On the latest episode of Auto Marketing Now, host Brian Pasch, founder of PCG Companies, is joined by the President and CEO of Market Scan, Rusty West. In this segment, Pasch and West share insights into the Market Scan platform and the data that passes through its systems every day.
West says, recently Marker Scan analyzed what the rebate stats have looked like over the past 18 months. Initially, there were some mild to moderate fluctuations, however, over the past five or six months, rebate stats have largely gone down. The only exception was eco-vehicles, which has seen big upticks in the rebate. Consumers are paying a lot more for the same car than they were 18 months ago. There are lending institutions that are highly aggressive on particular vehicles. West says the difference is the opportunity in payments just shifted up considerably.
Market Scan is a partner for OEMs, lenders, and car dealers nationwide. They offer tools accessible on smartphones that allow sales teams to view scientifically proven transactional numbers, based on the terms and conditions that the car dealer wants to run their business on. This includes how a specific dealer interprets taxes, fees, and disclosures. West adds that their mDrive product is very new. It gives the salesperson the ability to address the needs of the consumer from a different lens, and it calculates about 300 million payments a day, on average.
When inventory breaks out, West predicts there will be an all-time record buying spree from consumers. He says with consumers having to stay home for the past 18 months, they’re sitting on disposable savings and demand is pent up in the anticipation of new cars. He predicts that consumers will buy much more expensive vehicles.
Pasch says, there’s been a shift to be more data-centric in automotive retail. At the dealer level, West says, they should be focused on “getting it right.” Everything that’s presented to a consumer for every step of their journey to the store needs to be accurate and consistent. It also should reflect the terms and conditions in the way they do business. Make sure the digital retailing companies have the ability to quote consumer payments, their way. He says that’s going to be the saving grace for a lot of stores.
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