Doing search engine optimization for auto dealers is difficult, as the market is extremely competitive. Selling search engine optimization to car dealers makes doing the SEO seem like childsplay.
Since the beginning of the world wide web, the automotive industry, car dealers in particular, have been a year or two behind the trends. Whether it is their reluctance to let go of the "glory days" in the 80's and early 90's or simply a lack of time to devote to understanding the technology, car dealers seem to be the last to know when it comes to the internet.
Search engine optimization and search engine marketing have been around for years, but until recently, only a small percentage of automotive dealers were doing it. This is ironic, as the Internet is used as the primary source for information that consumers use to make their purchasing decisions.
The vehicle sales market is tremendously competitive. Dealerships are loathe to not include search engine marketing and optimization as large parts of the advertising budgets.
The sad reality is that most of them do not. Why? In most cases it's because the cost is often higher than the cost of the website itself.