2017 CAR BUYING ONLINE PART 2

What will be the first stop in 2017 for people looking at cars for sale?

In Part 1 of our 2017 Car Buying Online series vinadvisor asked about the biggest obstacle to car buying online.

In Part 2 we are asking our distinguished lineup of auto pros what technology people are going to turn to while shopping for a car online.  According to CB Insights venture capital investment in automotive tech is skyrocketing. In the article Investment Into Auto Tech On Pace To Break Annual Records:

With $450M invested across 36 deals to date, 2016 was even more prolific than 2015 for VC Investment in automotive startups. Both deals and dollars to private auto tech companies are on track for record highs.

Here is a breakdown of how investment has increased over the last 6 years
2011 ... 18 investments @ $197M
2012 ... 15 @ $100M
2013 ... 37 @ $663M
2014 ... 34 @ $353M
2015 ... 56 @ $478M
2016 ... 68 @ $847M (projection)

Even with that strong of a commitment in auto tech solutions, the old guard is still a powerful force in the digital world.  According to vinadvisor CEO Jim Dykstra

Customers will continue to seek out manufacturer sites for new cars. Craigslist for used cars as they have three times and many dealer listings online.

The answers from our panel of auto pros managed to span a wide spectrum of old guard, digital giants and new school startups.

Ian Beavis
Chief Strategy Officer
AMCI Global
KBB/Autotrader have over 23 million monthly visitors and are still growing. The sites are easy to navigate and have the largest dealer inventory on the web. It is the go to site.

James Green
CEO
Magnetic
My guess is that the first stop for most car buyers is Google, but I haven't got data to prove it. They then just bounce around between reviews (Cars.com, Edmunds, etc) and dealers until they have enough info to decide what to buy. Then they unfortunately most visit a dealer...

Chris Baccus
SVP
Caruso Affiliated
People still go to the car shopping sites like they have for years. The one to watch is Amazon Cars and seeing how Amazon makes more of a push for car sales on the site and app. Right now it's a bit buried, but that is likely to change as Amazon continues to nudge its way into the car shopping process.

Philip Zelinger
President and CEO
Ad Agency Online, LLC
Human nature has always driven the marketplace with technology developed to provide a superior customer experience typically defined by lower prices, competitive products and maximum convenience. The other side of the table is the need for a profit and acceptable risk to reward for the sellers. Based on these truths, the answer to your question is Manufacturers using Technology to enhance their customer's experience supported by a dealer network to accommodate test drives and after sales service. A technology driven manufacturing and marketing platform controlled by the OEM's with direct to consumer online sales and service information supported by a brick and mortar dealer body would satisfy both the buyers and the sellers - wholesale and retail. Real time parts on demand during the manufacturing process dictated by actual online sales would reduce production costs for the OEMs as well as dealers by eliminating the need for onsite inventories and the related carry costs such as floor plan, insurance, etc.. The savings passed onto consumers would add enough value to justify any delay in delivery with a minimum "test drive" inventory available at local dealership's to facilitate final buying decisions. Next generation finance/leasing contracts offering a liberal return/exchange policy with custom options like "fractionalized ownership" would further improve customer satisfaction supporting this new business model.

Nick Huie
National Manager
Toyota North America
After general product awareness, consideration is the second step in the purchase funnel. There are many channels that builds consideration of a vehicle, but for most it is online where customers get most of the product data, just like in other categories. The third party websites that do a good job of aggregating useful information that aids the customer in their consideration decisions will still be first step for many car buyers in their customer journey.

Chad Pelliccioni
Founder
Hype Media Group
I think it's always Google. Whoever wins Google will win the most car purchases.

Jill Ciminillo
Automotive Editor
Sinclair Media Group
We have moved into the era of the informed buyer, so websites or apps like True Car and Carjojo will be a great resource for people buying cars moving forward. You can do your research, find the actual pricing of a vehicle, get a sense of what other people in the market are paying and, in some instances, get pre-approved for financing — all without setting foot inside a car dealer.

Nick Roshon
Nick's Car Blog
Motor Trend for reviews, Autotrader for listings, KBB for price. I also spend way more time than I care to admit looking at cars for sale by owner on Craigslist for any odd cars or smoking deals (online barn finds, more or less).

Craig Fitzgerald
NPR's Car Talk
I look at BestRide.com for inventory. BestRide is owned by Gatehouse Media (the largest newspaper publisher in the country) and as a result the inventory for used cars, especially, is massive. I still rely heavily on OEM websites. Some are better than others. All of the FCA (Chrysler) websites have excellent Build and Price functionality, plus links to local inventories. They're terrific. Volkswagen's website, on the other hand, is barely usable. It asks for a zip code every time you click through to a new page, and barely provides any information. If you look at the Wayback Machine's cached VW website from 15 years ago, it provided a lot more information.

Joe Webb
President
DealerKnows Consulting
Research, however, doesn't begin at the dealership site. Most begin researching at the manufacturer website to begin educating themselves on the makes and models to find the right fit, long before seeking a deal or specific inventory. Identifying the right vehicle is paramount to locking in a price or payment, which should be an important research step at the dealer website level.

Eric Miltsch
Co-Founder
DealerTeamwork.com & AutoOutletsUSA.com
I believe early adopters looking to buy a car online will be looking at solutions provided by the largest dealer groups who have the ability to amplify their solutions at scale. Other alternatives may be an OEM program working in tandem with a large website platform; a top-down approach may have better opportunities for success. I also expect to see Tesla grab market share for online car buying as more shoppers seek out their flagship models and especially their newer, less-expensive sedan. I don't expect Carvana to be a mass-market solution in 2017, but it may attract curious shoppers with the introduction of their car-vending machine in Houston. It's still early and the model needs to prove the experience and the financial model works. I also believe 2017 will see a larger shift in how dealers market their vehicles using third-party platforms. They're realizing the high cost of advertising per vehicle sold and understanding how to leverage their own website and transactional data as the competitive edge to attract buyers via their own website. Shoppers expect to find the answers to their questions quickly and mobile shopping behaviors will continue to drive this mindset. Dealers will begin providing greater context and relevancy to their marketing campaigns while creating more consistency across their primary marketing channels.

Shiraz Ahmed
Reporter
Autonews.com
What technology or website is your first stop when looking at cars for sale? TrueCar, but its been awhile

Joe Overby
Senior Editor
Auto Remarketing
I wouldn’t say there is a specific website I go to first, but the first thing I did when I bought my current vehicle was to research the top-rated used cars online. I’m a practical guy and wanted to know which used cars were going to be the most reliable.

Kurt Stephan
Dealer Marketing Magazine
I look at enthusiast-oriented websites for reviews of vehicles, then manufacturer sites for cars I'm interested in. When I've honed in on vehicles I might want to buy, I'll look at dealership sites, then go to the dealership for a test drive. I don't move on to the actual buying stage until I'm convinced by seeing a car in person and test driving it. I've used Autobytel in the past, but I've found going directly to dealers through their website usually results in the same price and as convenient of a buying experience.

Ed Brooks
Sr Digital Media Rep.
Cars.com
I don't see this changing from 2016. According to the PCG Research 2016 Auto Shopper Survey, new vehicle shoppers start at manufacturer's website, third party website, or a search engine, in that order. Used vehicle shoppers tend to start with the third party sites (Cars.com, Autotrader, KBB, etc.)

Philip Reed
Writer
NerdWallet
The first stop will probably be the manufacturer's websites just because of the search results. After that it will be the big three: Edmunds, KBB and TrueCar. After that it will be the start ups.

Ben Tesler
Founder
FairRose LA
I still think most people go to auto trader (I do at least) when looking for a car although TrueCar is probably more on people's minds due to their ads being everywhere.

Ricky Patrick
BDC Manager
Richard Kay Superstore
Autotrader. I know everyone tries to sell us on people googling "Used Porsche 911 in Washington DC" but I just never do that. I go to Autotrader and then drill down to specific dealer websites based on what I find.

Andrew Fails
Photographer/writer
Jalopnik
I've been working with the team at PureConcierge for a while now, so honestly I just have them do the heavy lifting for me. If I'm just doing some super preliminary research to see what's in my metro, I'll use Cars.com

Maddy Low
Community Manager
DrivingSales
My first stop when looking for a car is dealership sites that I have gone to before to see what they currently have in stock! I also use Yelp and Google Reviews. But I may be a little strange, since I bought my first car after I had joined the auto industry!

Kyle Reyes
Founder
The Silent Partner Marketing
I start with Google...then move from there.

Ralph Paglia
ADMP
Craigslist for used cars and web sites from dealers I know and have done business with for new cars. I also use many other resources, such as Autotrader and Cars.com, but they aren't my first stops.

Bill Soule
Founder
Digital Video Syndicate
NerdWallet and BankRate
It’s still early so I’m gonna go with platforms that are millennial-friendly. NerdWallet is doing a great job of creating content to entice millennials down the car-shopping funnel. That’s how to win at this point. Of course Google needs to be mentioned as well. Search and SEO are still super important.

Neil Feuling
Senior Director - Auto E-commerce Strategy and Business Development
LeEco US
Cargurus, Iseecars, Pricing Autolist - best mobile app inventory shopping. Honker looks promising. What you really need is a fintech company that happens to also do auto.

Mark Dubis
CEO
Carfolks.com
Answer for new car shopping: My current process would be to research vehicles at the manufacturer’s website, and then seek out local inventory via the OEM site or by directly visiting my local dealer’s site.  Since every new car dealer will meet or beat any realistic price, I would research the reputation of the dealer and their people to make sure my buying experience is a positive one. Depending on the vehicle, I might also research reviews of the vehicle and explore reliability claims on the vehicle.

Scott Meyer
9cloud
I love reading user generated content, such as blog posts. This gives a personal view and a better look at the good, bad and ugly.

Matt Stoffel
9clouds
I haven't been in the market myself for several years, but if I were I'd be taking to Google with my questions - as I'm guessing most folks would. From there, I'd be looking for honesty in my resources, whether it came from third party review sites, consumer forums, or the occasional dealership content that is written to be an asset to my search instead of a sales pitch.

Quincy Armstrong
Director of Marketing
Rusnak Auto Group
For new cars, the first stop is usually a research site, so I'd say Edmunds.com. They have the widest range of content and information.

Josh Crouch
Quora
Autotrader, Edmunds, and Cargurus- Cargurus is the newest company of the 3 but watch them sky rocket in 17 to one of the most utilized sites for auto shoppers. They utilize so much data to skyrocket them to the front of the field showing the best priced vehicles in the market. Its amazing!!!!!