Try before you buy

We’re constantly being told the way we buy cars is changing, but is it?

Remember the image of former US president Barack Obama, with his shiny shoes up on the Oval Office desk?

The soles were worn out, symbolising the exhausting work happening behind the pinstripe suit and the groomed White House lawns.

It’s been said there are fewer heads coming through dealership doors, and despite the constantly evolving modern
decor to suit lounging families and coffee connoisseurs on a Saturday morning, it seems there will come a point
where the old ways change for good.

But as Australian Automotive Dealer Association chief executive David Blackhall has said in the recent past, customers still rely on and expect a tactile connection with the vehicle they might want to own and shell out tens of thousands of dollars for – no surprise there.

Except the way the world works today, with our lives spilling over with commitments, appointments and things to remember, it’s impossible to properly try the car before you buy.

Not to mention, the sampling customers do get, is never long enough, substantial enough, and nor can a
customer ever properly understand how truly fit-for-purpose that car will be once they get it home.

It’s virtually impossible to test whether that high riding “family” SUV can actually accommodate your family, plus their sports bags, prams and a dog. Or is the wagon or people-mover a better alternative?

There is a new idea which promises customers a more informed choice, one that can take out all the inconvenience
of those exhausting Saturday new car test drives, and effectively deliver dealerships a ready-to-buy consumer
on a silver platter.

The Car Test is aptly named. Founder Christian Schaefer is a highly motivated guy, which bodes well for the brands already getting on board with his company.

He describes the concept as “lead nurturing”, acting as a dealer’s consumer concierge by taking a certain, requested
vehicle to the prospecting consumer be it at home, at their workplace or a predetermined meeting point.

The consumer then test drives the car for anywhere up to a few days, allowing for a thorough vehicle assessment.

When they find the vehicle they like, the consumer receives a manufacturer discount rate based on the number of
days they test for, and then proceeds to the dealer to close-out the deal.

“With 430 models on sale in the Australian market, how can anybody possibly understand a vehicle fully before
they sign and hand over their account details?” Schaefer asks.

“When was the last time you bought a pair of shoes without walking around in them first?

“We want to work with dealers to foster those consumer intentions and actually get them engaged with the
vehicle they’re interested in buying.”

Schaefer says his brainchild is not as much about disruption as it is an evolution of how people have bought
cars for decades.

“Manufacturers are spending millions on advertising, on brand awareness, on having their name and badge and their
car’s shape in the front of a customer’s mind then they come to buy in the next three to five years,” he explains.

“What The Car Test does is actually deliver that class-leading SUV or that most-popular small car straight to the
potential customer on the customer’s terms – in their driveway, at their office – on the customer’s time,” he says.

Conducting a series of test drive enquiries with several brands in Australia, Schaefer’s team found a concerning
lack of interest to give customers even an overnight test drive, which he says is bewildering.

“Carmakers need to understand the consumer is no longer a sheep that follows the flock – consumers today
aren’t idle in their purchase decisions, they’re active, informed and ready to walk away when they’re not being
taken seriously,” he says.

“Our exercise found that out of six brands, only three replied to our enquiries, and some didn’t even send a confirmation email. How much do carmakers spend on advertising per conversion?”

As some carmakers battle for market relevance while others fight to stay ahead of the competition – and several try to remain buoyant – it’s a wonder why nobody besides dealers are being incentivised to help carmakers connect
with potential customers in a market sitting on record annual sales.

“Dealers say ‘come back when you’re ready to buy’ but people won’t chase you to buy something.

“It’s effectively gambling with a potential sale and whether they find an identical car at another dealership for a marginally better price,” Schaefer says.

“It’s not a power play like it once was, where it waivered between the sales person and the buyer. Consumers
always have the dollar power, but if they’re not getting the treatment they want, they’ll go elsewhere.”
He shares his thoughts with dealers and OEMs about how real-world customers actually feel about the current,
somewhat old-hat way customers have to buy their next mode of transport.

“Everyone says they hate the car buying process, the system’s not as effective as it could be,” he says.
“No third party, besides dealers, has been paid to provide test drives – why not?

“Give customers something experiential, something that’s desperately lacking even in 2018.”

One of the more arduous legs of any car buying journey today is having to shop around at different dealers, which
Schaefer says means competition, or even cannibalism. This is another painpoint he says The Car Test can remove.

“We’re basically a marketing campaign for a customer’s local dealership because when they’re happy with the
car they test drive, they’ll take their business to the nearest dealer,” he explains.

“This means dealers avoid self-destructive sales tactics and conversion efforts, and it increases their volume
which of course is what the manufacturer wants to see.
“One poor experience at a dealer is all it takes to make easy pickings for the same-brand dealership next suburb over,
or for the rival brand which might be right across the road,” Schaefer points out.

He also mentions the opportunity his business could be for provincial or rural dealerships, which often rely on repeat
customer loyalty, providing a chance to sway or pique their interest in something different.

“It means the dealer principal isn’t wasting resources on hesitant customers because we’ve increased the likelihood
they want to buy your car.”

“We’re the visibility of the offline buyer who wants to try your car, but can’t when you’re closed after hours or on Sundays.

“OEMs should be driving this as a brand activation that doesn’t clock-off, just like Coles and Woolworths delivering
fresh food straight to you, or the massive chef-prepared food delivery industry like Uber Eats or Menulog.”

“We capture the consumer at the beginning, offer a great personal experience on their terms, and deliver them
to the dealership to collect the sale.”

The word “potential” gets thrown around whenever people talk about startups and their entrepreneurs constantly
seeking capital investments in a market hungry for whatever they’re pedalling.

With Volvo Australia and MG Motors already on board and backing this ambitious but clever idea, it seems the question is not if but when will it catch on.

In the same way GoGet has changed the way people can quickly rent some wheels for the weekend without having
to actually own or get to their nearest Avis, Hertz or Budget, The Car Test could be the disruption dealers are looking for.

As millennials increasingly question the need for a car at all, it’s up to dealers and manufacturers to decide if they
want to gently shoe-horn consumers into their next new car and the local dealership – or continue wearing the same busted old tyre-kickers.