Crew Car Aims At Aviation Community

Pilots are picky.

Whether it's about servicing their aircraft, choosing a particular route or checking the weather, pilots and aviation enthusiasts in general want to get right to the meat of the matter and don't suffer fools gladly. The last thing we seem to want is a hassle.

That's why 767 pilot Mike Pearce has teamed up with Consumer Guide and Planet Auto to form Crew Car.

"Everyone knows my relationship with the auto industry," he tells ANN. "Telephone, telegraph, tell a crew member. I always made sure (when aviation colleagues approached) that they saw a Planet Auto franchise owner. That way they got a higher level of service and a better price."

And, let's face it. Few aviation crew members are willing to sit through a cookie-cutter presentation by a junior salesman at a car dealership.

Crew Car works on the phone or the web. By using Consumer Guide's technology and a phone center based in Asheville (NC), Pearce and company tap into the inventories of more than 80 dealerships in 31 states. And some of the deals they find are pretty impressive.

"For instance," sys Crew Car President Bob Potamkin, "a dealership in Seattle offered 80 percent off the MSRP (manufacturer's suggested retail price) of its Mustangs. Now, that's worth the trip."

Making the trip is what makes Crew Car work, said Pearce. The idea that pilots and aircraft owners can fly to a distant dealership to take advantage of a deal that saves $2000 or more on the vehicle of their choice makes them excellent candidates for Crew Car's huge search capabilities.

Crew Car offers a sort of concierge service for car shoppers. A call to Crew Car's phone center usually lasts about 11 minutes, according to Bob Kelly. "During the first couple of minutes, we explain what it's all about. Pilots want to know, 'Can I trust them?' We find out what they want, ask them about their driving habits and then do some comparison shopping. We check rebates and specials for them. Between three and four minutes into the call, it's a much different conversation. That's when they ask the questions they really want answered. After about eight minutes, we start pointing them to dealers."

Kelly says his phone team members are "pretty agnostic" on whether to point pilots to new or used cars. "They're more interested in seeing (customers) get a good deal."

Crew Car is funded by participating dealers through advertising dollars, says Pearce.

Together with other "affinity" groups like the AFL-CIO and Farmers Insurance Group customers, Consumer Guide's Grant Whitmore says the company gets about 2.5 million inquiries a month.

"The goal is to bring a clean, honest, 'skinny' deal to the aviation industry," says Pearce.

FMI: www.crewcar.com