A car sale begins the moment a customer drives past the lot or steps inside the showroom. One of a car dealer’s greatest challenges is maintaining lot and showroom appearance while keeping costs down.
The lighting in a car dealership has a significant impact on sales, safety and customer satisfaction. A beautifully-illuminated lot will actively draw people in, while one with dismal lighting will cause business to drive on by. As for the showroom, lobby or offices, optimised lighting enhances the experience for both customers and employees.
Car dealerships require high-quality light. The cars must look good. This means that not only is the amount of light (lumens) important, but the colour rendering index – a quantitative measure of the ability of a light source to reveal the colours of the cars faithfully – must be optimal. Since it is important to display the cars in the best possible light, it makes sense to switch to LED.
Inside, LED lighting can be customised to spectacularly exhibit a showroom without unwanted bright spots or excess heat.
In outdoor lots, we typically see area lights such as shoe boxes and flood lights. Most tend to be metal halide light sources in the 400W to 1000W range.
Energy reduction with a LED car dealership parking lot lighting system can be 75% or higher and, with added controls such as motion sensors and dimming, energy savings can be even greater. A metal halide light suffers from lumen degradation. After a few months of operation, a metal halide light drops a significant amount from its initial lumen output. At half-life, typically 7500 hours, it’s already lost 50% of its initial lumens.
LEDs, on the other hand, remain brighter for much longer. The US Alliance for Solid State Illumination Systems and Technologies (ASSIST), a group led by the Lighting Research Centre (LRC), recommends defining useful life as the point at which light output has declined to 70% of initial lumens (abbreviated as L70) for general lighting.
Leading LED manufacturers are using the L70 language; for instance, stating that their white LEDs are projected to have lumen maintenance of greater than 70% on average after 50,000 hours when used in accordance with published guidelines. Even with 24/7 operation, this would equate to 5.7 years!
So why not contact us now to ask for a LED solution that will fine-tune lighting levels for optimised vehicle sales, energy savings, security, safety and predictive maintenance? Also consider:
- Dimming light levels at low-traffic times to reduce energy costs over and above the savings from upgrading to LED lighting alone;
- Reducing light levels on back lots to further reduce energy usage and costs;
- Adding motion detectors to raise lights to full output when needed for improved customer experience and security; and,
- Reducing light pollution on neighbouring homes and businesses.
Our Matrix LED team takes a holistic approach to our work. We’ll analyse all areas of your car dealership, showrooms and service facility to improve performance and increase efficiency through lighting. Our team will develop a customised LED solution to achieve optimal light levels and, in turn, keep your energy costs down.
Learn how much you can save when you switch to MatrixLED by using our Savings Calculator! Don’t forget to read our other blogs for more tips on LED lighting. Get in touch by visiting our social media pages: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+.
