CONNECTED Vehicles CEO, Mark Lancaster, an innovator in automotive IT, has entered into an exclusive reseller agreement with AdTorque Edge Singapore.
The partnership grants AdTorque Edge Singapore distribution rights for Connected Vehicles’ dealership loyalty and rewards and wear-and-tear replacement products for car owners across the South East Asia region.
Connected Vehicles trades under the Carbucks Rewards and Carbucks Protect brand.
Mark Lancaster
AdTorque Edge Singapore is an arm of well-known Australian-based dealership advertising and digital marketing services company, AdTorque Edge. AdTorque Edge Singapore is owned by the executive chairman of AdTorque Edge, John O’Neill and executive director, George Cornwell.
The arrangement was initially hatched by management of both companies on the sidelines of the recent AADA motor industry trip to the Shanghai Motor Show.
AdTorque Edge Singapore operates advertising and digital marketing services for dealerships across Malaysia and the Philippines with plans to spread its services across the region. Initially the Carbucks service will be offered in Malaysia which has about 2200 dealerships.
The arrangement includes other key auto markets in the region including Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan. It does not include China.
Executive chairman of AdTorque Edge, John O’Neill
Mr Lancaster told GoAutoNews Premium: “This partnership with AdTorque Edge Singapore is about delivering proven Australian automotive innovation to one of the fastest-growing dealer markets in the world. It will help dealers sell more, retain more customers and build stronger businesses.”
Mr Cornwell told GoAutoNews Premium: “AdTorque Edge is always looking for the best global solutions for its clients. This partnership will bring SE Asian dealers a much needed revenue boost in upfront income, and in a first for the automotive industry, will bring an ability to earn ongoing revenue from its customer base with the Rewards product, it’s a fantastic Australian initiative.”
The South East Asia agreement follows closely on the heels of a similar recent deal with aftermarket warranty group Presidian for an exclusive distribution agreement for Carbucks in Australia and New Zealand.
Under a 10-year agreement, Presidian has taken over the sales of the Carbucks Rewards program and the newly-developed Carbucks Protect aftermarket wear-and-tear parts replacement scheme which is proving to be a runaway success for participating Australian dealers.
The unique recently-added Carbucks Protect wear-and-tear parts replacement program for car buyers is designed to generate immediate increases in revenue for participating dealers.
The companion Carbucks Rewards cashback program for car owners, which is included in the Carbucks Protect package, is designed to increasingly generate longer-term customer loyalty for participating dealers as well as uniquely over time return them more and more rewards dollars on a wide range of their customers’ card purchases.
AdTorque Edge executive director, George Cornwell
Mr Lancaster transformed the dealer appeal of his Carbucks Rewards program when earlier this year he added this wear-and-tear Carbucks Protect scheme with immediate appeal to both car buyers as well as selling dealers seeking immediate additional revenue.
Mr Lancaster said that demand for the Carbucks product has since “exploded overnight”.
He said: “When we partnered with Presidian who had a lot more sales people on the ground, it just took off and is really flying now. Presidian is signing up around four new dealers a day on average at the moment and we had one dealer getting 50 per cent penetration with customers buying our product and he made over $30,000 in gross profit in two weeks, just new revenue.”
Carbucks Protect has an RRP from $1599, allowing the dealer a margin of around $700, and can be sold alongside new vehicles. It complements the manufacturer’s warranty, helping drive dealer retention. Current data shows an average 30 per cent penetration on all new cars sold.
Repairs and replacements are made by the selling dealer at no cost to the owner. Dealers invoice Carbucks to recover the cost.
With Carbucks Protect, owners receive long-term peace of mind through effectively pre-paying on commonly replaced parts and services, such as wiper blades, tyres, 12V batteries, brake components, and more.
For example, Carbucks will refresh or repair or replace key fobs, replace worn out front and rear wiper blades, replace new-for old a 12V battery when it is worn out, replace worn out or damaged tyres, replace worn brake pads, rotors or drums.
It also includes a dedicated concierge service for claims and on-road support, all rolled into a set timeframe of three years.
Mr Lancaster said Carbucks Protect does not compete with warranty products in that it focuses on the replacement of parts of the car that are not covered under warranty.
“We know they will need tyres in three years, so we will replace the tyres. Because of that, usage is high, which means the customer is winning. The dealer sells it up front and they make probably about $650 profit instantly. But then that customer comes back to the dealership to get the tyres done and the wipers done, and so on.
“The customer is now retained at that dealership, doesn’t get a bill, and so they’re happy. They get the work done and they walk away, but the dealer still gets all the labor rate for doing that replacement. So the dealer not only gets that $650 up front, but over the term of the program, they might get another $1500 to $2000 in repair work that they wouldn’t have had access to before.
“It’s easy for a dealer to get started. There’s no cost. And if they sell one, they’ve made money,” Mr Lancaster said.
Carbucks Rewards is essentially the same loyalty-rewards program that Connected Vehicles announced last year although it is now free and no longer requires the fitting of a monitoring device to be fitted to the car.
Readers will remember Carbucks Rewards is a remarkable electronic automotive ecosystem that provides an ongoing revenue stream for dealers, cash benefits and discounts for vehicle owners and sales and marketing opportunities for participating auto (and non-auto) merchants and service providers.
The Rewards service revolves around dealerships electronically linking their customers into its systems via their mobile phone. From then on, every time the customer buys from one of the participating goods or services brands, the dealer gets a share of the purchase amount.
Wherever that customer goes in Australia and buys from a participating vendor, the dealer gets a cut.
Mr Lancaster said that according to projections calculated by Pitcher Partners, some dealer groups can benefit from putting most of their customers into the scheme to the tune of some tens of millions of dollars a year.
The average dealership could generate a million dollars a year if most of its customers are signed on to the system, he said.
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