Not long ago, the standard for modern payments began and ended with reliable credit card processing. Today, customers expect more choices. Convenience is a fundamental staple in daily consumer transactions, and dealership transactions are no exception.
In order to present customers with a modern customer experience, dealerships must maintain a cutting-edge payment infrastructure. They will need to evaluate if their payment partners can perform today while preparing for tomorrow.
Customers expect convenience
Customers are accustomed to having a variety of payment options available in their everyday activities. They can order groceries from a phone, transfer money instantly, and pay for a purchase with a digital wallet without ever taking out a physical card. The dealership experience is increasingly expected to offer that same level of convenience.
The good news is that modern payment platforms can empower customers’ payment experience in the automotive space. Offering options such as mobile wallets, contactless/tap-to-pay transactions, text, or email is a no-brainer today when it comes to accommodating customer preferences.
The same goes for dealers
For decades, payments were disconnected from DMS, requiring back-office teams to spend hours reconciling reports and transactions. At Galpin Motors, this meant significant administrative responsibility and an unwanted error margin. Mike Bosch, a Project Manager for Galpin, recalled, “We used a credit card machine and manually would enter the repair order number. Everything was kind of done outside of the DMS, and then we would balance it at the end of the day. It was a manual process to run reports and compare payments.”
After myKaarma was tapped to integrate payments into the workflows, there was a noticeable reduction of manual reconciliation and an increase in streamlined reporting.
Mike attested that “MyKaarma automatically distributes the payments in our DMS so that we don’t have to go in there and put that payment on the totals. That was a big win.”
Evaluating payment processors for the long haul
The goal of a progressive payment processing partner is to create one consistent payment infrastructure that can support multiple customer experiences. This infrastructure should proactively enhance dealerships’ current systems into a seamless workflow for dealer employees.
Here are a few questions to ask when identifying a partner that can grow with your dealership:
- Can your processor swiftly adapt to emerging payment channels?
This functionality can save dealers the potential hassle of rebuilding their payment infrastructure. - Can your processor integrate your systems?
Another key element to creating a seamless experience for dealers is integration. Galpin Motors experienced this firsthand after implementing myKaarma. Instead of manually balancing payments and comparing reports, payments could be distributed directly into the dealership’s DMS workflow. - Can they safeguard against fraud?
As dealerships expand online and remote payment options, they need to consider how transactions are authenticated and how fraud and chargeback exposure are managed. myKaarma offers technologies such as 3D Secure that can add another layer of protection to online transactions. - Can they save you money?
Galpin Motors benefited not just from enhanced integration, but from the adoption of surcharging. While surcharging wasn’t permitted in California for many years, legislation evolved in 2024, and Galpin Motors seized the opportunity to pass rising credit card fees back to customers with full compliance. myKaarma automatically calculates and applies surcharges when appropriate while clearly communicating the charge to customers.
Modern solutions benefit everyone
It is important to find a processor that works for you today, but it is just as important to consider what will benefit your dealership in the future.
Dealerships that choose their payment infrastructure in accordance with what customers will expect and what technology plans to offer will be a step ahead.
