Automotive Internet Media

Tony French

Tariffs Take Effect Today: What This Means for Car Buyers

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Tariffs Take Effect Today: What This Means for Car Buyers and Owners

Automakers Brace for Impact as Tariffs Begin on April 3rd, 2025

Published: April 3, 2025

Automotive Internet Media | Digital Marketing Agency

Tariffs Affects on Car Buyers

Starting today, April 3, 2025, tariffs on imported vehicles take effect under a policy enacted by President Trump. The administration expresses that these tariffs will encourage automakers to shift production back to the United States, creating new jobs and boosting domestic manufacturing. However, industry analysts warn that the added costs could drive up new car price tags by thousands of dollars for American consumers. 

While the tariffs broadly apply to imported vehicles, certain exemptions exist for cars manufactured in Mexico or Canada, granted they meet the conditions outlined in existing free trade agreements. Additionally, automakers will not face duties on key components—such as engines, transmissions, and batteries—if those parts were originally made in the U.S. and later installed in vehicles assembled in Mexico or Canada. These exemptions may help offset some financial strain on manufacturers, but concerns remain about the broader impact on market stability and vehicle affordability.

Even those who don’t purchase new cars will feel the effects of these tariffs, as the cost of essential auto parts like tires, brake pads, and oil filters is expected to rise. As The New York Times reports, “The 25 percent duty applies to all cars assembled outside the United States. Starting May 3, the tariff will also apply to imported auto parts, which will add to the cost of cars assembled domestically as well as auto repairs.” This means consumers will not only face higher new vehicle prices but also increased service fees and rising costs for imported parts needed for repairs and maintenance. As a result, more buyers may turn to the used car market, increasing demand and driving up prices for pre-owned vehicles, as noted in our previous industry news brief called Tariff Impact on the Auto Industry: Rising Costs and Potential Delays.

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Tariff Impact on the Auto Industry: Rising Costs and Potential Delays

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Tariff Impact on the Auto Industry: Rising Costs and Potential Delays

Ford, GM, and Stellantis have expressed gratitude to the federal government for postponing tariffs, but it’s evident that they and other automakers are preparing for what’s next.

Published: Mar. 11, 2025

Automotive Internet Media | Digital Marketing Agency

Tariff Affects on the Auto Industry

On March 3, 2025, tariffs enacted by the Trump administration took effect, imposing a 25% fee on all Mexican and Canadian exports and an additional 10% on Chinese goods. However, as of March 5, the White House announced a 30-day pause on tariffs specifically for the auto industry. This temporary hold applies to vehicles complying with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), including those produced by Ford, GM, and Stellantis. These three automakers expressed gratitude for the 30 day exemption – however this doesn’t mean they are in the clear.

The delay on tariffs raises concerns about the federal government’s push to shift production to the U.S., with some analysts questioning its feasibility. If the tariffs ultimately take effect on vehicle imports in April, automakers are expected to face higher costs, which could be passed on to consumers.

When it comes to car parts, even U.S.-made vehicles rely on components from Canada and Mexico. This dependency could lead to higher part costs and production delays. As Kelley Blue Book explains, “A part will see its price increase every time it crosses a border. That means many cars will see their prices rise by more than 25%. Mexico and Canada may retaliate with matching tariffs, doubling the impact.” With that being said, auto dealers may expect new vehicle prices to rise significantly, prompting potential buyers to act sooner rather than later. Additionally, auto dealers can also anticipate a rise in demand for used cars, leading to higher prices as more buyers turn to pre-owned vehicles instead of new ones.

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Connected TV Advertising in Automotive

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In early March, when Covid-19 restrictions began locking people in their homes, many dealerships began to either cut or halt all marketing budgets.

Was that the right thing to do?

If you look, used car prices hit a record recently, in what can be described as a surprising development amid a global pandemic and falling new car sales. In June, the Manheim used vehicle price index hit a record, rising about 4% year over year, 7% compared with the May reading, and surging more than 16% compared with the April pandemic-induced low. There are a few reasons for the rise, which were a positive for all retail automotive stocks.

PAG Penske Automotive Group Inc.

GPI Group 1 Automotive Inc.

SAH Sonic Automotive Inc.

LAD Lithia Motors Inc.

AN AutoNation Inc.

 

There are numerous data points that suggest the U.S. auto industry is in the midst of a V-shaped recovery – sales snapping back rapidly after a sharp decline.

New car sales are coming back strongly as well. After dropping from an annualized rate of about 16.8 million units in February to 8.6 million in April, sales hit 12.2 million units in May. Analysis believe annualized sales could top 14 million units in June. That would be a 67% jump from April lows.

So why are some dealerships and dealer groups excelling during the pandemic?

After a slight hesitation by almost all dealerships, which is normal because know one knew what we were facing, some operators made a decision to take advantage of whatever buyers were in the market. As Robin Williams would say, Carpe Diem – Seize the day. That’s right, some dealerships made a conscious decision to win at all costs. Not to cut all their advertising expenses and wait it out, but to realize there would be consumers sitting all day, either on their phone or computer.

They assumed their audience would not be consuming content the same way they always have, and they were right. The standard media patterns were changing dramatically. With extensive work from home policies, this required little driving, which meant less people listening to the radio. All sports were canceled. Movie theaters and box offices closed.

Good operators assessed these shifts and looked to other ways to reach their audience.

One approach to get in front car buyers was to leverage the promise of Connected TV (CTV). It appears COVID-19 has pushed Connected TV to the forefront for many dealerships. CTV advertising spend increased by 35% in Q2 2020.

Dealers learned that advanced targeting tactics can support reinvestment across both linear and CTV to take advantage of increased at-home viewing.

The case for CTV advertising in automotive is compelling, especially when considering 1.8 million subscribers “cut the cord” from traditional pay television services to embrace subscription-based streaming services in Q1 2020, and the pandemic prompted a boost in streaming hours. Audience reach is not the only opportunity that is drawing direct response marketers towards CTV.  The great appeal for dealers is the ability to bring all the beloved aspects of digital marketing to the television channel — especially granular targeting, retargeting, and better measurement. There can be little doubt that CTV is here to stay and will become the norm in households across the United States if it isn’t already.

Yet, while CTV advertising has accelerated in recent months, there are considerable complications for dealerships to overcome.

There are over 200 OTT (over-the-top) streaming providers, and CTV devices range from smart TVs and HDMI sticks to gaming consoles and Blu-ray players. All these platforms complicate creative development, tracking ads, gathering performance metrics, and attributing conversions.

At Automotive Internet Media we realize the marketing environment has become vast and complex. We offer a dynamic video media service.

AIM’s Dynamic Video Media including CTV, OTT, Instream, Outstream and YouTube!

Benefits of AIM’s Dynamic Video Management:

  • Comprehensive platform with CTV, Digital Audio and Programmatic Buying capabilities
  • AIM Strategic Insights (Audience, Competitive trends, Vertical information)
  • We are living in a multi-screen, cross-platform world, AIM Video allows dealerships to follow the viewer regardless of device
  • There is no one-size-fits-all approach to AIM’s Video Management, so we continue to test and learn
  • Placement can be pre, mid or post roll in addition to in-banner, in-feed and interstitial
  • We provide the ability to track view and completion rates giving dealers insight into the level of engagement your content is receiving

There is no doubt that CTV should be tested and will undoubtedly become a permanent fixture of the marketing mix for most dealerships. However, for dealerships that are still lacking getting serious, highly-engaged shoppers to their website, there is an overlooked digital channel that delivers high quality traffic to your website. That channel is CarClicks Inventory Marketing. Click here to learn more about CarClicks products.

Can CarClicks Be the Future of Dealership Advertising?

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AIM’s Tony French argues for a new approach to allocating your marketing budget that ensures getting more visibility on your inventory and more auto shoppers on your website. 

The CarClicks Inventory Marketing platform had a smooth ride in 2019, its best year yet. 

For dealership owners and managers, getting the best marketing platforms and vendors has always been a challenge. Many elect to work with the big players; but find themselves dealing with tighter and tighter guidelines and restrictions. These companies often struggle to achieve results equal to smaller marketing companies with more at stake. 

Competing with the major companies historically meant it was us or them, but now dealers see that diversifying their monthly ad budget can produce better results. With the right visibility, they can determine the best performing campaigns themselves. 

Here’s why CarClicks should be included in every dealership marketing strategy:

Paid traffic should (always) drive auto shoppers to vehicles: Before you launch any digital campaigns, you need to determine what goals you are trying to achieve. If you are paying for advertising to help you sell cars, when the shopper gets to your website, they need to shop your inventory. 

Track your results: When it comes to judging campaign performance, data and KPI’s beat your gut feeling every time. Regardless of the paid campaign, measuring the amount of inventory views, bounce rate, time on site and goal conversion is critical for all paid campaigns. 

Budget allocation & optimization based on results: On a monthly basis you should review the results of every campaign and decide how you want to move forward. If you discover one campaign is performing better than others, you should re-allocate budgets appropriately. Determine the cost per session for each campaign. If one campaign is driving higher quality traffic for less per session, you should increase that campaign’s budget taken from the poorer performing campaigns. 

Eliminate waste: The key to selecting the right media is to choose the sources that drive the highest quality traffic to your website. Paying to reach people that may not be in the market for a vehicle isn’t an effective spend. 

Allocate: A CarClicks campaign creates an integrated and cohesive approach to inventory marketing. We seamlessly promote your inventory to auto shoppers across multiple channels, while factoring in the different devices that auto shoppers are using to shop for your inventory. CarClicks Inventory Marketing Products will drive serious, highly engaged auto shoppers to your website while lowering your overall advertising costs.  

Changing landscape: With budgets under increasing pressure, dealerships must allocate every dollar with precision and purpose. 

Often, however, dealers and managers feel obligated to their OEM or by relationships with vendors. What dealerships need is an analytical, forward-looking approach that allocates marketing dollars to campaigns and products that have the highest performing results rather than those that are being pushed by the manufacturer. 

Differentiate your brand, dealership and most importantly, your inventory by allocating part of your budget to CarClicks Inventory Marketing. 

 

To learn more about how CarClicks can help your dealership, contact us at sales@aimyes.com. 

How to Increase your Dealership’s Online Presence

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Absolutely every dealership has some kind of Internet presence -they can be part of a large automotive group, single point location or independent used car lot – they all want the same thing: to reach the largest number of people while investing the smallest amount of money and getting the largest amount of sales possible.

There’s a very efficient method for achieving all of this while getting all your potential customers to know your dealership and inventory: CarClicks Inventory Marketing.

Unlike traditional advertising, CarClicks advertising is increasingly more accessible for every dealership and enables you to quickly, easily, efficiently and affordably reach serious, highly-engaged auto shoppers. That’s why CarClicks is gaining more ground among those dealerships that want to increase their online presence.

Having a website is fundamental, having a presence on social networks is indispensable and having a marketing strategy is necessary. The reality is that CarClicks Inventory Marketing is also essential and is becoming a more habitual and necessary practice by some of the best automotive operators in the industry.

What’s the biggest benefit to CarClicks Inventory Marketing?

Imagine that you have an attractive dealership on one of the best streets in town, open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This is what happens when you invest in CarClicks: you automatically become visible to thousands of people who have been in the market for a vehicle but didn’t even know you existed!

A CarClicks strategy creates an integrated and cohesive approach to inventory marketing. We seamlessly promote your inventory to auto shoppers across multiple channels, while factoring in the different devices that auto shoppers are using to shop for your inventory. It’s all about driving the auto shopper to your website!

CarClicks is very important marketing tactic for both large and small dealerships alike, since with just a few bucks you’ll be able to get better visibility, which will certainly translate into an increase in website traffic and a boost in vehicle sales.

CarClicks Inventory Marketing campaigns are designed and well executed. Our campaigns will dramatically increase brand awareness and drive more auto shoppers to your dealership website.  

Increase your dealership’s online presence by contacting us at Automotive Internet Media at: sales@aimyes.com

The Smartest Ad Spend in Automotive

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Data Driven Targeting has revolutionized the way automotive digital advertising can be delivered. It has enabled dealerships to be precise in how and whom they target, and improve how effectively they manage their ad budget.

 

To reach auto shoppers with marketing in today’s digital climate, dealerships need highly accurate and relevant advertising campaigns. Multiple touch points from different channels usually precede the purchase of a new or used vehicle. In the digital environment, the consumer-purchasing funnel might involve touch points from channels such as paid search (i.e., Google Ads, CarClicks Inventory Marketing, etc.), social media (e.g., Facebook ads) and email campaigns. This makes it important to understand the complex customer journey across marketing channels prior to a vehicle purchase.

 

Consumers are multitasking with different devices which lowers the attention towards each channel and thus complicates the dealership’s abilitiy to get the attention of the shopper to their ad promotion. For example, a shopper may be watching TV and shift attention back and forth between their smartphone and TV. Today, consumers are getting bombarded with ads from different channels on different devices, which can be overwhelming causing them to block their attention to the ads.

 

We at Automotive Internet Media, Inc. saw an opportunity in the automotive industry to build an advertising product that moves from mass advertising to individual-level personalized vehicle ads that breaks through the clutter and grabs the auto shopper’s attention.

 

We have built a product that leverages proprietary algorithms to determine which auto shoppers are most likely ready to buy. We place the code on your website that allows us to create an individual user profile for each shopper that visits the dealership website. Our algorithms are enhanced with machine learning and big data; note that I didn’t say artificial intelligence!

 

Once we determine the individuals to target, we begin delivering ads. Data Driven Targeting drives new sales by serving dynamic personalized inventory ads to attract and inspire each auto shopper. We target those auto shoppers at the right moment in their purchasing process.

 

It is also very important to recognize the auto shoppers across different devices. Over 72% of buyers use at least 2 devices and switch at least 3 times before they purchase. Our cross-device matching technology and a shopper identify graph ensure we deliver an integrated ad experience which helps gain efficiency in ad delivery, costs and results.

 

Media buy is critical for success. Our ads are served on the largest network of premium publishers in the automotive industry. Other networks may have more publishers, but Data Driven Targeting has better ad placement on higher quality websites.

 

Data Driven Targeting will increase auto shopper engagement, efficiency and consumer purchase behavior. Data Driven Targeting is one of the most effective products in automotive marketing by enabling a personalized vehicle offering to every visiting auto shopper.

 

Convert auto shoppers and maximize sales with Data Driven Targeting.

Did Your Dealership Pause Your Ad Campaigns?

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Dealership Must Seize the Marketplace Opportunity

Dealership Must Seize the Marketplace Opportunity

As many dealerships scale back, it’s time for aggressive dealerships to seize the opportunity.

For those of you in retail automotive marketing, you have likely seen ad budgets paused or dramatically reduced. Having been on every side of the automotive industry, these moves don’t surprise me.

For savvy dealerships it’s time to quickly act in order to take advantage of dealers in your market that may not be as visible online in the current state of affairs. It reminds me of one of my favorite sayings in advertising.

“A man who stops advertising to save money, is like a man who stops the clock to save time.”  Henry Ford

I’m painfully aware that when things get tight for dealerships, one of the first things the management is tempted to cut is the advertising. It’s like a survival tactic that kicks in and all they want to do is shore up resources to make it to the other side. I understand, but it’s important not make the mistake of sabotaging your short- and long-term success.

When dealerships advertise, in addition to generating immediate sales, they bolster consumer confidence in the future of their business. Consumer confidence builds market share. Market share leads to profit. Those that continue to advertise in tougher or slower times will actually gain a bigger piece of the pie when business starts back on the upswing…leaving their competitors (who cut way back on their advertising efforts) cleaning up the crumbs at the bottom of the pie tin.

Adjust Your Marketing Strategy

Perhaps the most powerful way to keep generating sales is to rethink your marketing strategy. Maybe it’s time to stop spending on expensive ads and rethink where you’re putting your marketing efforts.

It’s time to move to CarClicks Inventory Marketing to drive high quality traffic to your website while lowering your overall advertising costs. The CarClicks platform is easy to use and an excellent way to promote your inventory to shoppers that are most likely to purchase them. It’s time to reboot and restart the momentum to seize the sales opportunity in your market.

Hotter Than Search

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What's the Marketing Platform Hotter Than Paid Search?

Platform Hotter Than Paid Search

What's the Marketing Platform Hotter Than Paid Search?

Platform Hotter Than Paid Search

A Proven Marketing Platform 

For eight years, savvy and forward-thinking dealers have relied on CarClicks Inventory Marketing programs to deliver serious, highly engaged auto shoppers to their dealership.

A CarClicks strategy creates an integrated and cohesive approach to inventory marketing. We seamlessly promote your inventory to auto shoppers across multiple channels, while factoring in the different devices that auto shoppers are using to shop for your inventory. It’s all about driving the auto shopper to your website!

Lower Your Marketing Cost

As dealers and managers struggle to offset the reduction in gross profit, marketing costs have come under intense scrutiny. For many dealerships, reducing the customer acquisition cost is a smart way forward to improving margins. Unfortunately, the cost of one of the most popular marketing tools available to dealerships continue to rise.

Surges in search engine marketing costs, especially in Google, are burning holes in dealerships budgets. Pay per click (PPC) advertising has become standard for most dealers and often consumes a large part of a dealership’s advertising expense.

It varies by market, but dealers in metro markets are paying over $10 per click for keywords like “Chevy Equinox” and “Ford Explorer”. Their “average” cost per click (CPC) is lower because PPC companies offset the high click costs by buying the dealership name and less expensive keywords like the OEM brand and city of the dealership. Inventory keywords continue to increase because there are so many companies bidding for your customer. Try searching “cars for sale” and you find companies like Autotrader.com, Cars.com, CarGurus.com and others in your market bidding up the keywords. It’s no wonder that I recently saw a Ford dealer pay $17.65 a click for the “Ford Escape” keyword (which had a 100% bounce rate).

Why do dealerships leverage pay per click advertising? Because they believe they are reaching the people they need to reach and when they want to reach them.

What if dealers can reach those same people for a third of the cost? Wouldn’t that be savvy?

Using good judgement, practical knowledge of your options and most importantly data when managing your advertising budget is important to get optimal results.
It’s no secret that good operators are leveraging CarClicks Inventory Marketing Products to get lower their advertising costs while increasing the number of auto shoppers to their website.

Premium “Omni-Channel” Network

CarClicks has created a Premium “Omni-Channel” Network that promotes a dealership’s inventory with priority within our network of 3rd party automotive sites, premium publishers, search engines, social sites…everywhere.

A CarClicks strategy creates an integrated and cohesive approach to inventory marketing. We seamlessly promote your inventory to auto shoppers across multiple channels, while factoring in the different devices that auto shoppers are using to shop for your inventory.

Our fully integrated approach provides dealerships an effective and efficient way to market their inventory across multiple devices and touchpoints within the CarClicks automotive advertising ecosystem.  to deliver high quality traffic to the dealership websites.

The main function of the product is to promote vehicles to auto shoppers that are most likely to purchase them.

The linchpin of CarClicks success

Not all internet traffic is created equal. Both quantity and quality of traffic are important for high-performing dealerships. High quantities of traffic mean brand awareness and online visibility. High-quality traffic, however, can mean a higher ratio of conversions and vehicle sales.

Providing high quality traffic is the most notable CarClicks’ feature because that’s what gets you customers and sells cars.

Being smart with data is how the CarClicks team produces great results. We found that the effective use of machine learning, coupled with expert team members​ optimizing campaigns, is what sets CarClicks apart from competitors. Our custom software program provides actionable insights for making real-time adjustments to ensure our campaigns produce the best return on investment for our clients.

Diversifying and activating CarClicks

Just as marketing channels like paid search have established themselves as valuable customer acquisition channels, CarClicks Inventory Marketing Platform is doing the same for growth-oriented dealerships.

Well-run marketing teams know that there are options for reaching people and acquiring new customers. Dealers can choose marketing models that best align with their business and acquisition strategy.

By diversifying and adding CarClicks to your marketing strategy, dealerships will have more highly engaged auto shoppers on their websites, lower their marketing costs and create more sustainable sales opportunities.

​About CarClicks

CarClicks Inventory Marketing products provides dealerships an integrated solution for marketing their inventory to serious, highly engaged auto shoppers that are most likely to purchase them. ​

To learn more about our proven platform – sales@aimyes.com or 312-473-0024