By Richard Truesdell
With truck prices through the roof, it makes sense to hold onto one’s vehicle longer and some of the older trucks should be on the radar of savvy car audio dealers.
Throughout its 2002 to 2008 production run, Dodge (the brand change to Ram occurred for the 2011 model year) built almost 3,000,000 full-size pickups. There was a major refresh in 2006 when there was a significant change to the instrument panel. This coincided with Chrysler’s move from its long-traditional 1.5-DIN to a double-DIN configuration. More than one million of these vehicles are still on the road today, including 10,046 copies of the high-performance 2004-2006 SRT10 version.
These trucks are easily capable of lasting 200,000 miles or more (if they haven’t rusted away in northern states). Many current owners would love to have—by swapping out the dated head unit—virtually all the functionality found on the current, if overpriced, Uconnect OEM system found on the 2024 Ram 1500. These are functions such as navigation, sound control equalization, Bluetooth phone/streaming media capability, integrated rear camera view, and real-time vehicle diagnostics.
Putting my installer/12-volt store owner hat back on after being away from the industry for more than a quarter century, here’s my simple, cost-effective solution.
In the case of these 2000s-era Dodge Ram trucks, have on hand a single-DIN chassis AM/FM/Bluetooth head unit with a 10.1-inch floating screen. Combined with the appropriate mounting kit, wiring harnesses, and a universal OBD2 Bluetooth adapter, you have a simple plug-and-play solution that should take less than three hours to install, even with the installation of a rear camera.
With the customer in your store, offer additional upgrades beyond simply replacing the speakers, possibly adding an amplifier, and even selling a powered subwoofer. Or adding an application-specific subwoofer, either to replace the center console or to install under the rear seat. Now you have the potential for a $3,000 sale, with no time-consuming custom fabrication. The vehicle could be dropped off in the morning and delivered back to the customer the same day.
For an example, let’s use a 2008 Dodge Ram Quad Cab. With its versatile design, an easy replacement for the OEM head unit is the LinksWell TA-UNSD10-1RR-4C universal 10.1-inch 360-degree ball-mount touchscreen Android radio (MSRP $350). To mount this unit, all that’s needed is Metra’s 99-6507 Chrysler dash kit and the correct plug-and-play wire harness adaptor.
For all the most popular four-door Quad Cab variants, the speaker upgrades consist of 5.25-inch components up front and 6.5-inch two-way speakers in the rear doors. Let’s call this the Stage One upgrade. Depending on the speaker brands you stock, this can add anywhere from $200 to over $1,000 to the sales ticket.
Stage Two is a four- or five-channel amplifier for an additional upgrade that will add at least $300 to the bottom line. LinksWell offers its ultra-compact 315-watt (35×4-watt 1×175-watt RMS) LWAMP-0500-05 five-channel DSP amp (MSRP $500). It’s so small (8.25×5.25×1-inch) that it can be mounted in the lower compartment in the fold-down center armrest.
Stage Three is the next logical upsell, a subwoofer. This can be a small-box unpowered or powered subwoofer mounted under the passenger-side rear seat. If you have convinced the customer to buy a five-channel amplifier when upgrading the full-range speakers, a JL Audio StealthBox under the passenger-side rear seat becomes a drop-in option adding $900 to the ticket.
What started as a simple $350 head unit replacement is now a comprehensive $3,000 system upgrade. Best of all, no time-consuming custom fabrication is required. It’s the classic in by 10, out-by-five, 1990s-style head unit upgrade, once the backbone of the 12-volt aftermarket industry.
The question is how can dealers identify this market? The answer is social media, especially Ram-related groups on Facebook. Doing a quick scan of related Ram-affiliated Facebook groups, I found more than two dozen.
To get established as the go-to source for application-specific infotainment upgrades, you will need to do a little online marketing. When doing your first Dodge Ram install, make sure you photograph and/or video document the install. Seed the groups with your photos and videos (which can be easily hosted on YouTube). Before long, your sales momentum will build. Imagine how good your bottom line will look with an additional $5,000 to $10,000 every month.
Rich Truesdell
Rich is an industry veteran and longtime automotive photojournalist He has served as an installer, a 12 volt retail store owner, and a car audio and automotive journalist.
Truesdell founded Kartunes Mobile Electronics in New Jersey in 1976 with a retail storefront from 1980 to 1992. He’s contributed to publications including Motor Trend and has been a full-time automotive journalist since 2000 to more than 30 magazines around the world. He is also the co-author of three books with collaborator Mark Fletcher; Hurst Equipped (2012), 1970 Maximum Muscle (2021), and Hemi Under Glass (2021). Truesdell even appeared on Jay Leno’s Garage!
Truesdell welcomes questions from readers and he hopes to connect with colleagues from his many years in the car audio industry at [email protected]
Rich, With today’s technology in new vehicles it’s very insightful to advise dealers to focus on upgrading older vehicles to establish sales and profits. Your specifics and detail are very helpful,great job. AL
Great ideas and breakdown Rich! Thanks for the writeup.