Let’s face it. Convincing a customer who just signed the dotted line on one of the largest purchases of his or her life to then spend even more of their hard-earned money on a vehicle service contract is an incredibly tall task. But since you’re talking finances with customers at this point in the transaction, highlighting the cost of repairs can hit on just the right chords for almost any customer declining service contract protection

If you’ve done your homework on cost of repairs, making the point of just how valuable a service contract can be becomes far easier for the customer to understand.

Your Presentation. Later on we’ll cover some common components and what they cost to give you the basics, but knowing how to effectively make your point can make or break the transaction. A good rule of thumb is to give your customers tangible evidence of a VSC’s value. Start with a video that explains the cost of common repairs. While the customer is watching this video, prepare some repair invoices from repairs on similar vehicles. If you don’t have a service facility, having a list of claims paid for your customers will do the trick too. This gives the customer evidence they can trust beyond just your personal endorsement.

Air Conditioning. With summer in full swing, it’s easy to get a customer to relate to life without air conditioning. It’s an even tougher repair to withstand when customers see what it costs to repair air conditioning components. Even something as simple as the air conditioning condenser alone could cost upwards of $850 dollars and possibly even over $1,000 of other air conditioning components fail along with the condenser.

Oil And Fuel Pumps. Essential to a vehicle’s drivability, these components can result in serious repair bills. Similar to air conditioning components, customers could be looking at $800 or more to get their cars back on the road with repaired oil or fuel pumps.

Power Steering. Components that make the car simple to maneuver are not always simple to replace. A repair bill for power steering could cost the customer to the tune of $750 or more just to get the most basic of components – the steering wheel – to operate correctly

The Mortgage. It’s not a vehicle component, but it’s certainly a component of the conversation around cost of repairs. If you’ve shown paid claims and/or repair invoices throughout the process, you have actual figures you can present to your customer while asking how such a large surprise expense could impact their monthly budgets. If something of this cost could make it tough to pay the mortgage or to make rent, a service contract more than proves its value.