The tech world is evolving and that means more tech bells and whistles inside new vehicles. It also means that some of that tech is not being used.
Matt Rodeghero, Chief Product Officer at AutoLoop, says tech is not being used because customers are simply unaware of it. In a report by J.D. Power, Rodeghero discovered that half of the 33 cool, high-tech items on late-model vehicles were ignored by at lease one-fifth of new owners after 90 days. In that same report, Rodeghero also found instances of technology features that weren’t even turned on at the time of delivery to the customer. Owners were not even aware their new cars had certain features, or those features were not explained to the owner when he or she took delivery.
To fix this issue, Rodeghero suggests a few steps to de-mysterify new vehicle technology for your customers:
- Learn about tech adoption quickly. Contact your customers during the first month of ownership to ask if they’re using their in-vehicle technology. If they’re not, find out why.
- Comfort with safety features is vital. Driver safety technology features seem to be among the most challenging for owners of new vehicles. According to the J.D. Power study, not using new technology without proper training may actually pose a higher risk of causing an accident.
- Turn to younger people as instructors. Rodeghero says paying a teenager $11/hour to speak with new customers at the time of vehicle delivery is much more cost effective than typing up a salesperson or service advisor for the same amount of time after a sale is made.
To view the rest of Rodeghero’s tips, check out his article in this month’s issue of Car Biz Today Magazine, available here.
