Advertisement feature: Why vehicle collection and delivery has never been so important for dealers

Advertisement feature from Engineius

“The car buying market has shifted significantly over the past 18 months” says Calum Slowther, managing director of Engineius. “The disruption many have been forecasting for decades appears to have taken place all since Covid struck and changed the way we all work, live and transact.

“Online has quickly become a key channel for not just selling vehicles to consumers but also now purchasing vehicles from them. Put simply, dealers who don’t have a robust logistics solution will be left behind on both the vehicle purchasing and selling side”.

Engineius - the end to end vehicle movement service that combines leading technology with an in-house supply chain - works closely with some of the UK’s largest dealer groups on all vehicle movement types. This has made clear that the greatest concern for large dealer groups is control. Given a top 10 franchise dealer group can use up to 80 different vehicle movement suppliers across their network, it is often the case that dealers lack this control. This makes it very difficult to manage not only costs, but critically the service quality provided to end users.

“As market disruption continues at an unparalleled pace, retailers need to act fast to create a logistics supply chain that allows them to meet the needs of their business and the expectations of their customers.

“Being able to see how their delivery process is performing instantly, while providing their customers with the kind of service that they have come to expect from the likes of Amazon and Uber, is a must to keep up with the increased demands of the market” Slowther continues.

Customers receive automated texts from Engineius while waiting for delivery, alerting them when their vehicle is en-route while also being provided with a tracking link and ETA for arrival.

Slowther explains: “It’s all too often that the likes of online retailers are purchasing vehicles blind, but with live data syncing to our online portal and configurable alerts to flag damage, we can, to a great extent, replicate the control of physical transactions online”.

In parallel, at AM Live 2021, it was highlighted that car buyers have accelerated their purchasing process to shorten the time from making an initial enquiry to purchasing a vehicle from 16 to six days.

“As the speed of making a vehicle purchase accelerates, a vehicle movement solution that saves time and effort by providing dealers with not just control, but transparency too, has become even more significant.

“Time-saving features, including APIs and bulk uploading to avoid manually inputting orders and automated text alerts to save back and forth emails and phone calls with end customers are just some of the many ingredients vehicle movement companies should be adding to their service.

“As the demand for similar system integrations grows, and digital retail trends continue to speed up heading into 2022, vehicle logistics is only going to become an even greater consideration for retailers” Slowther concludes.