Even though it has been about two years since the pandemic shutdown of March 2020, the divide between pre-pandemic life and post-pandemic life has not closed. The future has very few certainties, but that doesn’t prevent you from making educated guesses. There are specific areas that could affect the future of your dealership. Those areas are the ones where you should focus your decisions. Here are a few general subjects you should consider to get you started, but everyone’s situation is different. There might be others you should add, too.

Cyberattacks

The digital cloud is important for a couple of reasons: convenience and security. The cloud makes it possible to access information somewhere other than a physical store, and it also protects that data by using security protocols.

Although the cloud’s convenience is an obvious benefit, security aspects are important, too. Automotive dealerships have a high volume of data, and much of it is sensitive because it involves personal and financial information about customers. Security patches and updates for cloud-native systems can be installed whenever necessary, and cloud record backups prevent you from losing important information if or when someone hacks your business. If you don’t already have a cloud-based DMS, you should consider getting one.

Digital Advertising

Websites, including social media websites, are an opportunity to help potential customers find you. You can then let them know about any special offers you might have. That becomes doubly important at a time when many people are still avoiding brick-and-mortar stores.

Mobile Services

Sometimes people don’t want to bring a vehicle in for service. Some dealerships have met that need by expanding their services; more specifically, they offer mobile services. They can pick up a vehicle from a customer’s home, rotate the tires or change the oil, and then return it. Suppose you are considering offering similar services at your dealership. If so, you will need a DMS that can work off-site without a VPN.

Online Shopping

Most potential customers now prefer to do some or all of their shopping online instead of at a dealership. Thanks to the internet, they can conduct in-depth research and become well-informed before making their final buying decisions. According to an online article on the Autolist website that appeared in May 2021, people spend more than nine hours researching vehicles. Going to the dealership to buy a vehicle often takes about three hours. That time might be spent looking at vehicles, talking to the sales staff, test driving, negotiating the purchase price and trade-in price, and signing paperwork.

The shift to online research and paperwork that has been filled out in advance allows you to improve efficiency. If customers start the buying process from home, that means you can often shorten the time needed to finalize the sale. As people do more paperwork at home, the sales process becomes easier, and customers are happier about their vehicle-buying experience.

What is the ideal amount of time? A Car and Driver article by Jack Nerad published Jan. 4, 2018, said customers wanted to spend 45 minutes to an hour finalizing their purchase. Although that was more than four years ago, the pandemic has increased people’s expectations about buying goods quickly and easily.

The 2022 Deloitte Global Automotive Consumer Study contains results from a survey of 26,000 people in 25 countries. It found that people still prefer buying in person from an authorized dealer. However, online purchasing was also attractive because those surveyed thought it would be easier and more convenient.

You don’t have complete control over how long it takes someone to buy a car, but you should make buying as easy as possible whether customers are online or in your store. Online, you might want to consider having a virtual sales manager.

Payments

It has become increasingly important to take payments securely online. That way, customers can pay at their convenience and avoid crowds. Your DMS can do more than enable online payments; it also allows you to track them.

Remote Work

One advantage of cloud-based software is the way it allows employees to work remotely. If you set things up correctly, employees working from home can set up deals, offer different payment options, schedule service and test-drive appointments and allow customers to set up contracts and payments digitally.

The pandemic pushed the entire world forward technologically when it became necessary to shut down public institutions and ask people to isolate themselves. That was hard, and it continues to be hard. But companies also became more efficient, and what used to be considered a concierge level of service became mainstream. As a result, you can deliver a better experience to your customers than ever before. That’s always good for business.