The TrueCar+ online car-buying platform, which launched in Florida, is expanding to additional states in the Southeast: Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, TrueCar said Thursday.
The online platform has also gained new capabilities such as F&I and accessories menus, communications tools, nationwide delivery and other perks.
“This expansion demonstrates our commitment to delivering a modern marketplace that brings the car buying experience online,” TrueCar president and CEO Mike Darrow said in a news release.
“From our research, we know consumers want a convenient, personalized digital shopping experience, and we want to help dealers meet consumers where they are with their shopping preferences,” he said.
TrueCar said close to 100 dealers have enrolled in TrueCar+ in Florida. One of those dealers is Ray Kahn, internet manager at Gettel Acura.
“TrueCar+ allows us to reach more customers online from all over the country and be able to offer a seamless and transparent purchase experience,” Kahn said. “We can now compete with all digital retailing solutions and reach a vast majority of clients.”
Vroom said Friday it has added Fernwood Holdings CEO and managing director Timothy Crow to its board of directors.
In addition to his time with that venture capital investment firm, Crow has held executive roles with The Home Depot and Kmart.
“We are thrilled to announce the addition to our board of directors of Tim Crow, who brings his deep experience in human capital management at leading global retailers to Vroom. He is a highly skilled executive with notable leadership experience at large retail institutions, including The Home Depot, which is recognized as one of the best places to work in the retail industry,” said Bob Mylod, the executive chair of Vroom’s board of directors, in a news release.
“We welcome his experience and guidance as Vroom’s management team continues to execute on our long-term roadmap,” Mylod said.
The online retailer announced that Frederick Terrell has resigned from the board.
“We appreciate Fred’s valuable service on our Board and wish him well with his other commitments,” Mylod said.
TrueCar announced last week that it has added an accessories menu to its TrueCar+ online car buying platform, which is currently available in Florida.
The company said more than 12,000 hardware parts are now available on the platform.
“Accessories are another way of customizing the online vehicle purchase to each individual buyer, while offering additional margin opportunities to dealers,” TrueCar CEO Mike Darrow said in a news release.
“We’re continuing to expand TrueCar+ capabilities with this latest offering and delivering to consumers the tools needed to purchase a vehicle online,” he said.
The platform uses a VIN-specific fitment rules engine to match accessories to the proper vehicle. Each accessory part includes a detailed description, photos and optional animations/videos.
TrueCar+ dealers can include accessories in the lease and finance calculations, subject to finance company rules.
Last week, CDK Global rolled out a new research project to gauge current and potentially future retail activities at dealerships.
The automotive retail software provider launched the Ease of Purchase Scorecard, a monthly snapshot of the consumer vehicle purchase process at dealerships.
According to the latest survey data, 82% of auto retailer customers are finding …
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Carvana is serious about pickleball, a sport rising in popularity that combines many elements of tennis, badminton and ping-pong.
This week, the online used-vehicle retailer was named as the title sponsor for the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) ahead of the 2023 season.
Founded in 2018 in Salt Lake City, the Professional Pickleball Association is the premier professional circuit in the United States. The PPA ranks the top male and female pickleball players in the world, awarding millions of dollars in prize money each year, with tournaments in dozens of cities across Arizona, California, Utah, Nevada, Georgia, Florida and more.
This year, the PPA hosted more than 20 events at world-class facilities, with more than 25 events across 13 markets. Five major championships are planned for 2023.
“At Carvana, we believe that driving happiness can extend beyond buying, selling and trading in cars. Our promise is to create joyful experiences for our customers at every turn, so this year we’re partnering with the Professional Pickleball Association to serve up smiles with the fastest growing community sport in America,” Carvana co-founder and chief brand officer Ryan Keeton said.
“In the same spirit as making vehicle ownership straightforward and accessible to everyone, we’re helping make pickleball one of the most accessible sports in America by championing players of all levels, all season long, with the sport’s premier professional league,” Keeton continued.
Pickleball might even get mentioned when Carvana CEO Ernie Garcia appears during second annual National Auto Venture & Investors Conference (NAVIcon) during Used Car Week, which begins Nov. 14 in San Diego.
Complete details about NAVIcon and Used Car Week can be found at www.usedcarweek.biz.
CDK Global wants dealers to oversee what the company believes is one of their most important parts of their businesses.
This week, the automotive retail software provider unveiled what it dubbed, “Data – Your Way.” The announcement came at its second annual CDK CONNECT, an event that brings the industry together and showcases how CDK connects dealers, manufacturers, software developers and consumers.
According to a news release, the new initiative will provide dealers the tools to securely import and export data from CDK software at no charge and empower them to work directly with their choice of independent software vendors for a growing number of specialized solutions available in the market.
In a keynote address, chief executive officer Brian MacDonald and chief product and technology officer Mahesh Shah discussed the waves of changes impacting the industry and described the ways CDK continues to partner with dealers to help them remain the dominant channel for vehicle sales, and deliver simple and convenient experiences for consumers.
“We believe in the importance of the connection dealers bring to the automotive industry, and CDK is on the forefront of helping them operate their businesses,” MacDonald said. “The introduction of ‘Data – Your Way’ ushers in a new era by giving dealers the tools to access data securely and the choice of which software vendors to share it with. This is a paradigm shift in how we do business with our customers and a significant step forward for both dealers and automotive retail.”
While CDK has a host of data access tools available and used by thousands of dealers every day, CDK pointed out that it’s investing to bring additional enhancements to their usability, scalability and security, while eliminating license fees associated with their use starting in March.
As part of this initiative, CDK will transition away from the CDK Partner Program and begin giving dealers and vendors the option to work directly with one another or take advantage of CDK’s innovative managed services programs.
At CDK CONNECT, CDK also previewed CDK Sales Express, a solution designed to streamline the in-store sales process that could take as long as four hours to as little as 30 minutes by bringing together all data, tasks and users into a unified experience for consumers and the dealership.
A recent study done by CDK showed that while most dealers report having a digital retailing solution to simplify the online buying experience (85%), they still see process bottlenecks once the deal enters their physical dealership.
The study also determined 86% of dealers are focused on improving the car-buying experience but have friction points in the process that make it difficult to improve, including low inventory, duplicate leads, rekeying information and systems integration.
The company said CDK Sales Express will be available to dealers early next year.
For more information about CDK CONNECT, including access to on-demand recordings of the keynote and breakout sessions, visit CDKGlobal.com/CDKCONNECT.
Last week, Vroom used its presence on Nasdaq to generate an incentive for 22 non-executive employees of Vroom and its affiliates.
According to a news release, the compensation committee of Vroom’s board of directors approved the grant of inducement restricted stock unit awards covering 95,125 shares of Vroom’s common stock to those 22 non-executive employees of Vroom and its affiliates
The board made the move to sway them to join as employees of Vroom and its affiliates.
The company said the awards were granted under Vroom’s 2022 Inducement Award Plan. They generally vest in equal annual increments of 1/3 over the three-year period following their grant, subject to continued employment through each applicable vesting date.
“The awards were granted as employment inducement awards pursuant to the Nasdaq listing rules,” Vroom said in the news release.
A week after partnering with Manheim, Work Truck Solutions announced a partnership with a part of the Blue Oval.
The operations, marketing and lead-gen platform for commercial vehicle sales said on Tuesday that it now has a strategic partnership with FordDirect to assist Ford and Lincoln dealers in capitalizing on the value and profits associated with the growing business-to-business opportunity.
According to a news release, this partnership provides Ford dealers with the choice of two unique Work Truck Solutions offerings created specifically to serve the commercial department needs of a single manufacturer's entire dealer body.
As part of this strategic partnership with Work Truck Solutions, FordDirect will connect Ford and Lincoln dealers to this innovative commercial vehicle business offering which includes a custom bundle of tools, special consultative services, and a true partnership relationship.
Work Truck Solutions chief executive officer Kathryn Schifferle noted that information is being made available to dealers in conjunction with this announcement.
“For business owners, their work truck or van is their job or business. Without it, they’re just not working. Given the current inventory shortage, buyers are looking to work with dealers to plan for, find, or order the right vehicle,” Schifferle said in the news release. “Helping dealers be that consultant for their business customers’ vehicle needs, as well as offer additional products and services before and after the sale, is critical to maximizing a commercial department’s success.”
Work Truck Solutions reiterated that its mission is to create a frictionless path for business owners to find the vehicles they need by providing dealers with the right tools to serve this unique customer base.
“FordDirect partners with only a select few companies to fill unique needs of Ford and Lincoln dealerships,” Schifferle said. “We’re honored to partner with FordDirect and assist dealerships with digital strategies, solutions, and services that will drive their commercial business growth.”
This week, Insignia Group finalized a new partnership with CarNow that the service providers claim “will revolutionize how dealerships sell vehicles online.”
Through Insignia Group’s API, CarNow has the ability to offer shoppers an interactive buying experience where they can build a 3D model of their vehicle, add accessories and purchase everything needed for the dealership to prepare their package.
Company executives highlighted through a news release that as the automotive digital retailing space continues to evolve, the Insignia Group-CarNow partnership helps provide a more frictionless experience for consumers and dealers alike.
Insignia Group and CarNow said dealerships now are empowered to input package details, labor pricing and control stock information for all products to give customers a seamless transaction workflow that encompasses everything they would have access to as part of the traditional in-store experience.
“The market release of visualized accessory-on-vehicles content by CarNow is the result of years of work and the next level of accessory merchandising for OEMs and dealerships,” Insignia Group chief executive officer David Copp Stringer said in the news release. “Now consumers will drive the Vehicle Personalization process during the vehicle transaction.”
The companies noted that other benefits of this new partnership include:
• 3D car and accessory configurators that are seamlessly integrated with the website.
• Dealer-specific pricing: including labor rates, margin, and more.
• No need for stock images of new vehicles–it’s now included in the system.
• Custom accessory packages customers can easily add to their purchases and dealerships can use for advertising purposes.
The integration of the Insignia Group accessory visuals and pricing with CarNow’s digital retailing platform will roll out the launch with Volkswagen brand in September and continue pushing it out to other brands into 2023.
“We are proud to enter into a partnership with Insignia Group, a true market leader in the automotive accessory space,” said Tim Cox, co-founder and chief evangelist at CarNow. “Insignia Group provides a unique ecosystem of infrastructure and technology that will help us in our efforts to provide the most comprehensive and seamless digital retailing process in all of automotive.
“We are excited to continue to develop our technology and platform with a new strategic partner,” Cox went on to say.
Spencer Beckstead, chief revenue officer of Frikintech, joins the show in this latest episode of the Auto Remarketing Podcast.
Beckstead and Auto Remarketing senior editor Joe Overby talk about the friction points in automotive and why digital retail complements — not replaces — salespeople, plus Beckstead shares a bit of the background behind Frikintech.
To listen to the conversation, click on the link available below, or visit the Auto Remarketing Podcast page.
Download and subscribe to the Auto Remarketing Podcast on iTunes or on Google Play.
