Chip Perry: Customers Want An Enhanced In-Person Car Shopping Experience

Automotive industry veteran, Chip Perry (A2Z Sync) shared very enlighting research from surveys conducted by YouGov National Automotive Consumer Trends at the Kain Auto Digital Workshop in Lexington. 

Among very specific information shared, it was interesting to observe that today's car shoppers are more interested in an enhanced in-person shopping experience over an end-to-end online experience like what Amazon offers. These insights validate the importance car dealers should place on looking internally for friction points in their existing sales process to ensure that consumers are receiving the best experience possible. 

It should come as no surprise that the current sentiment toward the vehicle purchase process is largely negative, but that opens an opportunity for dealers that are choosing to look ahead to the next 24 - 48 months. Smart car dealers will take time to create new processes that support consumer movements in the market, not to just keep up, but to evolve. 

When asked to design an ideal car buying experience, the most desired attributes are simplicity, transparency, and time efficiency. 

The survey question: Imagine you were able to design the car purchasing/leasing experience with a dealer that best meets your needs. Which THREE of the following would be most important to include in the experience?

At the top of the list, consumers are more interested in a simple and completely transparent presentation of vehicle price and payment, and that's a long shot over the last option on the poll: a completely online, Amazon-style experience. 

Of course, the pandemic led the industry to think about ways to provide a seamless online experience, however, today it seems that car shoppers just want things to be more efficient inside of the model they are familiar with instead of being forced into a new experience altogether.