Buying a Car Online Pt 2: The Dealer’s Mistake.

This time, it’s about dropping the ball.

The Internet and You: Keys to Successful Negotiation in Car Buying, Part 2

July 18th, 2011

By Christopher Ofcky

     Good morning Everyone! Last month we discussed some of the myths behind buying automobiles on the Internet and some of the blunders on behalf of the consumer — today we’ll talk about some of the biggest mistakes dealerships make when it comes to communicating with their audiences, and how these mistakes are reviewed by consumers or prospective buyers in general. It’s a known fact as we discussed in the previous post that buying online has garnered a strong reputation for being easy and hassle-free, yet automobile dealers are still one of the few online sellers left where it’s often mandated that you’ll have to set foot in the door at one point in time. It can be frustrating for both the dealer and the consumer to become involved in internet transactions, and here are some of the reasons why.

Dealers: “Be as Ambigious As Possible, We’ll Worry About it When They’re Here”.

In theory, this is the classic strategy of closing the internet customer: ambigious language, not going in-depth with taxes, break-downs of selling prices, cap costs, dealer fees, and just letting the customer know, “yes, we can do xxx/month on that car”. More often than not, this sort of technique works — more often than not, the dealer is telling the truth: they can do that payment, but perhaps not with the same options. Fast forward to when the customer shows up: “We don’t have that option, it’s going to be more for that” and so on and so forth. This places the customer in a defensive position, and even though they may buy, everything would be fine. .up until they see your reviews on a public forum, and feel they’ve been wronged. Manufacturer surveys also reflect this practice, and Dealers are often miffed when they believe a customer is happy, but get blasted on a customer service survey or over Google. Avoid this, and be up front. If you “worry about it when they’re here”, you’ll be worrying about it when they leave.

Dealers: Nothing but an e-mail gets nothing but a generic response.

This is something we’ve all been guilty of, and it’s an extreme annoyance to many of us — my last article pointed to this as a bad practice for customers — but let’s face it. .we call people. .a lot. And sometimes people just aren’t as social as we are; we must learn to accept this. I have a pretty high e-mail conversion rate, and I like to write, but seeing a lead come in with just an e-mail address still gets me a little red in the face. Still, we have to get better at answering these in timely fashions. Many users (myself included), prefer e-mail to a phone call because of its flexibility and because it’s more private than taking a call, less disruptive than having to get up and talk to someone for an unknown time.  Work it like it’s a digital phone call, and remember that just because there’s no phone number, it doesn’t mean the customer isn’t serious.

Dealers: “Your customer is here, don’t worry — I’ll take it”.

I think it’s generally widely known by now that most Internet Sales people don’t actually sell the vehicles. When I worked in the domestic industry, I did both (customer service as well as demonstration/payments/selling, etc); with as many customers as we handle on a daily basis, we simply couldn’t provide good customer service and handle inquiries all day long, it would force us into only wanting to take the best deals. I’ve had some customers even come into the dealership and say, “Wow, I’m surprised you exist”. If you have a system in your dealership that allows a gentle hand-off from the Internet Sales Manager to the Client Advisor, make the customer aware of what to expect when they come in, and make sure your Salespeople always let the Internet Agents know they have a customer in the dealership. You have to remember that we have spent a good deal of time in many cases building well-deserved trust, and this ultimately hurts your customers’ opinions of you, as well as your Internet Department and even perhaps, your sale.

Dealers: Follow-Up, Follow-Through.

How many times has this happened to you, as a consumer — or to you as a dealer: the deal is all worked out, everyone is happy with the results and then something goes amiss; the car isn’t as promised, has been sold, has more miles than expected, etc. Though it’s often hard to keep track of every vehicle in and out of the dealership, put your hands on it! Don’t assume that the last posted mileage on your website is correct. When you tell the customer that everything is one way, and they show up to buy and it clearly isn’t, it spells doomsday for you. Most often, I think customers would agree that if the minor things were simply disclosed to them beforehand, they’d still have shown up to purchase the vehicle, or at least see it. If a customer still can’t make a decision — call or e-mail them. Don’t just forget about them when they leave. The difference between a one-time customer and a repeat customer is follow-up.

Well, I hope this has been somewhat insightful for some people; I am sure many dealers practice this way, but I thought it may be nice for the consumer to see our ires on many of the issues to know that the experience can be frustrating on both sides. I hope this shines some light on what we work diligently to try and avoid for the average buyer. I welcome any and all questions/comments.

Until next time!

Christopher