6 Ways to Detect ID Fraud for Auto Dealers

Digital identity verification icon with a checkmark overlaid on a futuristic green interface, featuring binary code and a blurred car in the background

How concerned are you about ID fraud prevention and detection? Every dealership has some level of fear about completing a transaction that turns out to be fraudulent. It’s a costly problem for your bottom line and reputation.   While online researching, shopping, and transactions have become commonplace for consumers, reports of identity-related fraud at car…

Read More

Bridging the Trust Gap: How to Achieve Transparency and Profitability with Digital Desking

digital desking

Introduction The automotive retail industry is approaching a tipping point, facing a dilemma that centers on diverging preferences: how dealers want to sell and how buyers want to buy. Traditionally, dealers have hesitated to fully embrace transparency, understandably fearing it might undermine profitability. However, this mindset is increasingly at odds with the buyer’s demand for…

Read More

How Car Dealerships Can Unmask Synthetic Identity Fraud

synthetic identity fraud

In recent years, synthetic identity fraud has overtaken credit card fraud and identity theft to become the fastest-growing kind of fraud globally. According to Aura, synthetic identity fraud is now the fastest-growing type of financial crime in the United States. The Federal Trade Commission estimates that synthetic identity fraud now accounts for 80-85% of all…

Read More

The Essential Digital Finance Software Checklist for Automotive Digital Retailing

Digital finance software checklist

As dealers continue adapting to evolving customer expectations and the digitized car buying journey, the path to embracing a comprehensive digital retailing (DR) solution can seem complex and fraught with potential pitfalls. In its purest form, DR offers a comprehensive solution, enabling customers to self-direct their car buying process online. The entire transaction sequence, from…

Read More

Digital Retailing: New Sales Opportunities, New Fraud Schemes

Digital Retailing: New Sales Opportunities, New Fraud Schemes

The automotive industry is undeniably undergoing a significant digital transformation. This evolution, accelerated by consumer preferences and technological advancements has opened a new frontier of sales opportunities for car dealers. The move towards digital path-to-purchase experiences and fully digitized transactions is more than just a trend—it’s the future of car buying. However, as with all…

Read More

Four Common Digital Retailing Disconnects

Retail Automotive Disconnects

The retail automotive industry, by choice or by force, has experienced an undeniable and irreversible shift toward digital retailing – adapting and evolving to meet the ever-changing needs of today’s consumers. What does this mean for dealers? It means buyers are always going to prefer to shop and transact on their own terms and your…

Read More

How To Choose The Right Digital Finance Platform For Your Dealership

digital finance platform

There probably isn’t a dealer out there who hasn’t been approached with a dizzying array of shiny objects under the ‘Digital Retailing/Digital Finance Platform’ label, purporting to do anything from solving each friction point in the dealership sales and finance process to putting a man on the moon (well, the last one is not true,…

Read More

Automotive Digital Retailing: What Dealers Should Know

photo with green effect - automotive digital retailing helping dealerships sell more cars

It’s the excitement of another deal made, funded, and delivered that ends with a sticker beside a salesperson’s name. Making deals and selling cars is what automotive retailers do best, but it is a process built by dealers for dealers that is a significant source of anxiety and dissatisfaction for most car buyers. Over the…

Read More

Digital First, Credit First Customer Experience

Customer Experience

Improving the customer experience and transforming the transaction are not limited to offering digital buying capabilities for remote buyers. If profits are determined by sales and sales are determined by sales process, there’s little doubt that the greatest obstacle to success and customer satisfaction is the time it takes to complete the deal structuring and…

Read More

Why Are Some Dealers in the ‘Back Seat’ Regarding DR?

Digital transformation barrers

Imagine someone walking into your dealership – perhaps a consultant or vendor – and suggesting that you are operating your dealership wrong. Immediately, you’d be fiercely defensive and most likely question their credibility, knowledge, and intentions. After all, your operations have been financially successful for years, even decades or generations. That is how a lot…

Read More

Digital Retailing Benefits Dealers, Not Just Buyers

Benefits of digital transformation. Digital handshake

A good way to start answering the benefits of digital transformation is first to accept some truths about your customer. Offering a digital path-to-purchase experience increases the likelihood a shopper will buy from your dealership – 85% more likely according to the Cox Automotive Digitization-of-End-to-End-Retailing-Study. And when it comes to choosing a dealership, 83% of…

Read More

What is Digital Retailing?

Connected retailing

It’s the excitement of another deal made, funded, and delivered that ends with a sticker beside a salesperson’s name. Making deals and selling cars is what automotive retailers do best, but it is a process built by dealers for dealers that is a significant source of anxiety and dissatisfaction for most car buyers. Over the…

Read More

Automotive Digital Retailing: Upsetting The Status Quo Has Its Challenges

eLEND-Integrations

Dealers everywhere have found themselves navigating a new normal…a new normal accelerated by the pandemic. But it is important to understand that the new way to retail digitally isn’t a COVID-19, Millennial or Gen-Z-only conversation. It’s for anyone with a smartphone who desires a more convenient, simplified car buying experience, regardless of economic reality –…

Read More

6 Ways To Make Your Website More Transactional

Transactional website conversion strategies

Allow shoppers to remain anonymous Digital retailing is the start of the deal. it’s not a generation tool. sell the car. Not the appointment. Engage in real time Make it easy for your customers to communicate with you. Basic integrated communication options such as a built-in chat, messaging, email widgets are just the start. Shopping…

Read More

The Pandemic Drove a Great Leap Forward in Digital Retailing Adoption, Part 3: What’s the Auto Dealership New Normal – and is it a Blessing or a Curse?

Change is hard. But sometimes, it’s necessary to learn a new skill, find a new employer, or adapt to altered circumstances. And when it comes to auto dealerships and the COVID-19 pandemic, change has been seismic: those able to stay in business did so by making quick and comprehensive changes to the way they sell…

Read More

The Pandemic Drove a Great Leap Forward in Digital Retailing Adoption, Part 2: What Happened When “Everything” Changed?

For starters, not everything did change – though as time passes the stories of the great pandemic will surely grow more dramatic. The reality is, frankly, dramatic enough: there was a fair amount of disruption to the automotive space, enough to shut factories down for months and close many dealerships. But, dealers are a resilient…

Read More

6 Ways Auto Dealerships Can Prepare to Restart Sales

Chances are good that as a result of the pandemic you’ve had to either furlough or lay off some of your sales team as you figure out what comes next. You’re likely operating with a skeleton crew of high performers and management folks that will be key to your success once the world gets beyond…

Read More

15 Pandemic Do’s & Don’ts for Car Dealers

As we all deal with the current pandemic, your daily operations have probably been impacted. Your physical showroom may even be closed. But your virtual showroom probably has never been busier. Digital retailing means you are open 24/7. Are you making the car buying process easier or harder for your customers? Below are 15 pandemic…

Read More

Digital Finance SOS – Is Digital Retailing the Answer? Part Three: What is Digital Retailing’s Impact on Dealers and Consumers?

Part Three: What is Digital Retailing’s Impact on Dealers and Consumers? Digital Retailing is all about giving the customer what they want – and doing so within a profitable sales and finance model. As the technology has evolved, it is no longer a matter of sacrificing one for the other; the technology is unique in…

Read More

Digital Finance SOS – Is Digital Retailing the Answer? Part Two: Why Aren’t Dealers Adopting Digital Retailing?

Adopting Digital Retailing

By now everyone knows about digital retailing. There are enough automotive technology providers hawking their version of “Retail Magic,” it would be hard to miss it. At its most basic, digital retail technology empowers car buyers to move through the buying journey online and seamlessly transition in to the dealership. Meaning dealers are able to…

Read More

Digital Finance SOS – Is Digital Retailing the Answer? Part 1: Is the Strong Preference for Automotive Dealership Financing Shifting?

Automotive Dealership Financing

Part 1: Is the Strong Preference for Automotive Dealership Financing Shifting? We recently took a deep dive into some key industry numbers around digital retailing (DR), including proprietary data from a survey eLEND conducted earlier this year. Our goal is to assess online auto financing trends, investigate DR’s potential impact on auto finance, and understand…

Read More

The Strong Preference for Dealership Financing May Be Shifting

dealership financing

Is the preference for dealership financing shifting? According to FICO’s 2019 Consumer Survey of Vehicle Financing, most U.S. car buyers (63%) opted for dealer-arranged financing in 2018. That’s down from 73% a year earlier. More concerning is that for their next purchase, only 40% said they would inquire at the dealership. Meanwhile, according to a…

Read More

Smart Dealership Technology: Simple Solutions for Success

There are a lot of expensive technology solutions out there that,you are constantly being told, can accomplish great things for your dealership. Almost everyday, there is a headline about the next great tech solution. But there are fewer headlines about how they often come with added costs, increased complexity, and, a ton offrustration for your…

Read More

ID Fraud Prevention Solutions: Simple Fixes for Dealerships

Let’s call him “Bill.” At least that’s what’s on his identification. “Bill” is sitting in your F&I area right about now, working out the details of a new vehicle purchase. He’s going for a premium car, as well – with plenty of profit margin for you to enjoy. Yet something doesn’t feel right. Bill is…

Read More

3 Ways Dealers Can Benefit from Blockchain Technology

Revenue opportunities are dealership opportunities Here’s why: In many respects, the future of automotive retail is connected to blockchain because it’s a scalable, secure ledger system that can be used in virtually any type of transaction, no matter how small or what the data may be. In fact, auto retailers sit at the intersection where…

Read More

The 3 ways to increase visitor to sales ratios

As the influence and reach of the internet continues to grow, it can be difficult to determine how to harness its power to capture more than your fair share of the benefit. As a dealer operator – and someone probably not at expert in SEO/SEM and all things social – it’s a huge challenge. You…

Read More

Digital Retailing: Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way

Dealers know the value of digital retailing and how effectively it can increase visitor to sales ratio’s and make the showroom process more satisfying and profitable. Yet the adoption of digital retailing solutions is still fairly low. In fact, we recently surveyed dealers and found that, though dealers understand its value. Most are still reluctant…

Read More

3 easy ways mobile tech can boost CSI for Dealerships

There are few absolutes when it comes to the business of selling cars — which is a little amazing, right? Most dealerships work hard to define an optimized path to success, one that starts the moment a car buyer sets an appointment or walks into the showroom. Yet even though there’s this clear and organized…

Read More

How automated communications benefit your auto dealership

The ideal car buying experience is relatively streamlined. A potential customer, having already done their research, comes to your lot, picks a car, loves the test drive, and walks away with the car thanks to favorable financing. But every dealership manager knows the reality doesn’t tend to be nearly that straightforward. Potential customers leave without buying…

Read More

Incremental changes can bring a mini revolution

Have you heard that customers hate the car buying process? I thought so. Fact is, lately it’s hard to avoid the constant sound of critical voices telling dealers they must make dramatic changes to the way they operate their business. It goes something like this: Change everything you’ve ever known about the car business, then…

Read More

Tips to Give Your Customers the Best Buying Experience

Selling vehicles can be a hard business. Though people need cars every day, most people don’t buy them often. Instead, the fix their old ones until it is no longer feasible. Since people don’t buy new (or used) vehicles often, there is a lot of competition between car lots and dealerships. When people do decide…

Read More