For me, the car buying experience is an unpleasant one. Overbearing sales reps and managers using their sales 101/Herb Tarlick playbook to get me to sign a deal despite protestations of “I am not buying a car today”. However, COVID has changed everything forcing local dealerships to change their sales approach making the shopping experience less pressurized. Here is how:
*Online Tools: car companies have made it easy to research vehicles with increased use of virtual showrooms, video, and other shopping tools.
*Live Sales Video Chats: plug in my postal code and within minutes I am speaking to a sales rep at my local dealer from the comfort of my own home.
*At-Home Test Drives: some dealers are making it easy by bringing the vehicle to my home to test drive
*Appointment Only Dealer Meetings: Want to feel safe? Go to a car dealership. Very few people, safety protocols in place and cars ready to test drive before you arrive leading to appointments times of 45 minutes or less.
*Dealer Incentives: Automotive sales are down and prices are rising in Canada, so dealers are getting aggressive with incentives to motivate you to buy.
Hopefully, car dealerships take the learning from COVID to make the car buying experience even better in the future.
