Automotive Content Writer: How I Got Started

Young car enthusiasts spend $7.2 billion yearly on customizing their vehicles, which is just a small portion of the $43 billion automotive business marketplace. While I may no longer fall into this demographic, my passion for cars hasn’t diminished. I consider myself lucky that I can combine my passion and years of experience with my profession of providing content writing services. Becoming an automotive content writer has allowed me to enjoy my career. From classic cars to supercars, SUVs, and trucks, I love it all.

Going to classic car shows is something my dad and I would do together. There was a weekly car show that we would go to that all of the classic car owners would go to. Hundreds of cars would line up and take over an entire parking lot. Oldies would be blaring through the speakers as this cute little old lady MC’d. 

We would casually stroll through the lines of vehicles, quietly judging each one. There are the impeccably kept classics that look showroom ready. Then there are the messy ones that are full of rust. To this day, we will check out larger car shows in our area. It’s a fun pastime that we enjoy doing together. 

It’s a 2000 Corvette in the classic torch red with a matching red interior. He has lovingly cared for this vehicle, keeping it garage kept and hand washed. The car is now over 20 years old and in perfect condition. He proudly states that he will never sell the car, and one day, I will inherit it. In reality, the car is like my sibling at this point. 

I drove a pearl white Nissan Maxima all through college and law school. Upon graduating, it was time to get a new vehicle. My little Maxima had served me well, but it was time for something else. I sold my car, and the search began. I ended up falling in love with a unique little truck, the Toyota Tacoma X-Runner. Everyone knows what the Tacoma is, but they don’t always know what the X-Runner is. When I say what I drive, I sometimes have people correcting me, saying that I meant to say Pre-Runner, which is an entirely different trim package. I wanted one in blue but ended up with a red one. Over the years, I’ve fallen in love with the bright red color and even chose to keep it when I had the truck repainted a few years ago. 

Over the years, I’ve done a few things to make the truck my own. It has aftermarket headlights, grille, and taillights. I’ve replaced the rear window and third brake light. I’ve added red accenting throughout the interior because the light grey motif was bland and boring. I took advantage of the blank space on the dash and installed my own controls for interior LED lighting. 

One drawback of my truck is that it is a 2007. As a result, it doesn’t have all of the latest innovations and technology that modern vehicles have. Thankfully, my husband is an amazing man. He got together with my father, and the two of them gave the truck a serious upgrade for Christmas one year. First, they replaced the old-school CD and tape player stereo with a large touchscreen. Next, they replaced the worn-out stock speakers with better ones. Finally, they added a rear view camera. 

It isn’t all about looks, though. Under the hood is a 4.0-liter V6 engine paired with a manual transmission. It can produce 245 horsepower and 282 pounds of torque. It can go from 0-60 in about six seconds. 

It’s the height of Covid, and my husband and I are working from home together. At this point, he is in love with his current Dodge Durango. He’s put a ton of work into it and proudly stated that he would never give his vehicle up for anything. No sports car or supercar could entice him away from his Durango. 

Like a kid waiting for Christmas, he asked almost weekly about the status of the Hellcat and if he could order one yet. He would call the dealership for updates, and they would have no information. Thanks to my career as an automotive content writer, I had more information than they did. In August, the day finally came! We headed to the dealership and picked out each feature. Unfortunately, the dealership was a letdown, and they forgot to include the one thing I wanted, the Blackout Package. Oh well, we created our blackout package by replacing the badges and powder coating the wheels. 

In order to become a full-time automotive content writer, I needed to gain experience writing about cars. While I write about cars and content marketing for the auto industry here on my WordPress automotive blog, this was only a start to refining my content management and marketing strategy skills. Like many other freelance writers, I worked with a blog mill at the beginning of my writing career. While I have plenty of negative things to say about that particular company, it did give me with a few benefits. I was able to pick up articles that had automotive topics. This meant I could pick up auto industry articles. I was also able to learn about content strategy and how to write for a target audience and optimize my writing for search engines (SEO). I wrote articles until I felt like I had a portfolio of high-quality content in place to apply for other freelance writing gigs. I set up job alerts and began competing with other auto writers to become the copywriter fulfilling the content needs of automotive businesses.

Over the years, I have been able to write for several online publications that focused on the automotive industry that took me from being a part-time writer to full time digital marketing content specialist. I also had the pleasure of writing for companies that work in the automotive industry. This includes everything from dealerships to aftermarket parts, exotic rentals, and apps that are designed to make business management easier for these companies. I have also had the opportunity to write a wide type of content, including website content, instructional articles, product descriptions, social media posts, and eCommerce docs. I look forward to a future that many more includes automotive content writer jobs.