Getting on Board with Automotive Tourism
Online car consumers could be an untapped market for hotels.
Is it the beach or the car deal? Or both?
LeaseTrader.com, the nation's most popular car leasing marketplace, has seen a rise in what it calls “Automotive Tourism,” in which people travel outside their region to pick up a car they have shopped for online.
Daytona Beach is the top destination for people arriving to pick up the vehicle they bought online, said John Sternal, vice president of marketing communications.for Miami-based LeaseTrader.com, which matches car shoppers with individuals wanting to escape their Car Lease.
Instead of having a car shipped across country, Sternal said many people are opting to travel to the location where they purchased the car and then drive it home. While in the new city, they stay in area hotels, make purchases in local stores and patronize restaurants.
“Like other areas of the economy, the Internet continues to change the way people shop for vehicles,” said Sergio Stiberman, CEO and founder of LeaseTrader.com. “Many customers enjoy a significant cost savings because there is no down payment and they customize the lease terms by shopping for the right lease anywhere in the country. Even with the cost of a plane ticket they come home with large savings.”
Sternal said that, often when customers travel to pick up a car, they take the time to see the local sights. He isn't sure why Daytona Beach tops the list, but suggested it may be the beach or other attractions in the area.
Lori Campbell Baker, a spokeswoman for the Daytona Beach Convention and Visitor's Bureau, said she does not have any firm figures, but is aware of automotive tourism.
“It wasn't a surprise,” she said, adding that, in addition to cars and trucks, Daytona Beach - which each year hosts Bike Week and Biketoberfest - has many motorcycle dealers. “We have some major car dealers and we have the AutoMall.”
Other cities in the top 10 are Dallas, Baltimore, Nashville, Thousand Oaks, Calif., Tucson and Phoenix, St. Paul, Minn., Reston, Va., and Cleveland.
“Remember, keep in mind that many of these places have good Internet car deals and it's not so much the fact that one place's deal are better than the other. It's really the lure of the city that prompts people to choose to travel there to pick up the vehicle,” Sternal said.
Fifteen percent more people this year are taking over leases from LeaseTrader.com outside their own region. While LeaseTrader.com provides transportation quotes for people who want the vehicle shipped to their location, a growing percentage are traveling outside their region to pick up the car and drive it back.
About 38 percent of all lease transactions now take place between two people not in the same region. Some are as far away as New York and California. This is up from 31 percent just five years ago. Of these transactions, 54 percent now travel to the region where the car is located and drive the vehicle back. This compares to just 12 percent five years ago.
Following are the top 25 destinations where people are traveling to pick up cars they bought online.
1. Daytona Beach, FL
2. Dallas
3. Baltimore
4. Nashville
5. Thousand Oaks, CA
6. Tucson, AZ
7. Phoenix
8. St. Paul, MN
9. Reston, VA
10. Cleveland
11. South Florida
12. New York
13. Los Angeles
14. San Diego
15. St. Louis
16. Boston
17. Philadelphia
18. San Francisco
19. Memphis
20. Houston
21. Chicago
22. Atlanta
23. Oklahoma City
24. Charleston, SC
25. Portland, OR
This story posted by LeaseTrader.com, the automotive service company that lets people transfer out of their Car Leases early. If you're looking to swap a lease or transfer out of your car lease, please visit www.leasetrader.com