Hyundai News:Hyundai's Shopper Assurance Hopes To Make Car Buying Less Painful

[William Maley]

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Purchasing a car at a dealership is a stressful and painful experience: Finding the right vehicle, dealing with various sales and finance people, mountains of paperwork, and so on. Hyundai is hoping a new program will make the experience slightly better.

Hyundai Shopper Assurance promises to streamline the buying process with four key parts; fair-market pricing (MSRP minus incentives and dealer discounts), flexible test drives at a customer's place of choice, streamlined purchasing process, and three-day money back guarantee. 

“Shopper Assurance is the next step in that tradition and is car buying made simple. We expect this to be a differentiator, as our research showed that 84 percent of people would visit a dealership that offered all four features over one that did not. It is the future of car buying, and our commitment to creating a flexible, efficient and better way to purchase a car in partnership with our dealer body,” said Dean Evans, chief marketing officer for Hyundai Motor America.

Most of the parts are self-explanatory except for the 'streamlined purchasing process'. This means a buyer can complete the paperwork, apply for financing, get a credit approval, figure out monthly payments, and value their trade-in all from the comfort of their home.

Hyundai will launch Shopper Assurance in four markets this year; Dallas, Houston, Miami, and Orlando. The program will expand nationwide early next year.

Source: Hyundai
Press Release is on Page 2

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HYUNDAI TRANSFORMS RETAIL CAR BUYING WITH SHOPPER ASSURANCE

• Industry-First Nationwide Commitment to Modernizing Car Shopping Offers More Options and Convenience for Customers
• Launches Today in Miami, Orlando, Dallas and Houston and Will Roll Out to All Hyundai Dealers in Early 2018

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., Oct. 10, 2017 – In building on the brand promise to provide customers with a better experience, Hyundai introduces Shopper Assurance, an industry-first nationwide program that streamlines and modernizes the car-buying experience. Today, a majority of car buyers are frustrated with the automotive retail experience and are looking for new ways to shop for and buy a new car. Shopper Assurance focuses on four elements that make the often arduous process of purchasing a car easier, faster and worry-free.

• Transparent Pricing: Participating dealers post the fair market pricing (MSRP minus incentives and any dealer offered discounts) on the dealer websites, so the customer knows exactly what the market pricing is for the vehicle. This can reduce the time it takes to negotiate a price and can eliminate the frustration of widely advertised incentives not being available on dealer websites.
• Flexible Test Drive: Customers are given the option to conduct a test drive for any new vehicle on their own terms through Hyundai Drive, a platform that allows the test drive to be scheduled by contacting the dealer on their website, by phone or by using a custom-built app (in available markets). The selected test-drive vehicle can be at a location of the customer’s choosing, such as their home, their office or a coffee shop.
• Streamlined Purchase: Reduces the time customers spend at the dealer by allowing car buyers to complete most of the paperwork online prior to visiting the dealership for a vehicle in the dealer’s inventory. This includes applying for financing, obtaining credit approvals, calculating payment estimates and valuing trade-ins.
• Three-Day Money Back Guarantee: Any customer who is not satisfied with their purchase is given a three-day buy back period to return the car for a full refund, contingent upon a dealer inspection and the vehicle having fewer than 300 miles since the purchase/lease date. This turns potential second thoughts into peace of mind.

“For nearly a decade, the word ‘Assurance’ has been synonymous with Hyundai and represents our efforts in redefining the car ownership experience,” said Dean Evans, chief marketing officer, Hyundai Motor America. “Shopper Assurance is the next step in that tradition and is car buying made simple. We expect this to be a differentiator, as our research showed that 84 percent of people would visit a dealership that offered all four features over one that did not. It is the future of car buying, and our commitment to creating a flexible, efficient and better way to purchase a car in partnership with our dealer body.”

“We’ve listened to our customers, and they want convenience and simplicity when it comes to buying a car. Shopper Assurance is going to give our dealers the tools we need to exceed the expectations of today’s shopper,” said Andrew DiFeo, chairman, Hyundai National Dealer Council and dealer principal, Hyundai of St. Augustine. “With a strong lineup of new cars and CUVs, we expect that Shopper Assurance will give us a competitive advantage and help turn prospects into buyers. We are creating a modern purchasing process where transparency and convenience are paramount.”

Shopper Assurance is available for any new model in the Hyundai lineup and will initially launch in dealerships in four markets: Miami, Orlando, Dallas and Houston. It will be live nationwide by early 2018.

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[David]

Guess this is to compete with Costco and Sam's club that has single low price purchasing with all that so people who do not want to dicker on price can just pick an auto, and buy.

Be interesting to see how this goes here and if they apply this elsewhere in the world.

[Scout]

After reading that, my takeaway is that Hyundai spent money on reserch to find out people don't want a bad dealer experience.  

Edited October 11, 2017 by Scout

[regfootball]

this might get some traction.  the chevy's and fords of the world; the dealers are so engrained in keeping status quo.  hyundai is one brand that can make headway here because neither their customers or dealers are deep in their bunkers with their preconceived notions of how the brand is marketed.

Hyundai is tricky because even though they can likely produce their cars cheaper, they hold the MSRP's the same as the competition.  But their lower costs allow them to be aggressive taking hits with cheap / low down leases, and also this....the overhead of this shopping experience proposed can be absorbed.

I would love the day where you could find a 'test drive center' in metro areas, where you can go test drive new models, even for a small fee, and get to know them.  Maybe there is a place that has a large demo fleet.  And you can go without the salesperson.  This is coming from a one time car salesperson.

[riviera74]

Car Dealers are married to the status quo because state laws protect them from being shuttered by out of state automakers.  This is the same reason Cadillac has too many dealers that sell too few cars.  Solve that and then car dealers will change their behavior.

[David]

Time to retire old outdated state laws. The people must rise up and overthrow the status quo of the ingrained, entrenched special interest providing lawmakers.

[A Horse With No Name]

9 minutes ago, dfelt said:

Time to retire old outdated state laws. The people must rise up and overthrow the status quo of the ingrained, entrenched special interest providing lawmakers.

Good luck with that!

[lengnert]

The local Hyundai dealer to me is what makes this info most interesting.  In my humble opinion (and a lot of people that have actually been customers there), they are the biggest bunch of thieves in the business.  

In fact, when a Ford dealer I was working for was sold to the group that also runs that dealership *and this was admittedly over 10 years ago), I could only stand working there for 6 weeks.  I felt terrible every day leaving.  And after the sales manager ruined about 4 deals (not my words, but the words of the customers that got up and to the person said I would have bought from you, but not this dealership).... I knew it was time to go.

I wonder if they will be "happy" to hear about this?

[A Horse With No Name]

1 hour ago, lengnert said:

The local Hyundai dealer to me is what makes this info most interesting.  In my humble opinion (and a lot of people that have actually been customers there), they are the biggest bunch of thieves in the business.  

In fact, when a Ford dealer I was working for was sold to the group that also runs that dealership *and this was admittedly over 10 years ago), I could only stand working there for 6 weeks.  I felt terrible every day leaving.  And after the sales manager ruined about 4 deals (not my words, but the words of the customers that got up and to the person said I would have bought from you, but not this dealership).... I knew it was time to go.

I wonder if they will be "happy" to hear about this?

Every car manufacturer has to put up with this from some dealership's.  Direct marketing would be a great way to go.