Shoppers are finding the vehicles they want, are happy with prices, think trade-ins are fair, and say F&I visits are smoother.
So why did the overall score in CDK Global’s latest “Ease of Purchase” report drop? David Thomas, CDK’s director of content marketing, was puzzled, too.
“Every step in the process saw improvement (but) the total score dropped. That’s never happened to this degree before,” he said.
By the numbers: The CDK Ease of Purchase score dropped overall to 85%, down 4% month-over-month and 2% year-over-year.
55% of buyers found their vehicle in stock, up from 48% in September.
And agreeing on the final price (70%) and agreeing on trade-in values (66%) both rose 8% month-over-month.
Thomas’ take: Dealers executed well, but buyer emotions didn’t.
“You’ve got to go outside the numbers then. It’s outside factors—all the negative economic news weighing on people. Even though all the steps… they said, ‘great, great, great,’ when you ask how it felt purchasing that car, it’s spending that much money in this environment that’s taking a toll,” he said.
Thomas pointed to rising insurance premiums, longer wait times, and budget anxiety.
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“More people did say it took longer than they expected,” Thomas noted. “People don’t really re-shop their insurance very often until they buy a new car. And so, yeah, it can be a surprise to that total monthly payment—especially for electric vehicles.”
And the troubles don’t stop at signing time.
“We’ve seen increased term payments to make monthly payments on very expensive cars more digestible—and then you get all underwater. “There’s a huge lack of education for new-car buyers about what’s sensible,” Thomas explained.
Why it matters: Sales and F&I teams, for the foreseeable future, have to be educators and expectation setters first, not just process optimizers. The battle now is about what buyers think, fear, or expect long before they step into the dealership.
Bottom Line: “I totally agree with the phrase ‘control the controllables,’” Thomas said. “If [dealers] keep improving on price transparency, inventory, and communication… when rates drop or confidence rebounds, that top number will shoot up.”
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