Through its research and focus groups in recent years, Cars.com has found an interesting and extremely prevalent pain point among consumers who are trying to sell their cars.

And it's perhaps a misconceived perception by the consumer, at that — but one that gives dealers an opportunity to boost their used-car operations.

“What (consumers) overwhelmingly said was, they felt there was really only one retail location for them to sell a vehicle to … and that was CarMax,” said Joe Oliveri, senior director of product management at Cars.com.

“So, outside of CarMax, they really didn't know that the dealer down the street was willing to buy their vehicle for cash without any obligation to buy another car,” he said. “So I think the biggest pain point has been, from their perspective, that they don't have an option outside of selling it themselves through Craigslist or going to CarMax.”

And for many consumers, Oliveri said, selling a car can be a scary proposition.

That's where an upcoming product from Cars.com comes into play.

Auto Remarketing sat down with Oliveri at the company's Chicago headquarters last month to talk about Sell & Trade, which Cars.com hopes to launch nationally by the end of the year.

At the time of the interview, Cars.com had been piloting the multi-tier product for roughly six months.

As Cars.com explains it, the aim of one tier is “capturing the attention of car shoppers by promoting that dealerships will buy used cars for cash as consumers shop for a replacement vehicle,” with the other tier honing in on “building a dealership's car-buying program as car owners choose from multiple ways to sell.”

The company shared some statistics that illustrate just how important this segment is for dealers.

For one, almost one out of every five customers plans to divest a vehicle in the next six months, the company said.

The 2014 “Establishing Credibility Through Online Sell and Trade” study from Cars.com and C+R Research indicates that 42 percent of consumers will consider selling their ride to a non-CarMax dealer; however, just 10 percent follow through with that.

Not to mention, of the consumers who consider trading their car in, less than half actually make good on it, the same study found.

Why Cars.com is entering this space

Oliveri explained the company's approach to the consumer selling dynamic in more detail.

“It makes sense from our perspective to get into the space because we've been a shopping- focused site for many years. We rolled out Service last year, and now we've got Sell. So: Shop, Sell, Service. It rounds out those options for the consumer, which is really good from our perspective to continue to put the consumer first. So, anywhere within that ownership cycle, they can come to Cars.com,” he said.

“So, it was a bit of a natural extension for us on the consumer side. And then from the dealer's perspective, we know that they need more used cars,” Oliveri explained. “Profitability has shrunk over the years at the dealership, but we know that the used-car department continues to see stronger profits than, say, new. And anything we can do to help them acquire more used vehicles, the better.”

He said that Cars.com took the approach of letting the consumer “divest of their vehicle in the means that best suits them.”

If the shopper wants to sell their car on his or her own, there’s the Sell It Yourself channel that Cars.com has had for quite some time. But if the shopper wants to sell to a dealer and set up a face-to-face meeting with the dealer, there's that option, too.

Then, the third option is called QuickOffer, which is a mid-tier feature of Sell & Trade.

Through QuickOffer, the consumer punches in detailed information on his or her vehicle, enters a VIN, posts up to 12 photos, answers various questions and then submits the car to be sold along with their contact information, Oliveri explained. That is then sent to up to four dealers for competitive bidding.

“We see the majority of consumers going down that path,” Oliveri said of option No.3, “so it tells us that consumers want convenience. They want transparency, in terms of getting multiple offers on their car. And they certainly like the idea of doing it all, really, from their mobile device.”

The consumer can download an app to do just that. The app has a VIN scanner and uses native features of the phone. Oliveri points out that about 60 percent of traffic for product has come from the mobile device.

Lower acquisition cost & a new audience for dealers

A big piece of this is to lower vehicle acquisition costs for dealers, Oliveri said. “Ultimately, that's what we want to do: provide more cars to dealers and at a lower cost,” he said.

He added: “The other piece is, we're giving them access to an audience they typically never have access to. And that's a real big piece of this product. They typically only have access to consumers who are looking to shop for cars, and now (there's) a whole new audience that they have access to. And it's real consumers looking to sell cars, so they typically did not have this before.”

They remind dealers that it's more of a vehicle acquisition product than a trade-in product.

“And there's a pretty big nuance between the two. So, we're not pushing this as trade-in, trade-in, trade-in; it's much more about acquiring cars,” Oliveri said.

And the message to the consumer reflects as much: it focuses on being a way for consumers to sell their cars.

Speaking of which, Cars.com is currently doing some online promotion via keyword purchases and targeted banner ads to drive traffic to its sell channel in the test markets. The goal is to begin the more mass consumer marketing in early 2016.

Dealer pain point

On the dealer side of the vehicle acquisition dynamic, the biggest pain point has been “access to good cars,” Oliveri said.

“This is a way for them to access a new audience that they typically wouldn't have access to, and really they're going to have to have access to. There's a lot of other companies in the space that are vying for consumer audience in terms of purchasing cars,” he added, referring to such players as Beepi and Carvana that source vehicles directly from consumers.

“Dealers are going to have to get into this space, and they really welcome Cars.com doing so because you have the strong brand and already a good reputation with dealers.”

Dealer logistics

So, how does the dealer price the car with this product?

Oliveri explains that there's an app that allows them to put a number on the car. They're notified when they have a car to put a bid on, and through the app, they can log in to access MMR, Carfax, AutoCheck, plus Black Book value, and they are able to see all the photos.

And before the consumer starts down the path to sell his or her car, Oliveri said, they have to enter year/make/model/trim. The consumer is provided a Black Book value, which helps “set the expectation,” he explained.

“And we heard this from dealers in our research. They said that they would like the consumers to have a frame of reference, so that when they get a number from us, they at least have an idea of what that number is and what the deal is worth,” Oliveri added.

In closing, Oliveri had this point to add: “It has to be the right dealer in order to purchase the product. You need to have a process in place in order to handle these vehicles as they come in.”

The consumer, particularly with the QuickOffer path, is expecting multiple offers — and ones that are fair.

Dealers are in control, Cars.com emphasizes, but through the Black Book value the company provides the consumer, Cars.com is educating the customer on what the car is worth so that expectations are set.