The Fresh York Times

July 6, 2017

The automobile — connected to the internet, powered by electric current, driven with computer support — is evolving swifter than at any point in its history.

Buying one, tho’, remains just about the same as always.

But luxury dealers are betting that technology, and a healthy dose of more private interaction, can vastly reduce bad buying practices.

“How do I have a sustainable business when everyone laughs thinking about car salespeople?” asked Peter Cooper, holder of Lexus of Lehigh Valley, in Allentown, Pa. “We’re so out of touch with the consumer.”

Aware that many buyers hate haggling, Lexus introduced a fixed-price program in May 2016, called Lexus Plus, in which the customer deals with only one person from beginning to end. Only ten of its two hundred thirty eight dealers in the United States are involved so far; another three are preparing to inject.

“Buyers won’t have to wait forty five minutes to see a finance director,” said Jim Dunn, general manager for JM Lexus of Margate, Fla., the world’s highest-volume Lexus dealer, which will suggest Lexus Plus. “It’s time to put your best price up front and live with that.”

At Mr. Cooper’s dealership, the program has been well received. Unit sales are up 28.6 percent in the very first quarter compared with the same period last year.

Immovable pricing has been attempted — and abandoned — before, most notably by General Motors’ now-defunct Saturn division in the 1990s. Now other companies have similar programs; Tesla sells its vehicles only at a immobilized price, and Costco members can be referred to participating dealers treating a range of brands to pay a pre-negotiated sum.

Not getting a straight response on price is one reason Will Kunkel, who wished to acquire three fresh Audis for his family, left two dealerships in disgust.

“The very first dealer told me that I had to buy instantaneously because the car would be gone that night,” Mr. Kunkel said. “And the 2nd would only talk about monthly payments rather than price. They may as well call you an idiot to your face.”

Cadillac is testing a program whereby customers never buy any particular vehicle at all. Instead, they buy rights to a car and can switch which one they want to drive using a mobile app.

Book by Cadillac, being tested in Fresh York City, offers the capability to switch among Cadillac models up to eighteen times per year. Using the Book app, customers can reserve a vehicle that, if it is available, will be delivered the next morning to the location of their choice.

The program costs $1,500 per month, which includes registration, insurance, service and repairs. All vehicles, including the Escalade, CT6, XT5, CTS-V and ATS-V, have high-end trims, plus a 4G LTE connection and hot spot, OnStar and satellite radio.

About 8,000 people have asked to be part of the program, the company said. And the high-tech, no-commitment treatment has attracted junior drivers: Albeit the average age of a Cadillac holder is 62, the average age of those signing up for Book is 34, ninety percent of them first-time Cadillac drivers.

“We’re a Netflix for cars,” said Melody Lee, Cadillac’s director of brand marketing.

When customers do go to a dealership to buy, they have often done research online before leaving home, industry experts say. That makes it stiffer for dealers to keep the upper palm when discussing typical prices, features or available inventory.

“It’s undoubtedly a challenge for dealers when customers have instant access to vehicle information,” said Chris Sutton, vice president for United States automotive retail practice at the research hard J. D. Power.

Alfa Romeo, attempting to make a comeback in the United States, is arming its dealers’ sales teams with iPads to help them communicate on more equal terms with their customers, said Pieter Hogeveen, director of Alfa Romeo North America.

Lincoln Motor Company, Ford’s luxury division, is approaching the problem of selling to a well-informed, focused public by reshaping a car sale as a luxury practice. Customers don’t want to submit themselves to one salesperson to haggle with, then to a closer and ultimately to a finance manager, giving up the better part of a day.

“For affluent customers, time is the key thing; it’s their ultimate luxury,” said Kumar Galhotra, Lincoln’s president.

To reduce the time that people spend buying and servicing their vehicles, Lincoln is suggesting at-home test drives and service pickups and deliveries. Customers can even evaluate a vehicle over the weekend.

Such convenience-based initiatives are part of Lincoln’s Black Label program, a sales and service package that was very first suggested in two thousand fourteen and is available at one hundred six of the company’s eight hundred dealers, in twenty nine states.

Black Label models have certain levels of trim and are suggested in unique color and fabric combinations. Sales representatives visit customers at their homes or businesses with a sample swatch kit to determine how the car will look inwards. Once purchased, Black Label vehicles are picked up and delivered for servicing, and substituted with a loaner car.

Lincoln’s theory is that a good sales process proceeds after the sale, so the company offers extra features to keep customers coming back.

One example: The company is also testing a chauffeur service in Miami and San Diego. For $30 an hour, drivers will take customers, in their own vehicles, anywhere they wish to go — a useful feature for those who can’t drive after doctor’s appointments or a night on the town or simply have too much to do. The chauffeur can also treat shopping trips or pick up the kids at a soccer practice.

“In the Black Label program, we’re getting wealthier, substantially junior customers,” Mr. Galhotra said. “Compared to the mid-50s age for luxury car buyers in general, our Black Label customers are mostly in their 40s.”

That is the kind of program that Mr. Kunkel, creative director at Grayling, a public relations stiff based in Fresh York, would have welcomed. He walked out of two dealerships before finding an online price at a third-party website to lease two vehicles and buy a third.

“I told the dealer I didn’t want to haggle,” Mr. Kunkel said. “I was not going to buy mudguards. They said they’re a no-haggle dealership.”

He then got the dealership to agree to his price without even stepping through the front door.

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