Three Consumer Trends to Watch in Auto Retailing, Financing

LAS VEGAS – Tanya Sanders, a managing director at Chase Auto Finance, cites three trends to watch in automotive retailing and financing.

First: “It’s now digital everything,” she says, citing a consumer survey Chase did. “Consumers want to buy what they want, when they want.”

Second: “Physical locations still matter. Think Apple stores. Consumers don’t just want to buy. They want to experience the product.” That includes dealership test drives.

Third: “Trust still matters. Consumers want to spend their money at places they trust.”

Sanders shares those survey results at the American Financial Services Assn.’s Vehicle Finance Conference held in conjunction with the 2018 National Automobile Dealers Assn.’s annual convention here.

Chase research indicates 50% of U.S. consumers would like to come close to completely buying a car online. “The only thing stopping them is the test drive. Seventy-six percent still want that,” Sanders says.

Online vehicle shoppers look at price above all else. The study says they’re particularly drawn to dealer websites, citing those as a prime source of information.

Although Millennials in their 20s and 30s are most likely to use ride-sharing and car-sharing services (one in five say they do so at least once a week) “they still want to own cars,” Sanders says.

Of lenders responsibilities in auto retailing, she says, “our job is to make sure consumers get into the vehicle that’s right for them in terms of the right financing.”

That means not taking out a loan of an amount that exceeds they’re ability to pay it back.

[email protected]