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CONSUMERS PREPPING FOR

CAR DEALERSHIP VISITS

HELPS ALL INVOLVED

“It’s not a 10-minute transaction,” By Steve Finlay

but technology can help make the car deal go faster.

Where do you live?
Buying and financing a vehicle is a big

transaction in which a consumer must offer Where do you work?
up all sorts of personal information. Such as: How much money
do you make?

“It’s not a 10-minute transaction,” but It also lets dealers in on what a customer Its web designers sought to present
it doesn’t need to take forever either, has been up to online, including their what Schofield calls uncluttered
says industry veteran Chuck Schofield, vehicle considerations, financing webpages. “Users aren’t overwhelmed
who has spent most of his career on intentions and whether they looked at with information. A lot of website
the financing side of the auto business, F&I and accessory products. It helps designs include too much, and chase
including stints at Mercedes-Benz dealers to know such things, because people away.
Financial Services and Ford Credit. “they don’t want to guess,” Schofield
says. “Our technology is clean and allows
He’s now senior director-business users to go as far as they want to go.
development for Digital Motors, a “We create a deal sheet showing Cars appear on the left, deal structures
relatively new company offering car everything a user did. The technology on the right.”
dealerships an embedded website helps dealers smooth out that last
tool. It allows online consumers to do piece of the transaction.” Financing can get touchy with
the lion’s share of a vehicle deal, from some consumers, so Digital Motors
inventory selection to financing. Digital Motors’ goal is not to disrupt developers kept that in mind.
the dealer model, but to supplement
But most people, at some point, want to it. The company traces its roots to “The more you allow people to do, the
make contact with the dealership itself, AutoGravity, an app with which users more they engage,” Schofield says. “But
Schofield says. arrange car financing, then pick a if you force them to give up information,
vehicle and dealership. it may be a turn-off. So, at the early part
Only a “narrow band” of automotive we ask them subjectively about their
consumers use the internet to buy a Daimler Financial Services was a credit rating.”
vehicle from virtually A to Z, he tells resource for AutoGravity, founded in
WardsAuto. “What is buying a car 2015. Put in charge of it was Andreas That means asking them if it is excellent,
online? Theoretically, it is not talking Hinrichs who was an executive at the good, average or what. Most people
to anyone at the dealership. But most captive finance company. have a sense of where they stand in the
consumers want to talk to a dealer at credit world.
some point.” Hinrichs went on to co-found Digital
Motors with Nicholas Stellman, who Some people do cash deals, but the
His company’s technology enables also worked at AutoGravity and vast majority finance their vehicle
consumers to digitally prepare Daimler Financial Services. Much of purchases. In auto retailing, “clearly,
themselves for the dealership visit, the AutoGravity top echelon, including financial is moving digital,” says
he says. “It makes people showroom- Schofield, also joined Digital Motors. Schofield.
ready, transaction-ready, contract-
ready.”
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