DealerSocket’s DealerFire website and PrecisePrice digital retail platforms earned acceptance into the Genesis Dealer Website Certification Program, marking the 19th OEM certification for DealerFire.
Eight months earlier, the two platforms earned acceptance into Hyundai’s Dealer Website Certification Program.
With the new certifications, the DealerFire website and PrecisePrice digital retail platforms are now available to Hyundai’s and Genesis’ network of U.S.-based dealerships.
DealerFire said it earned acceptance into both programs by completing a thorough selection process to ensure it provides top services, a national reach, and strong automotive industry expertise.
DealerSocket’s PrecisePrice is also available to Hyundai and Genesis dealers. PrecisePrice is a digital retail platform that comes equipped with integrated desking software. DealerSocket, a SaaS provider to the auto industry, said that with the integration, dealers can deliver “penny-perfect” price quotes. Rebates, incentives, and all applicable taxes and fees are factored into the platform’s deal calculations.
At the 2020 NADA show, DealerSocket showed a new integration between PrecisePrice and F&I Express’ network of 160 F&I product providers. The company said that connection extends PrecisePrice’s pricing accuracy. It does that by enabling it to display VIN-specific F&I product rates.
With PrecisePrice, dealers can deliver “an authentic omnichannel buying experience,” according to the company.
That allows car shoppers to engage the platform’s self-desking capabilities online. Then, at a later time or in the dealership’s showroom, they can then save and retrieve their deal.
With the functionality, BDC staffers and showroom salespeople can guide phone-in and walk-in shoppers through the PrecisePrice buying process on a mobile device in the showroom.
Eric Giroux, vice president of product management for DealerSocket’s digital solutions, said earning acceptance into Hyundai’s digital program “cemented an exciting 2019 for DealerSocket’s digital solutions.”
“And we’ve continued that momentum into 2020 with today’s announcement of acceptance into the Genesis program,” Giroux said in a news release.
Giroux said the car-buying journey has evolved.
“Every online interaction is magnified, and consumers are demanding a seamless path to purchase,” Giroux said.
Giroux continued, “DealerSocket’s DealerFire brings years of experience to provide the most seamless car-shopping experience available on the market today. DealerSocket’s DealerFire solutions are the clear No. 1 choice for Hyundai and Genesis dealers.”
Auto/Mate Dealership Systems knows how important online reputation is to a dealership.
The company says its integration with Bluejay Reviews means auto dealerships can monitor and improve their online reputation. That happens through automatic sending of personalized emails and texts to customers after they visit the dealership.
Auto/Mate Dealership Systems has completed all dealership management system integrations with Bluejay Reviews.
The integration will ask customers to leave reviews. It sends them to sites such as Google, Facebook and Yelp to leave the reviews.
Auto/Mate says that by automating the review management process, Bluejay Reviews simplifies the tasks of responding to reviews quickly, promoting strong reviews and turning existing customers into a “referral engine.”
Auto dealers can use one dashboard to monitor and respond to reviews from all review sites. Whenever a new review posts on any site, they can receive text and email alerts.
Bluejay Reviews also automatically posts strong reviews across social media pages and on websites. That helps to increase SEO rankings, Auto/Mate said.
The company said its Open/Mate integration program is based on open standards, allowing third-party vendors to integrate with the DMS.
Auto/Mate said its open integration program keeps integration costs low for vendors, which saves money for auto dealers and gives them more vendor choices.
Auto/Mate president Mike Esposito said 85% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. He mentioned another statistic showing 68% of consumers will leave a business review when asked.
“But not many dealers have a process to solicit reviews from their happy customers,” Esposito said in a news release.
Esposito continued, “The Bluejay Review integration makes it easy for dealers to ask for reviews and manage the review process all from within the DMS.”
“We are excited to have our product directly integrated into Auto/Mate, and we understand that growing and maintaining a great online reputation is a key factor to success in the automotive industry. We look forward to helping Auto/Mate dealerships do just that,” said Bluejay Reviews business development agent Paul Moody.
Customers using the AutoNation Connected Car Program have access to safety services such as crash alert and vehicle health notifications in vehicles without built-in connectivity when choosing AutoNation to purchase their vehicles.
The AutoNation Connected Car Program is powered by Automatic Labs’ in-vehicle adapter and app, and the program initially launched last April at five AutoNation USA stores.
On Thursday, AutoNation and Automatic Labs Inc., a SiriusXM company that says it “brings the power of connectivity” to most cars available at AutoNation, are expanding the AutoNation Connected Car Program to additional markets.
Automatic’s Dealer Insights platform and customized analytics deliver daily reports to AutoNation. Those reports feature information such as lists of customers with active recalls, engine light check alerts, service recommendations, and data points showing information on the health and performance of customer vehicles.
Using that information, AutoNation sends targeted communications to its customers specific to their vehicles’ service and maintenance needs.
Since the program launched, 97% of customers who activated at point-of-sale are still engaged with Automatic month over month. AutoNation says it has benefitted from higher retention of customers’ vehicle maintenance and service business.
“Following the successful launch of the AutoNation Connected Car Program, we are excited to expand the program in additional markets across the country,” AutoNation executive vice president and chief marketing officer Marc Cannon said in a news release.
He continued, “Our customers have recognized and appreciated the value of Automatic, and now we will be delivering that value to many more customers.”
“This expansion of the AutoNation Connected Car Program powered by Automatic reflects its success at the AutoNation USA dealerships and the positive response from customers who appreciate the value of Automatic's connectivity features,” said Joe Verbrugge, SiriusXM executive vice president and division president, connected vehicle.
Verbrugge continued, “This service establishes a strong and lasting connection between dealers and their customers long after the sale. We are very excited to continue building on the program’s success with AutoNation.”
Team Toyota in Indiana has primarily used CarOffer to acquire inventory, said its used-car manager Mike Miskus.
“We’ve purchased over 70 units through the platform in the last couple of months and found it to be a fantastic new way to source upstream vehicles,” Miskus said in a news release.
He continued, “It’s allowing us to continue double-digit year-over-year pre-owned sales increase.”
Comments like that could be part of the reason for a strong 2020 outlook for CarOffer. The company, which describes itself as “retail automotive’s first automated instant wholesale vehicle-trade platform,” said on Thursday that it celebrated record monthly sales of $60 million, along with 100% dealer rooftop growth in January.
The real-time bidding platform currently processes more than $1.2 billion of vehicle offers daily, describing itself as “the industry’s most efficient vehicle sourcing, buying and trading solution.”
The company says its platform offers a “simplified Amazon-like buying experience” that it says eliminates trade-in speculation.
Because of that, according to CarOffer, dealers can trade up to 30% more vehicles within the first 30 days of implementation.
As an example of what it describes as the efficiency and transparency in the CarOffer trading process, the company provides two instant offers at the point of appraisal.
A “sell it today” price is the first of those. The second is a “keep it now” with a guaranteed “sell it in 45 days” price.
In addition, the platform automatically makes binding offers on 85% to 90% of vehicles in a dealer’s inventory, and it does that 24 hours a day, seven days per week.
CarOffer also says its vehicle sourcing system brings an experience that it says is similar to the sourcing process for new vehicles from manufacturers. Dealers can order pre-owned inventory, and the system automatically sources the vehicles and delivers to dealers’ specifications.
CarOffer says features of its “mobile-friendly platform” include real-time point of appraisal instant buy offers, automated inventory offers, 45-day guaranteed sell offers and access to nationwide buyers.
The company said it will hold demonstrations of the platform’s latest features at NADA 2020.
Those include market data insights, a faster inspection and transportation process, and up-to-the-minute information and status access through an alerting system.
CarOffer said it designed those features to give dealers more buying power and cost savings.
“The perfect storm of an experienced team, a CEO serial entrepreneur, and a no-risk solution has set CarOffer up for early success and a strong outlook for 2020, with rooftop projections in the thousands by mid-year,” CarOffer wrote.
Foundation Auto Corp chief operating officer Chuck Kramer described CarOffer as a powerful and simple-to-use tool.
“CarOffer’s solution is unique and fills a need in our industry,” Kramer said.
He continued, “We have successfully bought and sold units on CarOffer, and the system has allowed us to trade for 20 to 25% more vehicles due to its real-time offers at point of appraisal. And we enjoy the ability to order our Gold and Platinum units in the system knowing they will get delivered as expected. I encourage every dealer to look at CarOffer.”
CarOffer founder and chief executive officer Bruce Thompson said the company is happy with its early momentum.
He continued, “Dealers are enrolling at an incredible rate because they’re seeing tangible results and that’s what it’s all about, he said. “We’ve gone from $0 to $60 million per month in sales over the last 180 days. It’s exciting to deliver a solution that dealers want and need, and our initial success is due to the hard work and experience of the entire team at CarOffer. I’m so proud of them and this incredible new company.”
Used vehicle e-commerce platform Carvana has unveiled its latest car vending machine, this time in Miami.
The company’s Miami car vending machine is the fourth Carvana car vending machine location in Florida.
It’s Carvana’s 24th U.S. car vending machine. It stands eight stories high and holds 27 vehicles, offering car buyers what Carvana describes as “a memorable, customer-centric pickup experience.”
A customer advocate greets customers who choose the car vending machine pickup. The customer then receives a commemorative, oversized Carvana coin to activate the vending process. Then, according to Carvana, they experience “an immersive, one-of-a-kind view of their vehicle descending the all-glass tower.”
Carvana founder and chief executive officer Ernie Garcia said the company launched its “as-soon-as-next-day vehicle delivery” in Miami in 2016.” He said the company continues to grow its presence “as this vibrant city continues to grow.”
“We are confident Miami area residents will enjoy the unique, one-of-a-kind experience our newest car vending machine offers,” Garcia said in a news release.
The Miami car vending machine joins counterparts in Tennessee, Texas, Maryland, Arizona, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, California and Oklahoma.
Carvana’s Miami car vending machine, located at 2150 NW 117 Place, is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. For all Carvana customers, vehicle pickup at any of the car vending machines is free.
Certification platform SureSale has added five members to its national sales team, and the company says each of them have a track record of growing new markets.
The new sales team members also possess “a deep understanding of what auto dealerships need to fuel CPO sales and increase ROI,” SureSale said in a news release.
The new SureSale sales team members are regional sales directors Larry Delwiche and Mike Lisk and area sales managers Ron Medise, Dino Roussos, and James Driscoll.
Those new members bring various backgrounds such as recent sales leadership roles at companies such as TrueCar, Fair, Carfax, and Edmunds.
The team is responsible for expanding the SureSale Certified platform to more auto dealers nationwide. SureSale says the team will work to do that as an affordability crisis hits the new vehicle market.
That, according to SureSale, is driving more consumers to choose used — and specifically certified — vehicles.
SureSale says that through its program, auto dealers can certify 30 makes of vehicles up to 15 model years and 150,000 miles. The company says that bridges the gap between automakers’ CPO offerings — which it says are brand-specific and have mileage and age limitations — and their “as is” vehicles, which it says offer no consumer assurances.
The company says it bridges that gap by certifying a much larger percentage of their used vehicle inventory.
“Our new sales team has deeply relevant and extensive expertise at bringing new and beneficial services to auto dealers nationwide,” SureSale president and co-founder Jeffrey Schwartz said in a news release.
Schwartz continued, “This will be key to our success as we continue our rollout of SureSale into new markets in 2020. With shopper interest in CPO having increased 26% over the past three years, and OEM programs able to meet only a fraction of that demand, SureSale helps auto dealers meet this CPO surge, as well as maintain a competitive edge over disruptive used vehicle sales models that are trying to capture market share.”
Used vehicle e-commerce platform Carvana has offered California-area residents its online car buying program for almost three years, and Carvana founder and chief executive officer Ernie Garcia said the company’s presence in the state has “steadily increased in just two years.”
On Monday and Tuesday, the company announced it was expanding its footprint in the state, offering its “as-soon-as-next-day vehicle delivery” in the California cities of Madera and Napa.
“As we continue to expand in the state, we’re confident that Madera-area residents will appreciate the ease of buying their next car online.” Garcia said in a news release.
With the two announcements, Carvana now offers its service in 155 U.S. markets.
Regarding the Napa news, Garcia said, “We’re looking forward to offering Napa area residents the ease and convenience offered by our online car buying option and as-soon-as-next-day delivery.”
Ernie Garcia says Carvana’s expansion of its offering into Minnesota allows it to reach more car buyers as the company continues its growth in the Midwest and beyond.
Garcia is founder and chief executive officer of Carvana, an e-commerce used-vehicle buying and selling platform. The company announced its Minneapolis launch on Wednesday.
“We’re looking forward to bringing Minneapolis our easy, transparent online car buying experience and as-soon-as-next-day vehicle delivery,” Garcia said in a news release.
With the latest expansion, Carvana now offers as-soon-as-next-day vehicle delivery in 149 United States markets.
Used-vehicle buying and selling e-commerce platform Carvana launched as-soon-as-next-day vehicle delivery to Santa Fe, N.M.-area residents on Thursday and Sierra Vista, Ariz. area residents on Tuesday.
With the two announcements, Carvana now offers as-soon-as-next-day vehicle delivery in 148 U.S. markets.
Regarding the Santa Fe news, Carvana founder and chief executive officer Ernie Garcia said that as the company grows its Southwest presence, Santa Fe is important in bringing the company’s car buying services to more customers.
“We look forward to now offering as-soon-as-next-day vehicle delivery to Santa Fe residents and increasing our presence in a state that has welcomed us for nearly three years,” Garcia said in a news release.
Commenting on the Sierra Vista news, Garcia said, “As we continue expanding in our home state, we look forward to offering Sierra Vista area residents as-soon-as-next-day vehicle delivery.”
He added, “We’re confident they will embrace the ease and convenience that comes with The New Way to Buy a Car.”
Sixty-five percent of consumers according to a recent survey want auto dealer websites to personalize vehicles of interest.
But only 47% of dealer websites proactively recommend vehicles of interest based on the customer’s browsing behavior.
The survey from Affinitiv, which is a marketing technology company serving automotive manufacturers and dealerships, found that the online shopping experience from the majority of dealerships fails to meet customer expectations.
How can companies improve in that area? Through predictive personalization, according to the survey.
“The website is often the first point of contact with a dealership, but most dealer websites were built using unsophisticated technologies that reflect an antiquated notion of how consumers buy cars,” Affinitiv’s vice president, strategy & analytics Doug Van Sach said in a news release.
He continued, “To meet customer expectations, auto retailers must evolve their shopping experience to match the precedent set by retailers in other industries.”
The Affinitiv survey of 1,000 automotive consumers, shown in the Affinitiv whitepaper, “Predictive Personalization: The Evolution of the Customer Experience," showed that 76% of recent car buyers said it was important for the dealer website to be personalized.
But only 26% of respondents said dealers provide a highly personalized experience on their website.
Affinitiv said consumers interact with non-auto retailers every day that provide a highly personalized online shopping experience. Consumers expect dealers to follow these companies as role models: Amazon, Nordstrom and Apple.
The online shopping experience from dealers falls short in three key areas, according to the survey. Asked which part of the website experience they wanted dealers to personalize, survey respondents mentioned vehicles of interest, vehicle features and “vehicles within my budget.”
Fifty-eight percent of consumers want vehicle recommendations based on specific features of interest. However, in the study sample of websites, no dealer websites recommended vehicles based on features of interest.
“Considering its high importance, recommending vehicles with relevant features is one of the single greatest opportunities for dealer websites to increase conversion rates and better meet the expectations of online shoppers,” Van Sach said.
More statistics of note from the survey in the area of personalization; Fifty-two percent of consumers expect a dealer’s website to help them find affordable vehicles. Sixty-two percent said that finding a vehicle with a specific monthly payment was as important, or even more important, than finding a vehicle within a specific price range.
But dealer websites didn’t make the grade in those areas. Only 9% of an Affinitiv sample of dealer websites allow customers to search by payment range and 11% of websites incorporated the customer’s credit score into the payment estimate, according to Affinitiv, which surveyed 1,000 auto consumers and analyzed a sample of 100 dealership websites to better understand the level of personalization that dealers offer.
“If websites aren’t dramatically improved to elevate the shopping experience and make personalized recommendations based on browsing behavior, dealers risk alienating potential buyers before they ever visit a showroom,” Van Sach said.
He added, “It’s up to dealers to challenge their vendors to demonstrate how their websites react to browsing behavior and deliver relevant vehicles with the right mix of features within a customer’s budget.”
The demand for personalization, however, doesn’t stop with the online shopping experience, according to Affinitiv. Consumers expect an even greater level of personalization when they visit the store.
Eighty-eight percent of consumers said personalization is important when they visit a dealer in person. Consumers expect the following areas to be personalized: Vehicle pricing options, vehicles ready to test drive and vehicle recommendations based on interest.
