CAR dealers are doing a lot better at relating to car buyers according to a survey by Gumtree Cars which found consumers trust salespeople more today than they did five years ago.

And not only are car dealers seen to be more trustworthy these days, dealers don’t even realise how well they are doing. The survey shows dealers perceive their customers have a lower opinion on the level of trustworthiness in dealerships than their customers actually think.

The head of motors at Gumtree Cars, Richard Dicello, told GoAutoNews Premium: “Through the research we found that dealers were being too hard on themselves and that consumers are trusting dealers more than dealers believe.

“So 40 per cent of consumers indicate auto dealership salespeople are more trustworthy than five years ago but only 20 per cent of dealers perceive that dealers are more trustworthy,” he said.

Within age groups, younger consumers believe dealers are more trustworthy than those older. Of those aged 18-34, 44 per cent believe dealers are more trustworthy than five years ago, age 35-54 it is 35 per cent and age 55+ it is 34 per cent.

The survey of 1003 cars buyers, 106 dealers and nine in-depth videos is part of a strategy by the online auto marketplace to develop a database in order to get key insights into the car purchasing process. Dealer services are being seen as an important part of Gumtree Cars’ ambition to become the number-one online auto marketplace in Australia.

“The aim is to help dealers get access to elements of car buying data that they might not necessarily get to see,” Mr Dicello said.

Mr Dicello said the research showed that trust was crucial in the car-buying process.

“Trust for consumers is about being open and honest in your dealings, offering fair prices especially when you are listing your stock on digital platforms and then being easy to deal with when the customer is in the dealership,” he said.

“Car buyers indicated that how car salespeople treat them has more than twice the impact of recommendations, reviews and reputation. So the salespeople are still having a significant impact on the success of the transaction.”

Mr Dicello said that the majority of Australians (82 per cent) are going online to do their buying and they now use just over two digital channels.

“The average person visits 2.4 dealerships before buying but one third of consumers only visit one dealership,” he said.

“Forty per cent of consumers are walking through the dealership door ready to buy so we know that a lot of the heavy lifting is now done before they get there and the majority of consumers are coming into the showroom in a positive state of mind. So they are excited, confident and relaxed.

“Of course, purchasing a motor vehicle in Australia is still the second biggest purchase you will make behind the family home and the big thing that came out of the research is that car dealers can further build trust with the customers by being more transparent.

“Transparency is key and, with the process of buying a car being more digital than ever, customer expectations are changing as well; their expectations are definitely higher in this space and the time of the hard sell is well and truly over.

“Consumers are increasingly appreciative of qualities such as a willingness to negotiate. The soft skills and professionalism from salespeople are super-paramount. For instance, when questions are asked of a salesperson they must be answered directly. They don’t move away from questions, they answer them and they do that in a professional manner. Transparency is the key.

“No matter what the question is, or what the answer is, the customer is looking for the salesperson to be authentic and ultimately transparent.

“That is a big difference from five years ago.

“People have already done their research, they have looked on the website, they have seen the reviews, they can see a positive trend and they are going in expecting a positive experience talking with the salespeople and more importantly if something goes wrong those salespeople are still there to solve the problem for them.

“Transparent means all information on the table and don’t say you have a white one when you haven’t. If you don’t have a white one and you have a blue one then say you have a blue one.

“And if you still want the consumer to come to your dealership tell them you have a wide range of cars to choose from, ‘x’ amount of cars on the lot and you have been a specialist in used cars for x years. But be totally transparent on that car.

“Australian car intenders also value transparency in such things as price, vehicle history and the overall quality of the vehicle information and the research shows that car dealers are doing a better job overall of making this information available. One example is in their online listing through Gumtree Cars, for instance.”

Mr Dicello said that the research showed that 69 per cent of dealers strongly agree that dealerships need to be fully transparent in order to gain customer trust and that 76 per cent of dealers agree that transparency of sales info is very important to business success.

Other elements of the research revealed that 41 per cent of consumers used their mobile device during the purchase process.

“This obviously skews higher with consumers aged 18 to 34,” Mr Dicello said.

“They are particularly likely to have their mobile handy and to use it when buying a car. And we know that, moving forward, dealers need to invest in tools to enable an easy-to-use and strong mobile presence and offer transparent online listings because that is where the majority of that age group are starting their search.

“One other important point that came out is the road to repeat customers.

“Dealers suggested that customers are being less loyal and more difficult to retain. But it did come out in the research that one third of buyers are willing to recommend the dealership they bought from and plan to return for their next vehicle. And about the same proportion said they would return for aftersales service.

“The demographic most likely to be loyal are the baby boomers but, with the boomers, the way the salesperson acts is particularly important. They need to be good at listening, honest and transparent. These are the key drivers for loyalty.”

The research also showed that customers want to be followed up.

“Keeping contact with customers through the ownership period came out and, as we know, this is not an easy puzzle to solve. But one thing that did resonate was when the salesperson asks the buyer how they would like to be followed up after the sale. ‘What is your preferred medium?’ If you give the customer the choice you are more likely to get more loyalty from them,” Mr Dicello said.

“To reiterate, the three things the research revealed that most drive consumer trust in dealerships is being open and honest, offering fair prices and easy to deal with.”

By John Mellor