Four current vehicles parked in a curving row on the Carova 4x4 beach at dusk, headlights on: a white 2027 Chevrolet Silverado Trail Boss, a red Ram 1500 Rebel, a dark gray Jeep Gladiator and a bright blue Jeep Wrangler Willys, with three wild horses far down the beach and beach houses on the dunes. — Wrangler, Gladiator, Rebel and 2027 Trail Boss on the Carova beach

Carolina Auto Program · For North Carolina dealers

Buyers want more than a loop around the block. Give them half a day of it.

You lend a few vehicles from your rental fleet and set one no-haggle price for program drivers. Beach 4x4 books the shoppers, runs the ads and handles the beach. Your program contact emails each driver your price on a numbered certificate after the experience. One dealer per brand.

Talk to Bret See what your shoppers see

The drive is the reason buyers come.

Half a day in the vehicle they’re shopping, driven where it was built to go, with no salesperson anywhere in it and no pressure to buy. That’s the whole draw. Our ads go to people 55 and older with the money and the time to come any month of the year, not just in summer. The ones who buy have already made up their minds on the sand, and they buy at your one no-haggle price.

3Hours on the Carova 4x4 beach

14Drives a week per vehicle, at most

0Salespeople along for the ride

1Dealer per brand

Two experiences a day at most, fewer on short winter days.

Costco-style

The same idea as the Costco Auto Program, with one difference

You already know how a buying program works: a price set in advance, a named contact, a vetted store. In this one the drive is the membership: half a day on a beach, and nobody has to join anything. A driver who wants a color or option you don’t have on the lot orders the exact build from you; the program vehicle did the work, and the ordered one never touches the sand.

The factory bonus

Built around your factory target

Most manufacturers pay their dealers a bonus for hitting a monthly or quarterly sales target, and many programs pay it on every new vehicle sold in that period, not only the ones past the line. That makes the last few sales of the month the most valuable ones you make. Bonus programs vary by brand and by store; what counts toward yours is between you and your manufacturer.

Every program sale is a retail sale: A program driver buys a new vehicle from your store at retail, like any other customer. Whether it counts toward a given target is your factory program’s rule, not ours; for most stores it does.
Sold orders, not lot inventory: Program buyers order their build through your store after the drive. A sold order is sold the day it lands: no floor-plan interest, no aging on the lot, no markdown, and it counts toward your target like any retail sale. Your contact keeps the buyer posted at each status change; we handle the rest of the wait.
Buyers you would not have had: Our ads reach shoppers 55 and older who come for the experience, many from out of town. They get your price in writing from your store and buy from home.
You see them coming: Certificates are good for 30 days, and the monthly report lists every certificate issued and when it expires, so you know who is still deciding before the month closes.
For North Carolina stores: The drives run in Currituck County. Buyers sign with your program contact, at your store or remotely, and you deliver to their home, or a dealer near them hands over the keys on a courtesy delivery. Either way the sale is written at your store and counts there.

What we require

Vehicles, a price and a person

What a store agrees to, in writing, before the first driver is sent its way.

The vehicles: Two to four current-model-year vehicles from your rental fleet, the ones your store sells new, in your name, all year. The models, the miles and the swap dates are agreed in writing before the first drive.
The program price: One no-haggle, out-the-door price for each trim and package on the program, set before the first drive. It’s never advertised. Drivers see it only on the numbered certificate they get after the drive, which names the trim they drove and the date it expires, 30 days out. Your discount holds for the 30 days; factory cash is whatever the manufacturer offers on the day of sale, so a program change on the first of the month costs you nothing. The certificate spells out the savings the way car-buying services do: the sticker price, any factory cash you have applied, your discount, the program price, what the driver saves and the out-the-door total.
One program contact: A named person who emails each driver your certificate after the experience, answers within one business day and handles the sale, the financing and delivery to the buyer’s home within an area you set. Beyond that area, a courtesy delivery you arrange before the certificate is issued: the vehicle ships to a dealer of your brand near the buyer, which hands over the keys and runs title and tags for a flat fee printed on the certificate. The sale stays yours. Your contact enters the certificate number at signing, so every sale matches its drive.

What we do

The drives, the ads, the handoff, the pictures

Beach 4x4 has run four-wheel-drive rentals on this beach for six years. The experiences run on the same crew, the same checks and the same wash bay.

The vehicles, looked after: Beach 4x4 runs every drive and washes the vehicle after each one. Insurance, the miles and the return condition are agreed in writing before the first drive.
The drivers: Every driver is 25 or older, with a valid driver’s license and full-coverage personal auto insurance (liability, collision and comprehensive), checked online before anyone arrives. The driver’s policy is primary on the sand, the same as a rental, the rental agreement spells out responsibility for damage, and an optional damage waiver is offered at booking. Which policy sits behind that on your vehicles is confirmed in writing before the first one goes on the sand.
The experiences: Hotel pickup in Kitty Hawk, a staff walk-around and half a day on the Carova 4x4 beach, any month of the year.
The ads: Google search and YouTube in your market, on the car-buying-program and no-haggle searches, plus our own Outer Banks sites. The Google and YouTube ads target people 55 and older in the top 30% of U.S. household incomes, about $140,000 a year and up. No ad shows your price.
The handoff: Drivers who want to buy call your program contact, certificate in hand. Beach 4x4 steps out there, the way Costco does.
The pictures: The driver’s photo with your vehicle, sand still on the tires, and footage from the beach you can use in your own ads.
The report: Once a month: experiences, drivers from your market, certificates issued and program sales.

The rules

One price, one contact, one dealer per brand

After the first year you have the numbers to decide whether to keep going.

One dealer per brand: The first store to sign for a brand holds it. Every certificate for that brand carries your store’s name and your contact.
No membership for the driver: Costco members qualify with a membership. Our drivers qualify with a certificate, and the only way to get one is to take the drive.
Our guarantee to the driver: If a driver brings a lower written out-the-door price on the same new vehicle within the 30 days, Beach 4x4 refunds the $325. Your store owes nothing; it only asks that your price be fair.
Nothing to sign on the beach: Nobody is obliged to buy. Drivers who do buy finish with your program contact, at your program price.
The standard holds: A store that adds to the certificate price, misses the one-business-day answer or puts a salesperson between a program buyer and the paperwork comes off the program, and the brand opens to the next store.
The money, set with each store: Beach 4x4 keeps the $325 drive fees. What Beach 4x4 pays for the vehicles, and whether the store pays toward the ads, is agreed before the first drive.

The experience

Five and a half hours, nothing rushed

From the hotel it is North Carolina Highway 12 north through Duck and Corolla, then sand all the way to the Virginia line.

0:00
Keys at the Hilton Garden InnPickup in Kitty Hawk, with a staff walk-around.
0:15
Highway 12 northAbout 22 miles through Duck and Corolla, roughly 45 minutes of real road driving.
1:00
Air down in CorollaTires to 18–20 psi, a mile before the ramp.
1:10
The Carova 4x4 beachAbout three hours on soft and packed sand, with the dunes, the surf and the wild horses. Drivers stay 50 feet from the horses.
4:15
Air up and head southBack down Highway 12 to the hotel.
5:30
Keys back at the hotelStaff walk-around at drop-off.

Route map: from the Hilton Garden Inn in Kitty Hawk north on Highway 12 through Duck and Corolla, air down in Corolla, then up the Carova 4x4 beach to the Virginia line. — **The route** · Kitty Hawk to the Virginia line · Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors

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