Photography for car dealers?

Dusty Sensiba

Does anybody here do photos for dealers?

I have talked to a friend who is involved with dealers and he says the companies that do the window stickers usually do a quick point and shoot photo for the inventory on the web site, but I notice most of those royally suck. Usually off white balance, blown highlights, horrible glare and bad composition. Poles sticking out of the car 99.9% of the time.

Has anybody here marketed their services to car dealers?

entropysedge

Most of the companies (in NJ the main one is Dealer Specialties) that do those photos get paid on a per vehicle basis and so they are just interested in getting the shots taken and then uploaded to the dealers' websites as well as to 3rd parties contracted with the dealerships for advertising.

The dealership that I work for tried doing the photos in-house for a while... the photos I took were much better quality but we had a hell of a time getting them to the parties that needed them (quite of few of them would only take uploads from the established companies that already do the window stickers so now they're back to the sucky inventory shots.

It did get me some business taking photos for the dealership such as employee images and other photos as well.

Dusty Sensiba

Little guys
It's Dealer Specialties in my area as well.

I will probably target the little used car lots as it seems Dealer Specialties doesn't target them too much.

entropysedge

Just make sure you find out who or what program they (the dealership) use to upload photos to their website and 3rd party sites such as AutoTrader.com. (I think KelleyBlueBook offers a program for this as well as for the window stickers themselves) You will need an efficient way to match photos to cars else you'll be spending farr too much time in front of the computer and not enough taking pictures.

AdamV

dealer photography
I am the in house photographer for 3 store and am in negeotations for 2 more. I shoot 27-45 shots per used and 10-15 per new. I am in the process of getting a studio ready because outdoor has so many problems. It takes a lot longer indoor but the quality is worth it. Im paid hourly right now but am working out going per car or salary.

mercphoto

I've tried to break into this slowly and have only talked to a few dealerships, but what I'm being told is that, crappy photos or not, the cars still sell so why pay for better photography? Haven't found a way to reply to that.

Nikolai

mercphoto wrote:

I've tried to break into this slowly and have only talked to a few dealerships, but what I'm being told is that, crappy photos or not, the cars still sell so why pay for better photography? Haven't found a way to reply to that.

+1
Dealers are typically happy with P&S results.
I'd say you need to look into high-end (imports) and specialty (classics, woodies, etc.) markets. This is where a good photogrpahy may pay up. Otherwise it's just like with the real estate: an agent would snap a few pics on her/his P&S, put them on a flyer, print them on her/his All-In-One, add the thumbs to the MLS and to the free newspaper - and that's it. Unless you're talking Sotheby realty..

mercphoto

Nikolai wrote:

+1
Dealers are typically happy with P&S results.
I'd say you need to look into high-end (imports)

I would have thought so too. The one dealership I've tried hard to crack in Austin is the most high-end used car dealership in the greater area. Think 6-figure "used" cars....

RogersDA

mercphoto wrote:

I've tried to break into this slowly and have only talked to a few dealerships, but what I'm being told is that, crappy photos or not, the cars still sell so why pay for better photography? Haven't found a way to reply to that.

Makes the dealer look better/more professional than others, maybe sell the car(s) faster, perhaps attract more people to sell cars that would otherwise be missed; i.e., bring in more foot traffic to the dealer.

Nikolai

RogersDA wrote:

Makes the dealer look better/more professional than others, maybe sell the car(s) faster, perhaps attract more people to sell cars that would otherwise be missed; i.e., bring in more foot traffic to the dealer.

We all wish this was the case... However the reality is quite different...
I spent last 8 years of my life writing software for auto dealerships, so we kinda learned the patterns and usecases...
People are looking for the best deals, not for the wall artwork. Decades-long trend is to spend as little time in the dealership as possible, preferably no time at all. Dealers do recognize this and try to facilitate it to the best of their abilities.

mercphoto

RogersDA wrote:

Makes the dealer look better/more professional than others, maybe sell the car(s) faster, perhaps attract more people to sell cars that would otherwise be missed; i.e., bring in more foot traffic to the dealer.

I have to be honest with myself and realize that if I were looking for a car to buy I really don't think I'd base my decision on the quality of the ad photo.

MarkR

I worked in a car dealership for about 10 years. Ten very long years ...

DealerSpecialties at the time charged somewhere in the range of ~$5 per car, don't remember the exact amount. I don't think a professional photographer is going to want to compete with that. And quite frankly, the dealer principle (and most DPs, actually) thought that was way too much money to spend.

Some dealerships have smartened up and started providing a portfolio of shots for each of their vehicles (interior, exterior, etc.) but they are probably doing that in-house or using a cheap 3rd party provider such as DealerSpecialties.

RogersDA

mercphoto wrote:

I have to be honest with myself and realize that if I were looking for a car to buy I really don't think I'd base my decision on the quality of the ad photo.

Yeah - true - but advertisers and dealers don't put cruddy brochures out there for nothing. They make them all shiney and pretty to attract the customer. Madison Avenue folks know best what sells.

At any rate - 'twas just a suggestion.

promoguy

The nice brochures and advertising is from the manufacturer not the dealer. The dealer must participate in that cost.

When the dealer must pay up for his own photos of other expenses, they keep it very close to the belt. I have found in my business that quite frankly dealers are, well how can I put this nicely.....cheap.

/all IMHO