Pub. 4 2015-2016 Issue 4

18 San Diego Dealer Changing Car Buyers Demand Fast, Seamless and Accurate Registration and Titling By William Rountree, VP and General Manager, RTS Welcome to the No-Hassle Era of Online to In-Store Automotive Retail Today’s car buyers expect that the services and systems powering their transaction are connected, seamless and transparent to their experience. That expectation doesn’t stop once the deal is made, but continues through the entire process of purchasing a vehicle, fromonline shopping tools to in-store workflows that include a myriad of significant steps required by law. That includes registration and titling. Yes, it’s a complicated part of the business fewwant to know about. It doesn’t take up the entire showroom, or have its own infrastructure, like parts and service. It’s unsung and T imes have changed – especially in the automotive business. Thanks to the growing influence of Millennials (and Generation Z) as members of the country’s car buying club, the very way cars are sold is evolving at a fast rate. Combined, these consumers have purchasing influence equal to trillions of dollars, and very specific ways they wish to go about buying cars. For example, they may take their time researching a purchase online, but once a decision is made they want the process to go quickly. In fact, Autotrader’s “2016 Car Buyer Journey” report found that shopper satisfaction decreased the longer they stayed in the showroom. According to the report,“of the 3-hours average time spent at the dealership during the purchase process, more than half of that time is spent negotiating or doing paperwork, resulting in a 56 percent satisfaction rate for the process.”