Dealer tech expert: How car buying is evolving

Welcome to another episode of the Car Dealership Guy Podcast.

Today’s guest is Chase Abbott, Vice President of Sales at Cox Automotive, who discusses the future of dealership technology stacks, the #1 killer of car deals, and the secret playbook to getting a dealership's attention.

You can stream the full episode now on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple.

1. Background in the biz.

Chase started working at a car dealership during high school, where his brother sold cars. By the age of 17, he was already interacting with customers and learning the ropes. He began selling cars in college and found success fast. He sold 38 cars in his first two months and lifted internet sales. Chase’s success led him to manage internet sales for many stores, and he ended up holding many positions in the dealership, including new car manager, used car manager, F&I director, and general sales manager. Despite his passion for the business, the long hours led him to leave retail. After planning his exit, he found a job at VIN Solutions. There, he became one of their top salespeople and later a director. Cox Automotive's acquisition provided him with more career opportunities with brands like AutoTrader, Kelley Blue Book, and Dealer.com.

2. The real deal with integration.

According to Chase, boutique digital solutions can work but can often cause frustrations like re-entering data that slows down car deals. Integrated ecosystems offer smoother data movement and more efficient operations. This is a hot-button issue in light of recent cyberattacks, and Chase believes larger providers need to invest more in protecting data. Some large dealers use more than one DMS system, but this approach can be costly and complex. Chase sees integrated ecosystems as more effective in protecting data and improving customer experiences by reducing the time to close deals – a major consumer pain point.

3. Addressing security concerns.

Chase says that his conversations with dealers are now much more technical, especially when it comes to security. Dealers often ask what Cox is doing to protect their data, and the company has been clear about its heavy investments in security. During the CDK outage, Cox even helped dealers by creating shell accounts to keep their businesses running. But customer experience is as important. 92% of customers have to re-enter their information in-store. If dealers don't improve how they treat customers, then strong security won't matter. They’ll still lose sales to competitors.

4. Diversification is a growing theme.

Dealers are now exploring powersports dealerships, new F&I products, and investing in body shops and collision centers. The unpredictability of the future, along with events like the CDK outages, has made diversification a priority. Some independent dealers are now considering buying franchises as well. Chase has seen this firsthand at Cox Automotive. But diversification isn't only about new products – it’s also about upgrading existing operations.

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5. The technical side of things.

APIs (application programming interfaces) is a high-level term that encompasses a set of operations that developers can use to create a menu of parameters that dictate how applications communicate with each other. APIs are often used for integrations and homegrown products, and they come in handy to remove redundant processes. “There’s day-to-day brain damage that [dealers] are experiencing from it, like re-entering info. People don't understand the multitude of effects that that can have, especially on a high-volume store. When you're doing it every single day, the seller experience drops. They're pissed because they have to enter this stuff in again, and then the customer experience drops because of that, and it's kind of a domino snowball effect a little bit,” says Chase. Cox aims to be neutral, “API-ing” with as many partners as possible to keep customers happy.

6. When it comes to A.I.

Dealers are having genuine conversations about A.I. with their vendors, not only on social media. “There's all these different types of A.I.,” explains Chase. “You've got virtual assistants and like chatbots that are going to take over conversations and use A.I. to go back. You've got generative A.I. which salespeople are using to generate email responses to make them sound better. We've got machine learning. We have predictive insights with things like buying signals that we have at Cox Auto, which is based on all the first-party data we have. So there is just a ton of different flavors of it.” Cox Auto uses its first-party data from 82 million visitors on AutoTrader, Kelley Blue Book, and dealer.com to understand customer behavior. This helps dealerships track the count of active online shoppers. They can then, measure their activity to make better decisions. 

7. Don’t forget the basics. 

DealPulse is a tool developed based on feedback from dealers about the most valuable customer information. The top interests were payment, trade, APR, and cash down—classic elements of the four-square deal sheet. This feedback showed that, despite new tech, the key information dealers need is transactional. Still, dealers can still glean valuable insights. Customers often click on various URLs, figuring out payments and adjusting details like cash down and trade-in amounts on digital retailing tools like Cox's Accelerate. DealPulse takes these insights, distills them, and presents them in aggregate form. So, when a customer comes into DealCentral, dealers can see, for example, that a car shopper submitted a $450 payment but also explored options between $380 and $520.

8. Modern dealers shop for tech partners in many different ways. 

Some are deeply integrated with their ecosystems. They join dealer advisory boards and champion specific tools. Others prefer custom-made solutions. Many dealers rely on their 20 groups for recommendations and demos. Dealer groups might centralize decisions or allow individual GMs to choose their tech stack. A lot of the time, they visit other stores to see tools in action. A lot of clients even request to observe the software in a real-world setting, and Cox facilitates these visits. But Chase prefers live demos over PowerPoints to showcase the actual user experiences.

9. Staying on board with Cox.

Less than 3% of companies make it to the fourth generation. Cox has done this by balancing profit with being good humans. They also encourage charity work and take care of their customers. Being a privately held company of this size is rare, and they truly care about their employees, he says. Transitioning from the demanding dealership to Cox was a big culture shift. But, Chase likes the consistency and support he gets there. His retail background gives valuable insights into the car business. It lets him improve products by understanding dealers' needs and makes his role at Cox rewarding.

10. The future of dealership technology.

Chase predicts a meaningful rise in A.I. usage, particularly generative A.I., in the next few years. It’s already being used to improve email templates and responses, with tools like ChatGPT helping in a big way. He shared his own story of hunting for a Ford Raptor. Some dealers were up-to-date with their tech, while others were asking customers to come in with no online engagement. He notes there’s a real mix of tech-savvy and old-fashioned dealers out there. To get in touch with Chase, email [email protected].

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