How Dealers can Compete with Online Retailers

For decades, the car buying process has been fairly consistent. Ultimately, customers have to make the trip to the dealership to look at the inventory, get actual pricing, and talk numbers with a salesperson. Then they have to sit down to sign a mound of paperwork. The process can take several hours or last as long as days or weeks depending on the circumstances.

As technology advances, buyers are able to find a lot of the information online before they even step through the door, from car specs to dealership reviews. Salesmen no longer have to explain every detail because it is the new norm for consumers to already know them. They come in with a car in mind. This may shave off an hour or two, but what if a customer could be in-and-out within 30 minutes with the keys in hand?

Online car buying is being toyed with, and some are doing it very well, like Tesla and Carvana. A person can research the inventory, view pricing of multiple trim levels, estimate their gas costs, do online quotes for their insurance, and even order the entire car if they want to.

We still want customers to have that great dealership experience, but adding some of these time-saving tactics could deliver just that. For example, take the test-drive to them. Customers can test drive vehicles that are brought to them at home, work, or wherever is convenient.

So a customer can research the vehicle online, and you can take a test drive to them. That’s doable. The next hurdle dealerships need to tackle is pricing. Online car retailers provide transparent pricing that includes fees, taxes, insurance, etc. Most dealerships have only generic payment calculators on their websites that do not all reveal the price they will end up paying.

This is where you get your sales people involved. The topic would obviously come up during the test drive, but how about follow up? Most people want to haggle on price a bit, so keep your sales team on the phone, texting or emailing your leads. There’s no reason a price can’t be agreed upon virtually.

Even a trade-in can be assessed through photos and vehicle information. Worst case scenario, you set up an appointment for the customer to bring in the vehicle for review by your used car manager.

From there, most forms can be sent and signed virtually. Credit authorizations, proof of insurance, pay stubs, drivers license and anything else along those lines can be emailed to your sales reps or uploaded through an online system. Then your team can put together all the paperwork on the back end. Finally, you can set an appointment for your customer to come in to meet with F&I, sign the paperwork and drive off the lot with their new vehicle.

This still gives your F&I team a chance to upsell customers on Scotchgard, tire protection, gap and other insurances, while keeping the process relatively quick and simple for your customers. Allowing them to take care of the most everything virtually, saves them precious time, ultimately shooting their customer experience through the roof. Not to mention it creates efficiency and saves time for your sales staff, freeing them up to help other customers more quickly.

So, you’ll have happy customers. Your sales staff can make more sales, making higher commissions. And the dealership as a whole becomes more profitable.

Implementing a process like this now, will only put you ahead of the game when it comes to your dealer competition. Most dealers have yet to switch to this type of model, giving you an advantage in a growingly digital world. Plus it gives you a chance to compete for the business of people who prefer a “Carvana” purchase-model.