Car dealers, brands team up vs. digital rivals

As more auto shopping moves online, automakers and dealers must work together to preserve their place in the market. The alternative? Giving up more business to disrupters such as Carvana, Vroom and Tesla.

Vroom's 2021 Super Bowl commercial, which depicted a dealer holding a customer hostage until he buys a car, vexed dealers. It seemed like a cheap shot, especially after customer satisfaction with the shopping experience jumped to 72 percent in 2020 from 60 percent a year earlier, according to a Cox Automotive survey.

But reputations change slowly. To fend off new entrants, automakers and dealers need to make the buying process easier and more digital.

General Motors this month announced the launch of CarBravo, an online used-vehicle shopping platform for dealers to list GM and non-GM vehicles. The automaker will also offer company-owned vehicles and lease returns that dealers didn't purchase.

It's a step in the right direction that's both respectful to dealers' businesses and fair to customers with transparent pricing.

CarBravo and other automaker programs, such as Ford Blue Advantage and [email protected], can help ensure that more vehicles are kept within the dealership network rather than sent to auctions for Carvana, Vroom, CarMax Inc. and the like.

Digital retail has become key to pleasing customers: Satisfaction soared after pandemic shutdowns forced more dealers to get serious about taking the sales process online. According to Cox, consumers who completed more of the purchase digitally were more satisfied with their experience than those who completed more of it in person.

Overall satisfaction slid last year because of a shortage of vehicles and soaring prices. Yet despite the lack of bargains, satisfaction remained well above pre-pandemic levels.

The past year has brought instances of misleading behavior by dealers as well as honest-yet-outrageous pricing. Selling online doesn't eliminate bad behavior, but it tends to make shoppers feel as if they have more control and a better understanding of what price is fair.

Dealers may have some apprehension about automaker-operated sites. But it's better to work together than to surrender more ground to new rivals.