Maine Car Dealers

More Dealers Become 'Female Friendly' Certified

“Over 60% of the customers at Anderson Tire & Auto are women. We realize in a male-dominated industry, there needs to be better communication and understanding of our customer’s needs,” said Kyle Jones, owner of Anderson Tire. “We are happy to have found a partner in AskPatty.com, who can provide the training and support to enhance the experience for our female customers.”


“For the past 16-years, I have always placed special emphasis on making sure my customers’ car repair needs are explained to them in layman’s terms,” said Pam Oakes, owner of Pam’s Motor City. “They say that a picture is worth a thousand words – and it’s true. So, along with the verbal explanation, I have a ‘show-and-tell’ session – just to make sure that the consumer truly understands what is going on with their vehicle.”


To become AskPatty.com HYPERLINK "http://www.askpatty.com/getcertified/"Certified Female Friendly, personnel at Independent Tire & Auto completed an extensive training program on how to best serve women. Further, the employees will participate in year-round instruction to enhance their awareness, appreciation and commitment to a female-friendly service experience. Independent Tire & Auto will also benefit from a unique marketing support program designed to reach out and build lasting relationships with women customers.

Used car dealer plates get name change — Maine Politics — Bangor ...

LISBON, Maine — Richard Lussier hopes to change used car dealers’ reputation as shady characters who sell vehicles that are all used up.

“It’s a matter of pride,” the 82-year-old owner of Lewis Auto Sales in Lisbon said. “There’s a stigma that we’re trying to get one over on people.”

So he led a change in the terminology where it means the most — on the cars.

This week, the state has begun issuing plates to dealers that dump the word “used.” Instead, dealer plates now are stamped on the bottom with  ”preowned car dlr.”

“It was time for this to happen,” Lussier said.

He asked his local legislator, Rep. Dale Crafts, R-Lisbon, to see what he could do. The lawmaker sympathized.

“It’s just an image thing,” said Crafts, who ran his family car dealership, John Crafts Auto Sales in Lisbon, for years. He talked with Secretary of State Charlie Summers , who made the change.

The new plates will start appearing on the road any day,  said Caitlin Chamberlain, a spokeswoman for Summers’ office.

“They are being made on an as-needed basis,” she said.

Lussier planned to order his plate — complete with signature number “797″ — on Monday.

“That’s been my number for years and years,” Lussier said. His neighbors and the police know his dealership’s cars by the number and trust them, he said.

Lussier began selling cars in the 1950s.

He opened a local Saab dealership in 1960, keeping it for more than a decade before going back to selling used cars. He hadn’t realized there was something disreputable about selling previously owned vehicles until he went to a bank as a used car dealer.

Bankers seemed to treat him like a second-class customer, he said.

People he would meet for the first time also would recoil a little.

“I’d be on a plane and say ‘used cars’ and people’s expression would change,” he said.

“What’s lower?” Lussier asked. “Lawyers?”

He first approached Crafts about the plate change two years ago. Crafts took the suggestion to then-Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap. He liked the idea.

“I didn’t follow it up,” Crafts said. When Summers took over, he thought to bring it up again.

Maine motor vehicle sales and lease advertising guidelines, a guide to truth in lending for Maine auto dealers

Traffic world

Automotive industries

Maine register, state year-book and legislative manual

Maine Used Car Information Act sticker rule, General duties of a used car dealer