Auto dealers say the Internet has given them the highest return on investment in five years and 96% of dealers now believe that the Internet will play the dominant role in the future of their marketing.

One hundred percent of respondents reported that their Internet strategies helped them through the recession, with the over 75% reporting that the Internet had been their highest ROI.

In comparison, 7.5% of dealers ranked TV first, 6.5% ranked newspapers and 2.5% ranked radio.

Dealers said the advantage of the Internet was being able to reach more customers, as well as the fact it’s cheaper and more targeted than traditional media, like TV & radio.

93% of dealers have increased their Internet marketing budgets in the last five years, with more than half (56%) boosting their Internet budgets by 50% or more.

According to 93% of those surveyed third-party leads continued to benefit dealers for the following reasons:

•    Having control over what I spend/how many leads I’m guaranteed to get
•    ‘Because so many consumers use 3rd-party research websites I’m able to capture ready-to-buy car shoppers’
•    ‘They’re cost-efficient and measurable’
•    ‘They enable me to expand my reach across the Web’