Car Audio Industry’s 4 Blindspots

By Barry Vogel

Working at a car dealership has put in clear perspective a lot of what I learned while owning a car audio shop for 36 years, and networking with retailers, reps, and manufacturers while representing MERA.

Talking with consumers in a dealer environment gets down to the root of the issues in car audio. And there are many false beliefs about what those issues are in the aftermarket.

Fallacy #1: Consumers don’t care about sound quality. If that were true, why do more than half of my customers ask if the car/truck/SUV I am showing has the (insert upscale brand here) sound system? Why do all of them turn the system on and comment on its performance? They may not know what true “sound quality” is, but they absolutely want it. And many of them are willing to pay for it!

Fallacy #2: Consumers are waiting for “the next big thing”. For a great many consumers, they still don’t understand the last “big thing”. For every car shopper that asks about Bluetooth, wireless streaming, Apps for the car, and more there are 3 that haven’t a clue! And the worst part of that scenario is that more consumers are getting that information from car salesmen than from 12V specialists who actually understand it. For clarity, while “20 somethings” do tend to have a higher level of understanding than older demographics, this issue extends to all age groups.

Fallacy #3: Everybody wants technology. No. Everyone wants everything to work seamlessly, effortlessly, intuitively, and dependably. Today’s in-dash technology has improved in those aspects, but it is far from fitting the above criteria either at the OEM level or in the aftermarket. Voice command continues to improve, but it also continues to frustrate many users. Touch screen systems that are designed to be easy and intuitive often require too much attention while driving to get to the desired feature.  Too often, there’s a need to pull out the user’s manual to figure out. (We all know how much consumers love to read manuals!)

While dependability has improved for most of the major brands, many consumers have bitter memories of venturing into aftermarket car audio that ended in disaster. The OEM’s are increasingly hiring “tech experts” at the dealer level to assure that consumers understand the technology they are buying before taking their new car home. Aftermarket retailers are not assuring 100% consumer understanding of the technology they are installing. This is a combination of not wanting to spend the time needed to educate the consumer, and a lack of knowledge by the sales staff that generally delivers the car. Which leads to….

Fallacy #4: 12V specialists are the source of information and education for the consumer. They used to be, but that is long over. Why? Because when car audio was new in the aftermarket consumers were much easier to please and the knowledge required to install it was 10% of what is needed to do the job properly today.

While there are some outstanding specialists who represent the best of the 12V industry at every level, there are many more who “poison the well” every time a consumer enters their store. Poor service, lack of knowledge, unprofessional installation, and lackluster stores tarnish the entire industry, including the guys who do it right. Once a consumer has had a bad experience at a 12V retailer the odds of getting him or her through the doors of a good 12V retailer diminish greatly.

When I bring up aftermarket products for car shoppers, I get pushback at least 75% of the time. I constantly hear about bad experiences either by my car shopper, or by someone they know. Stories about hanging wires, panels that no longer fit properly, messy wiring, strange noises, and malfunctioning or disappointing product performance are common.

There are solutions. They are not easy. But they are achievable.

Note: Vogel’s solution will be presented in Part 2 this week.