In late May, Larry H. Miller Dealerships launched LHM Fast Pass. Consumers are increasingly turning to the internet for all their shopping needs, and asking for a less time-consuming vehicle sales process. Fast Pass is the group’s response.
Miran Maric – Vice President of Digital Strategy
Miran Maric, vice president of digital strategy at Larry H. Miller Dealerships, spoke with Automotive Buy Sell Report about the new program and the role of a physical dealership in an age when more and more of the sales process is moving online.
Fast Pass works like this: A customer goes to a dealership’s site and decides on a specific vehicle. He or she then clicks on the Fast Pass icon. It sends them to a page that allows them to put down a deposit on the vehicle that reserves it for 24 hours. They can also get an evaluation on their trade-in vehicle.
A Fast Pass salesperson from the dealership contacts them to make an appointment to complete the paper work and pick up the car, which will be detailed and waiting for them. Or, if a customer likes a certain model but that trim isn’t in their price range, the salesperson can suggest other options. The customer can also further negotiate the price.
“When you come to one of our locations, all you have to do is have someone look at your trade, then sign the contracts and off you go,” Maric told Automotive Buy Sell Report.
Okay, so what role does the dealership play in the sale aside from delivery, I asked? “The dealership has the most important role,” he said. “They have to administer [the sale].”
That means the entire staff at the dealership has to understand how the customer is treated throughout the process, said Maric.
Indeed the biggest challenge in designing and implementing the program is integrating the online and offline process, he said. The customer has to have a seamless experience regardless of what point in the buying process he or she enters a store.
The Group launched Fast Pass in just 10 of its 54 stores. Those pilot stores are located in Salt Lake City, Colorado Springs, Albuquerque, and Spokane. If all goes well, the program will be expanded to all the dealerships by late summer 2015.
It is tough to say what percentage of Larry H. Miller customers will use the Fast Pass Program, said Maric. But, he pointed out, surveys have found that 30 percent of car buyers would like to do the entire transaction online.
As customers become more educated about Fast Pass, said Maric, “The one unequivocal thing is that we will have more customers using it.”
Larry H. Miller dealers support Fast Pass, claimed Maric. They had input into its formation, he said, and “they see the need from the customer standpoint.”
They likely also saw the need from a competitive standpoint. In the last few months, many groups have launched similar programs, from AutoNation’s SmartChoice Express to Sonic’s One Sonic-One Experience.
Location, Location, Location?
Location has always been a key element in a dealership’s value. That could be losing significance with the rise of such online buying programs.
Though a customer using Fast Pass works with a specific dealership, if they find a model they want at another dealership, it can be sent to the original store. Who gets credit for the sale in that case, I asked?
“The dealer that cultivates and acquires the customer gets the sales,” said Maric. “The other dealer gets spiffed.”
Though Larry H. Miller in its press release says Fast Pass aims to let “people spend more time with their family and friends,” let’s face it, programs such as Fast Pass primarily aim to cut out the time spent in the dealership. That is routinely cited as the most disliked part of the car buying process.
But a car is a big purchase, and getting handed the keys to your new car at the dealership is still an exciting moment, said Maric.
“We don’t want to undermine the experience [the customer] will have in the dealership,” he said. “That is still an emotional experience. We don’t want to take that away from them. This isn’t like buying a five dollar case for an i-Phone.”
Still, more and more of the buying process is moving online. The next step for Larry H. Miller is to move more of the purchase online.
“That is where the whole industry is going,” said Maric. Larry H. Miller is working with banking partners to add financial aspects of the purchase to Fast Pass, he said.
The younger generation already does most of its shopping online anyway. Maric, 26, is a good example.
“I use the internet for pretty much everything,” he said. But, he added, “I can [identify] my car online, but I wouldn’t sign on the dotted line without a test drive.”
