group’s Aristocrat Motors, Kris Nielsen saw a need for a new strategy to follow up with prospective customers, infused a growing on-line response team with processes that embraced transparency and quality, and saw the share of sales from on-line prospects rise from 10 percent to 30 percent. Nielsen brings that same yen for innovative approaches to his other duties as customer-service manager, raising customer-satisfaction scores through tactics like creating an empowerment allowance to let the staff solve customer issues without management approval."

While the article plays up my digital strategies as the source of the success I would not have been able to accomplish anything in my role without the amazing support of my employers and the amazing performance of my co-workers that made it all possible.

See You at #DSUS!

Next week I'll be packing up the laptop and heading to beautiful San Diego for the Dealer Socket User Summit!

Like other dealers that use DealerSocket/DealerFire's products, I will be excited to collaborate with other dealers and to learn about new feature improvements that can accelerate the growth of our organizations.

In addition to learning, I'm also speaking! Come see my session, Beyond the Cat Photos: How to Engage Your Social Media Community at 3:45pm on Wednesday. I'll be talking from a dealer's perspective on how to create campaigns that engage your social audience, using local partners to boost your reach, and ways to build measurement into every campaign.

Headed to #DSUS ? Let's chat. Tweet me @KrisNielsenKC

Join the #KCSleepover

1 in 42. That's the number of kids in KC who don't have their own bed to sleep in each night.

Those of you who have known me a long time have seen my affiliation with Sleepyhead Beds, a KC area charity that seeks to make sure that each child in Kansas City has their own place to sleep each night, through donations of beds and bedding.

From sponsorship (and my emcee services) for their annual Bingo night to employee volunteering and vehicle support,  Soave Automotive Group has been a supporter of SHB for many years. 

This Thursday I invite you to join the #KCSleepover , a virtual sleepover where people across KC will voluntarily sleep on the floor to raise awareness for the kids that do it every night. Our #TeamSoave will be roughing it on the ground and we'd love if you joined us!

For more information on #KCSleepover, check out The Sleepyhead Beds Website!

Sunflowers to Roses Ride Recap

Photo Credit: Cheryl Law

After many weeks of promoting Sunflowers to Roses, a ride benefitting KC area cancer patients and survivors, the day finally came! On August 2nd hundreds of riders departed Bike Source in Overland Park on rides of various lengths!

While I did the 36.8 Mile Route, it was an absolute blast to do the ride with a dozen or so of my co-workers. Soave Automotive Group (Aristocrat Motors, Mercedes-Benz of Kansas City, & BMW VW of Topeka) is a proud supporter of S2R, representing both the largest team and largest fundraiser.

I'd like to thank those that donated to my page personally:

• Barrie Mars
• Mendee and Brent Perry 
• Lisa and David Geier
• Cavan Robinson
• Jessica Best
• Tricia Scott
• Kevin Killilea (Team Captain / Donation Matching)

There is still time to donate post-ride and any assistance would be appreciated!

DONATE HERE

A Fight in Kansas City

A few weeks ago I was asked to join in the filming of a short movie in Kansas City. Filmed by my enormously talented friend and neighbor, Bryan Reynolds, the true story depicts two local men pushing 30 looking to get in their first fight.

I got to play Lance, the overly aggressive fellow that they get to fight them. I'll let you watch below for the whole synopsis, but it was an awesome experience for my first time acting. 

Special thanks to Bryan for putting this together.

Help Me Help Area Cancer Patients/Survivors

While our dealerships sponsor dozens of area charities every year, there is one that is near and dear to my heart. The Sunflowers to Roses Charity Bike Tour is a local bike ride in South KC that helps raise money for local area cancer patients and cancer survivors.

For the past 3 years, The Soave Automotive Group has not only sponsored the ride, but each year we have set the overall records for both team size and overall donations. This year we are attempting to surpass both of those records and would sincerely appreciate the help (as would those who need the money most).

Thank You! - Kris

Find Out More About S2R

Click Here to Donate!

Daily Driving A Porsche

One of the most amazing perks of working for The Soave Automotive has to be the ability to drive some of the most amazing vehicles in the world every day. From SLR McLarens to Jaguar F-Types, and the occasional Maserati chauffeur duty with Jay Leno, it's a car geeks dream.

However, when it came time to replace my daily driver Mazda3 (one of the best cars on earth btw), a few eyebrows were raised when I chose a replacement: a 2014 Porsche Cayman S.

Lets start a bit with the car. The Porsche Cayman S is a rear wheel drive 325hp mid-engined sports car. The particular one I chose had 20" Carerra S wheels (from it's big brother 911) with some rather nice Pirell P-Zeros. Vehicles like this are typically relegated to weekend only and track-day duty. Needless to say, many friends and colleagues inquired as to how the heck I could make this work every day.  

I'll address some of the biggest questions I get asked all the time. 

Practicality: At first glance, a two seated sports car may not sound like the most effective vehicle to use for everyday items. But, here's the thing: The car has TWO TRUNKS. Because the engine is behind the seats, the front cavity is large enough for 2 standard carry on suitcases, bags of mulch, or the monthly run to the recycling dumpster. 95% of our weekly grocery runs are in the Cayman.

Winter Driving: Simce KC isn't South Beach and has more closely resembled Seattle as of late a rear drive car with summer equipped tires may not look like the best choice. What's more is that since I leased the car I opted not to invest in a set of winter wheels and tires. That, and the fact that my fiancée was not keen on the idea of storing wheels and tires in the living room of our downtown apartment.  

The truth is that the tires that come on the car are excellent in rain. Despite the huge storms recently o have yet to even have tractio.n control engage in daily situations. In the cold the tires also do pretty well as long as the throttle is gently engaged when leaving a standing stop. Snow? The 3 days that snow was phsicaly on the road and not yet cleared my fiancée drove me to work. Props to Brooke and the local plowman for the support.

Cost: Obviously this isn't the most budget friendly car. With a starting MSRP at $58k, there are definitely better options. Regular services are pricey too, with services in the $500 range, although when you consider that the car only needs one service per year, it ends up only being about 2x as much per year compared to a normal vehicle. 

Fun: Regardless of the small detractors that may spawn from operating a cat like this every day, the fact is that it is the single best driving vehicle I have ever experienced. It puts a smile on my face every morning on the way to work and helps me de-stress every night on the way home. I don't regret the initial decision for a second.

I kind of feel like going for a drive right now.

Questions? Drop a comment below and I'll answer them as they come.