Advertisement feature: How the cost of living crisis is making car buying journeys more complex

Advertisement feature from iVendi

Darren Sinclair, CCO, iVendi

As the cost of living crisis continues to bite, we’re beginning to see in greater detail its effects on how people buy cars. Perhaps the most important for lenders and dealers is that purchasing journeys are becoming more complex, with customers on our platform researching prospective purchases more intensively and for longer before making decisions.

This development makes absolute sense. Present circumstances mean consumers want to do everything possible to ensure that their prospective car is reliable, has a strong aftersales package with a good warranty at its heart, is financed in a manner that is affordable, and is being bought from a reputable retailer.

However, there are complicating factors. Primarily, because stock shortages are still very much in effect, the vehicle parc continues to age and car prices remain historically high. Buyers are paying more for older vehicles and as a result, are likely to desire not just an increased amount of information, advice and guidance during their purchasing journey but also high degree of reassurance.

For dealers, the challenge in 2023 will be to do more to support consumers who are now much more deliberative in their actions, providing them with the means to make buying choices in a manner that is well-informed and conscientious.

How can this be achieved? At iVendi, we believe this calls for a reinforcement of the fundamentals of motor retail. Dealers should ensure that vehicles are imaged more comprehensively than ever and the fullest details possible provided about each car. The standard warranty and upgrade path also needs to be presented in a highly accessible manner and crucially, finance options offered clearly along with key tools such as calculators and pre-qualifiers. Also, independent reviews have a key part to play in building trust.

A further point to consider is that there could well be a renewed emphasis on in-person activity, with prospective buyers wanting to spend more time examining and test driving the vehicle. This should be made as easy for the potential buyer as possible – making it important to ensure your systems allow seamless integration whenever consumers choose to switch between online and showroom channels.

Importantly, lenders adopting this type of approach in response to current conditions are very much harmonising with the FCA’s forthcoming Consumer Duty responsibilities. Ensuring that customer needs are being understood and met is, to our mind, very much both the future of compliance and where motor retail should be heading regardless of regulation.

Right now, we are working with our dealers to identify ways in which our technology can be used to ensure consumers are given the information and tools to make the right decision for them in what may prove to be a relatively strong but perhaps fractious 2023 market. We’d very much welcome the opportunity to discuss how the iVendi Connected Retail range of products can help your business meet these challenges.

About iVendi and Connected Retail

Since 2009, iVendi has been digitally transforming the way vehicles are bought and sold, uniting online and showroom sales processes into a single, seamless vehicle buying journey.

We are the acknowledged market leader in this Connected Retailing concept, with our solutions linking together the consumer, retailer and lender to create an experience that meets and exceeds the expectations of even the most demanding digital customers. Each month, this cutting-edge technology is used by around five million consumers alongside thousands of motor retailers, manufacturers and finance providers.