Calling the customer reaction to the launch of the standalone used-car stores “overwhelmingly positive,” Q auto president Casey Coffey said the emails, letters and phone calls flowing in have expressed an appreciation for the experience at Q auto’s stores, with customers saying “that it was like none other that they’ve experienced in a car-buying atmosphere before.”

So, what makes the customer experience at Q auto different? Auto Remarketing caught up with Coffey to find out.

When a customer arrives on the lot at a Q auto store, he or she is not going to be immediately greeted outside their car.

“Most of them come into the store, and they’ll immediately notice that the sales associate — which are called product specialists — will meet them at the door or at the receptionist’s desk, and they’re holding an iPad,” Coffey said.

“And we take them through what Q is all about,” he said.

The customer is informed about Q auto's no-haggle pricing, that all cars are below market price, “and that they are really in control of the process.” 

He continued: “We’re going to do virtually all of the sales process on the iPad. We take them through a video tutorial, and then we’re off and running to either look at automobiles on the lot or view automobiles on the iPad.

“Customers can sort through that any way they would like, whatever (way) fits their particular taste or how they want the experience to go. But the customer is the driving factor,” he said.

Technology appears to be big emphasis for Q auto, and its development was discussed during Asbury’s recent quarterly conference call.

Most of that technology centers around the iPad, Coffey said, acknowledging that “we’re not all the way there yet with our technology,” but the company is aiming to have that fully implemented by Q1.

He went on to explain how the iPads are being put to use, noting that instead of prices on the cars, the vehicles have Monroney stickers with QR codes.

The customer can use the iPad or his or her own smartphone to scan the code on a vehicle. Doing so immediately provides the customer with the car’s price and roughly 40 pictures of the vehicle (say, for instance, if the shopper decides not to buy that day, the pictures are saved for future reference).

Scanning the QR code also downloads a report from PureCars, which provides a litany of information on things like safety features, gas mileage, safety ratings and so forth.  This also can be saved for future reference.

Additionally, instead of running the traditional F&I route where a customer meets with a finance manager after he or she has chosen a vehicle to purchase, the customer goes through the entire transaction process with the product specialist, Coffey said.

“There’s never a hand-off to another person,” he said, explaining that the finance information and loan approval process is all done via iPad.

Coffey also shared a bit about how Q auto stores generate inventory. For starters, they can source used cars from any of Asbury’s traditional dealerships, “which we do, quite often.”

When the Asbury dealerships have vehicles they don’t want or would like to transfer out of their inventories, Q auto gets first crack at acquiring those cars, Coffey said. Q auto also has a program, set up through one of its vendors, where it can view cars coming off lease into Asbury stores. Q auto also gets first shot at those.

Additionally, Q auto also buys cars from consumers regardless of whether the consumer makes a purchase, and it also uses more traditional routes like trade-ins and auction sales.