SAN FRANCISCO — Auto protection products continue to outsell most other accessories in dealerships across the country, according to izmocars’ 2012 AOA Auto Accessories Midyear Trend report. Aside from electronic protection products like car alarms, electronics sales experienced a sharp decline.

AOA Auto Accessories Trend Reports are based on sales data from a diverse sampling of 150 dealerships that utilized AddOnAuto. It provides a snapshot of the top-selling accessories, accessories categories and identifies the accessories that deliver the most profit. The dealerships in the study, in aggregate, sold more than $28 million in accessories during the first half of 2012, putting accessory sales on track to exceed total sales of $39 million in 2011.

“The results of our midyear report underscore the continued strength of protection products in the market, indicating that the trend we started to observe last year is moving beyond trend into a reality as the vehicle ownership lifecycle expands,” said izmocars Vice President Sidney Haider. “We also found it interesting that there was a steep decline in the volume of electronics products sold across the dealerships. As more and more electronic features come standard in vehicles, fewer consumers are purchasing electronics as add-on accessories.”

According to results, the average dealer analyzed closed more than 50 percent of the customers who were presented with accessories, reaping an average gross profit of 49.3 percent. The top performers during the first half of the year included paint protection, floor mats, body side moldings and window tint.

Here are the Top 3 product by volume, revenue adn profit:
• By Volume: No. 1 Floor Mats, No. 2 Factory Exterior, No. 3 Body Side Moldings.
• By Revenue: No. 1 Paint Protection, No. 2 Upholstery, No. 3 Alarms, Remote Starts and Recovery.
• By Profit: No. 1 Paint Protection, No. 2 Alarms, Remote Starts & Recovery, No. 3 Upholstery.

To view the Top Ten Accessories Categories for the first half of 2012, click here.

There was a precipitous drop by volume for the electronics category overall, particularly Bluetooth, navigation and even video products — dropping the category out of the Top 10. This is probably attributable to the fact that the automakers are electronics-happy, loading up vehicles with Bluetooth and other electronic features, which means fewer consumers need to turn to the aftermarket or dealership accessories departments for these items.

To view the full report, click here.