Trade-ins are typically crucial to a car dealership’s success. Not only do trade-ins help attract customers to your dealership, but they also build up your inventory of used cars to sell to other shoppers.
A strong trade-in experience will go a long way toward persuading customers to do business with your dealership. Here’s how to optimize the trade-in process to improve your overall dealership customer experience.
3 Ways to Make Trade-Ins Easier for Customers
Customers prefer a seamless process when trading in their vehicles. Any avoidable hurdles or delays could potentially steer them to a different direction. Apply these tips to simplify your trade-in process for customers:
1. Send Checklists to Clients
A lot of paperwork is involved in trading in vehicles and purchasing others, making it easy to forget certain documents or not fill out all the necessary forms. Eliminate this stress — and the potential delays caused by missing paperwork — by sending your clients a checklist. This checklist should include all the forms trade-in customers have to fill out and the documents they need to bring with them to the dealership.
Having all this information in one place will help your clients get organized before their trade-ins. They can simply refer back to the checklist and cross items off the list once they have them ready to go.
2. Answer Questions Thoroughly
Some of your trade-in customers may be new to the process. They’re likely to have lots of questions, including, “How does trading in a car work?”
Break down the basic steps involved in your dealership’s trade-in process on your website. You may also want to email this list to customers who show an interest in trade-ins. By providing these steps, you can put customers at ease and prepare them for the process. Customers who know what to expect are more likely to be satisfied after trading in their vehicles.
A sample list of steps involved in the trade-in process include:
- Selecting a car customers want to buy or lease from the dealership.
- Alerting the dealership and getting more details on what customers need to do to trade in their old vehicle.
- The dealership appraises customers’ vehicles and makes offers.
- If customers accept the offer, that trade-in value goes toward the vehicle they’re purchasing.
- Signing over the title to their vehicle and filling out paperwork to complete the trade-in.
- Purchasing their new vehicle.
Customize these steps according to your dealership’s trade-in process and share them with potential customers.
3. Direct Them to Use a Trade-In Tool
Vehicle shoppers increasingly spend their time on the internet rather than going to dealerships in person. Over 80% of customers say online activities improve their buying experience when shopping for vehicles.1 The same principle applies to vehicle trade-ins.
With a trade-in tool like ClearCar, customers can get a competitive, real-time offer on their old vehicle. All they need to do is provide details about their vehicle using the tool and submit pictures through an easy-to-use guided photo capture. In just 60 seconds, ClearCar will generate a condition-based trade-in offer based on current market conditions.
Your customers benefit from knowing how much their car is worth before ever stepping foot in a dealership. The advantage for dealerships is enticing potential customers with such a transparent, convenient trade-in process. That way, you don’t lose trade-in customers to your competitors and can build up your inventory of consumer vehicles.
The Importance of Transparency
Currently, only 21% of car buyers believe the vehicle buying process is very transparent, while more than two-thirds of dealers do.2 That’s a big gap that needs addressing.
Keep transparency at the forefront of your trade-in process. Vehicle shoppers value trust in a dealership as much as competitive pricing, so showing your trustworthiness is essential.3
In other words, it pays to practice transparency in all customer interactions. Some ways to be more transparent in your trade-in process include:
- Explain how you arrive at vehicle prices
- Let customers know where trade-in values come from
- Provide straightforward vehicle descriptions that include all relevant details
- Be honest and authentic in discussions with customers
- Offer clear financing options
- Be upfront about any add-on charges or fees
How ClearCar Can Evaluate Your Vehicle
Vehicle sales and trade-ins are competitive. One of the best ways to help your dealership stand out is by providing instant trade-in offers.
With data-driven, live-time offers, you’ll streamline the trade-in process and draw in customers. ClearCar’s trade-in offers are backed by millions of data points and reflect the most up-to-date market conditions, so they’re as competitive as possible. You also have the option to adjust your offers according to your business strategy. Sign up for a demo today to see ClearCar in action.
Sources
- (18 January 2023). Cox Automotive’s Car Buyer Journey Study Shows Growing Frustration with Car Buying Process. Cox Automotive. Retrieved 28 June 2024, from, https://www.capitalone.com/about/newsroom/car-buying-outlook-report-2023/
- (27 January 2023). 2023 Capital One Car Buying Outlook. Capital One. Retrieved 28 June 2024, from, https://www.capitalone.com/about/newsroom/car-buying-outlook-report-2023/
- (2021). Trust, Transparency & The Transaction: Who Wins the Car Sale Today & Why? Marchex. Retrieved 28 June 2024, from, https://www.marchex.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Automotive-Buyer-Study-Summary-2021.pdf
