GNYADA November 2017 Newsletter

Dealers Must Use Latest FTC Buyers Guide by January 28 9

In 2016, the FTC updated requirements for Buyers Guides that must be displayed on used cars offered for sale. The FTC gave dealers a one-year transition period, starting January 27, 2017, in which dealers could begin using revised guides while using up their stock of old guides. Starting January 28, 2018, dealers must be fully transitioned to using the latest version of the Buyers Guide. Among other changes, the revised Buyers Guides contain a statement

telling customers they can obtain a vehicle history report, to reveal possible open recalls, through safercar.gov. English-language guides must also contain a sentence, written in Spanish, directing Spanish- speaking customers to request a Spanish version of the guide. Dealers are required to provide Spanish Buyers Guides for transactions conducted in Spanish. Failure to post Buyers Guides can result in fines up to $40,000 per violation. ership transactions were: A drawn-out process is one of the top customer frustrations in car- buying. In fact, customer satisfac- tion tends to drop drastically after about 90 minutes spent in the deal- ership. Nearly one hour, on average, is spent in F&I, which is where much of the negative experience take place. Consumers are much more satis- fied with the car-buying steps that take place online (such as research- ing the vehicle they want), but that satisfaction reliably declines when the process comes offline. Among a number of other strategic tips, the webinar offered dealers the following suggestions: Be transparent about the process. Zahabi encouraged dealers to keep customers informed about specifics of n n n

GNYADA Offers Compliant Buyers Guides Dealers can purchase FTC-compliant Used Car Buyers Guides in both English and Spanish from the Association: FTC Buyers Guide–$22.50 per set of 200 FTC Buyers Guide (In Spanish)– $12.00 per set of 100 To order, call GNYADA at 718.746.5900. n n the transaction, whenever feasible, in order to make the process more enjoyable and put the customer at ease. Educate customers during down- time. Previewing the different financ- ing or aftermarket options customers are going to be presented with, including taking them on product tours, allows customers to think about their decision and creates a better use of their idle time in the store. Connect the online experience with the in-store conversation. If a cus- tomer researches a dealership’s inven- tory online, selects a vehicle, goes to the dealership to “check out” and the dealer doesn't know what they’re talk- ing about, this is a negative experi- ence that hurts satisfaction scores. “Don’t make the customer redo what they did,” said Zahabi. “If they worked out payments or filled out credit applications on the website, make sure to acknowledge that when they walk in the store.”

10 Increase CSI by Shortening Customer Visits A recent Dealertrack webinar exam- ined car buyers’ rapidly changing shopping and purchasing preferences. The webinar, titled It’s About Time: Customers Are Demanding Faster Transactions. Here's How You Deliver , focused on the importance of

allowing consumers to conduct as much of the transaction process online as possible. Presenter Mo Zahabi, Director of Product Consulting for Dealertrack and VinSolutions, shared a number of important satisfaction metrics and addressed the need for dealers to cre- ate smoother, faster, and more con- venient transactions to maximize CSI scores and remain viable in the long run. “Customers’ expectations aren’t always reality, but that doesn’t mean they're not right,” said Zahabi to open his presentation. “We constantly hear that we’ve got to get faster with trans- actions in dealerships.” Some of the most important stats and facts Zahabi shared regarding in-deal-

Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association • www.gnyada.com

The Newsletter • November 2017 7