CrossCheck Blog

Here at CrossCheck, I am fortunate to attend a variety of payments industry events, such as the CardNotPresent Expo (CNP) last month, and two previous conferences by the Information Security Media Group, the world’s largest media organization devoted solely to information security and risk management. Seminar sessions are offered at most of these events, and the informational sharing is invaluable. I thought I had a good understanding of the perils involved in accepting payments, but I was very surprised to learn at the CNP Expo that fraud is now increasing auto dealership risk. If your dealership has not experienced a recent uptick in consumer fraud, you are about to, so you might want to read this.

Cox Automotive’s “Dealership Staffing Study” addresses the dealership staffing challenges that plague auto dealers every day. This study randomly sampled 50 dealerships executives (owners, principals, and GMs), 343 dealership employees, and 834 people from the general U.S. population. Below is a synopsis of the challenges and solutions presented.

In our last column, we talked about the challenges and intricacies of being a car dealer, and along those lines, why a car dealer would need a reliable and robust Dealer Management System (DMS). The car retailing business is unique. It has a lot of moving parts and there is a lot of money flowing through it every week. The owners and managers need to stay on top of the numbers that drive the business every day, not once a month. The DMS is a kind of supercharged general ledger accounting system that addresses the unique needs of a car dealer. Consequently, you do not want to change DMS or providers lightly; it is a big commitment to learn how to use a DMS and is usually a long-term commitment.

Today I heard another comment about the future of automotive retailing from someone who is not in the industry, but considers themselves fully qualified to predict the future. Predicting is a tricky business, particularly about the future. In this case, his prediction was that new car dealers would go away, and be replaced by “test drive centers” where you can take a test drive after doing all your research online.

Thinking of starting a car dealership? You’ll be in good company and want to launch the venture with the help of an auto dealer management system. This two-part series will explore the challenges and intricacies of being a new car dealership and why one would need a reliable and robust dealer management system (DMS). We begin with a description of the retail automotive space and related statistics.

A consumer just found their dream car and believe they got a good deal from one of the local auto dealerships. Isn’t this one of the big things in life? Of course it is. Being a savvy shopper, this consumer knows the car depreciated 10 percent the instant they drove it off the car lot and that it will depreciate another 10 percent over the first year of ownership. They may also be aware that studies show it will lose about 10 percent of its value each year over the next four years. If one does the math, this means that after five years, it is going to be worth about half or even 40 percent of the original sale price. Many people, including me, find this to be a scary statistic.

In our previous blog, we listed ways for consumers to leverage preparation as a means of speeding up the sales process at auto dealerships. As the old Boy Scout motto says, “Be Prepared!” This second article in the two-part series discusses how to accelerate the process once consumers arrive at dealerships. The discussion begins with a brief explanation of dealership interests.

A recent survey of 1,000 U.S. adults by Capital One Auto Finance found that most consumers are not confident when it comes to understanding the process of buying a car at auto dealerships. Only 20 percent of consumers feel sure of themselves when buying a car. On top of that, 62 percent of those surveyed believe they did not get the best price on the last car they bought. Ironically, almost half of those surveyed said that getting the best deal was the single most important part of the car buying process. Fully 82 percent said that negotiating the price is still necessary. In perhaps the understatement of the year, Jeff Rabinowitz, managing VP of Capital One Auto Finance, said, “The current state of trust and transparency in car-buying needs to be addressed.”

“Diagnostic equipment does not tell you what’s wrong,” said Gary Uyematsu, the national technical training manager at BMW of North America while discussing the auto service technician shortage. “It’s just a tool, and a diagnostician needs to interpret the messages.” Similarly, most articles about the auto service technician shortage provide the tools for analysis, but few sources have interpreted the messaging. This analysis of the shortage connects the dots and finishes with a holistic solution.

Leaving good impressions on clients is one of the most important priorities of any business. In addition, there is no better way to understand the value that companies offer than to hear it from the individuals who “buy the product.” CrossCheck recently visited President Kevin Massie of Napa Ford Lincoln who graciously allocated time to share his experience using CrossCheck services. In the below video, he talks about the reasoning behind how and why he chose CrossCheck to be his check guarantee provider for the last 12 years.