The Identity Architect – Positioning & Personal Branding Blog

We’re always sending messages whether we like it or not – and whether we know it or not. What does your car say about you?

Just like in every other area of sales, marketing, and positioning, the natural tendency is to take the shortcut and “make a statement”. With vehicles, the biggest mistakes I see with professionals, entrepreneurs, coaches, and consultants is that they are on one extreme or the other – they either haven’t thought about it at all, or they’ve “invested” in a status symbol like a Mercedes or BMW.

On the one extreme, driving an old clunker that’s dirty or not very well maintained makes people think “if he doesn’t take care of his car, how can he take care of business?”. On the other extreme, driving a $90,000 Mercedes when the rest of your lifestyle, appearance, and budget doesn’t support it makes you look like a poser, a wannabe, or a fake.

This happens any time you’re not consistent across the board. Everything you do should support your position, not detract or overpower it.

It really doesn’t matter what kind of car you drive as long as it is congruent with your marketing message. Just like the way you dress, your car should support your position – not become it’s focus.

Here’s exactly what I did and what I tell my clients
when looking for a nice but inexpensive car.

My wife used to drive a Lexus ES300 – until we outgrew it with our third child and switched to a large SUV with more room. I spent a lot of time mountain biking and backpacking in remote areas, so my primary vehicle was a red Jeep Cherokee with off-road tires, a Yakima roof rack, and bike rack.

Not exactly a business vehicle. But at the time 100% of my clients were out of state, so it didn’t really matter.

When I started working with clients closer to home, I needed a vehicle that was comfortable to travel in and that didn’t diminish my credibility as a business consultant. So I spent some time looking for a car that was inexpensive, nice looking, a luxury vehicle, and the current body style hadn’t changed for several years so I could buy the oldest year and it wouldn’t be distinguishable from the newest year.

Here’s what I found.

The Chrysler Concorde fits all of the criteria. It’s latest body style started shipping in 1998, it hasn’t changed, and it still looks nice. In fact, the interior is exactly (and I mean exactly) identical to my wife’s Lexus ES300. It’s also a larger car, so the people who I’ve found to be the previous owners were generally older (seniors) who kept them well maintained.

I ended up buying a 1998 Concorde limited with 90,000 miles for $4,500. I thought that was a good deal until I talked to an auto broker who showed me that those same cars were going through the auctions for $2,500. The auto broker would have purchased the car for me at auction for $500 over the sales price.

You might ask about the mileage. 90,000 miles seems high to some people. I’ve had it for 3 years and now have about 150,000 miles on it because I travel so much. I figure that if I buy a new car I’ll be spending at least $400 per month, every month, no matter what. With a car like this, I can pay cash for it up front and I might pay $800 per year in maintenance.

Here’s a few photos.

The interior.

Also, as the details go, I like the darker colors – charcoal or black with tinted windows. If you notice on marketing photos for cars, they always have tinted windows. It just makes the car cleaner looking when you can’t see inside – especially when you have a lot of stuff in the back seat.

Take a look at the difference between the darker and lighter colors and the the car with tinted windows and not tinted.

You really don’t have to spend a lot on a car to look the part. For me, cars are like clothes – they’re pretty much disposable. And styles change so quickly, that it just makes sense to buy less expensive luxury models and replace them whenever they wear out or become dated.