By Darrell Kirby | [email protected]

Like nearly every other business, car dealerships have implemented a number of measures to protect customers and employees from COVID-19. 

West Valley City auto dealers are no different. 

Plastic covers on steering wheels, shift knobs, and door handles and constant sanitizing of other frequently touched parts of vehicles by car shoppers have become common practice on the lots. 

“It’s talked about in our weekly meetings to practice safety,” said a sales manager at Salt Lake Valley Chevrolet in West Valley City, who didn’t want his name published. 

He said that sanitizing stations are set up throughout the showroom and other areas of the dealership for customers and employees. “We wipe down touchpoints a couple of times during the course of the day.” 

The manager also says that salespeople are asked to wear masks as much as possible. And to avoid any possible spread of the virus in the tight quarters of a car or truck during test drives, he says that for a while customers were allowed to take vehicles for a spin without a sales person. 

So far, so good. “We haven’t had any customers that have called back and complained that they didn’t feel comfortable here.” That doesn’t mean the staff at Salt Lake Valley Chevrolet has avoided COVID-19. “We had a time (during the summer) when we had only two salespeople working out of a staff of about 14, because they contracted the virus,” he said.

The manager says that sales are accelerating after the early stages of the pandemic when people put the brakes on car shopping. Some customers have completed the purchase process online to avoid possible COVID-19 exposure. “We’ve done probably 10 transactions like that.”

At Rapid Auto Sales in West Valley City, owner Jose Riveros says similar cleaning and sanitizing practices are now the norm at his used car lot. “We are cleaning once or twice a day.” He adds that cleaning is done more often depending on the amount of customer traffic and frequently touched parts of vehicles are wiped down immediately. “If they touch something, they go there and clean to make sure that everything is safe.” 

Riveros says test drives are done without a salesperson in the car.” Sales are bumpy. “Things are getting better but not like it used to be in the past.” 

Craig Bickmore, executive director of the New Car Dealers of Utah (formerly the Utah Auto Dealers Association), says dealers are following health guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the counties in which they are located. “I think our dealers are doing a really good job of that. They mask up, they have the plexiglass, they have gloves on, they sanitize the cars. They’re really trying to do the best they can under these circumstances.” 

Bickmore agreed with Riveros and the Salt Lake Valley Chevrolet manager that customer traffic is picking up. “I think the consumers are comfortable in the measures the dealers are taking.” 

“Business has been good. It’s better than we had anticipated, thank goodness,” Bickmore said.

Nationally, major automakers reported improved sales in the third quarter although they were still below year-earlier levels. Manufacturers used low interest rates and other incentives to lure buyers to showrooms during the July to September period.