Website And Mobile App Features To Assist Car Dealers And Garages

Now that car showrooms have been allowed to reopen their doors in England, car dealers will likely be dealing with a mix of customers still wishing to visit them in person, along with those who wish to make enquiries on their next vehicle online.

Many dealers have already been offering online options for buying vehicles, such as arranging for post-lockdown handovers and socially-distanced deliveries. In response to these services and the growing need for contactless paperwork options for car sales orders, plus service collection and delivery, we recently developed a new e-signing integration within the DragonDMS dealer management system, in order to help follow social distancing rules.

It is important to reassure customers that your showroom, workshop, or both, have the appropriate Covid-19 safety measures in place, so it’s vital to update your website with this information to encourage customers to visit, while telling them about any restrictions, such as working on an appointment-only basis. We have added pop-up notices and dedicated pages to Dragon2000 built websites to display this type of information, so that customers are well-informed of how dealers are operating safely.

For those customers who would prefer to carry out the buying journey online, there are several key website and mobile app features available from Dragon2000 that are geared towards helping them through every step of the process.

Website 360 degree images created using our Spin360 App can be a huge help, allowing customers to take an interactive tour around the whole of the vehicle, inside and out, remotely. Consider having vehicle videos on your website too, as online viewing should help to instil confidence in the quality and condition of your stock.

Once your sales team have a dialogue going with the customer, personalised sales videos recorded via our APPraise App are a great way to keep them engaged, featuring a tour of the car they are interested in and a running commentary of selling points. This is also a chance to address any particular questions the customer has about features or specification, building a sense of trust with your dealership as the video lets them see the answers for themselves.

Offering finance options with the ability to apply online and options to reserve the vehicle by leaving a deposit, or click to buy, are all features of your website that online customers would welcome, in order to limit physical interaction and support social distancing.

For garages and workshops, detailing the maintenance services you offer and the ability to offer service bookings online will help to capture service enquiries on your website.

Garages can also help keep their workshop environment a safe one for their technicians to work in under the current social distancing rules, by using the Dragon2000 Workshop App, so that technicians do not need to congregate around traditional wall-mounted clocking machines throughout the day, or hand paper job cards between staff.

The Workshop App is fully integrated with our DragonDMS, enabling technicians to view and action labour lines of work on their mobile device. Workshop controllers and managers can assign work to technicians within the app, again reducing face-to-face contact in the workshop, and also allowing them to track and improve efficiencies.

Once vehicles are in the workshop, carrying out vehicle health checks on their condition is a good idea, where you can include images and even a video recorded by your technician. Not only do these VHCs increase customer trust, they can also lead to increased revenue when the customer agrees to have the required work carried out.

Dragon2000 have been helping dealers and garages drive their businesses forward since 1995. Talk to our team today on 01327 222 333 or email sales@dragon2000.co.uk to find out how our dealer management system, car dealer websites and mobile apps can help your business increase profits and reduce costs.