The answer to that question is YES!! The next question to come to mind is likely HOW?! Keep reading to find out!
For processing payments in both service and sales, there is always the option to pay in the dealership. With Dealer Pay’s dealership-specific point of sale software, the payment acceptance process is quick and easy. Dealer Pay provides several ways to pay that make the payment process fast and efficient for your customers. If the customer is at the dealership, they can insert or swipe their card, or tap their card, phone, or watch. The terminals are customer-facing, provide a contact-less experience, and offer “quick chip” technology which processes a payment in under 2 seconds! No more awkward wait to see if the card goes through!
Let’s look at the process in a little more detail.
We’ll focus on sales first. A customer walks into your store, picks a vehicle, negotiates a reasonable price, and comes to an agreement to buy. That’s the typical process. Things are easy and smooth! But what about when a customer comes in, picks a vehicle, LOVES it, but needs to consult another decision maker? Perhaps a spouse or parent. Of course, the dealership is going to try to puppy dog close them, but sometimes that doesn’t work. At that point, they walk out the door with promises of returning later. Occasionally, that customer will call in and say, “Okay, I want the car! But I can’t come in until Saturday to buy it. Can you hold it for me?” Of course, you’re going to say “SURE! I’ll need a partial payment, then I can pull it off the lot for you.”
Then what happens? Maybe finance is busy, so they can’t call to get that payment. Maybe your cashier is slammed in service, and the salesperson doesn’t know how to run a payment. Maybe the sales manager is off evaluating a trade-in, and by the time they’re back, the salesperson is with another customer. In any of those scenarios, the customer is left waiting to put money down on a vehicle they want to buy.
When you partner with Dealer Pay, your salesperson could have said, “Sure! I’m going to shoot you over a text (or email) request for that partial payment, and as soon as I get it back, I’ll pull that car off the lot for you and slap your name on it!” How easy would that be?! The salesperson can even stay on the phone with the customer to verify the payment came through, so there is no wait time and no question. At that point, the dealership has the customer’s money, and can rest assured that they’re not out looking elsewhere for a vehicle!
How efficient! Wouldn’t that customer be THRILLED to know that car is all theirs, and not have to wonder if someone else is driving it, or worse still, buying it?! When they get that survey, aren’t they going to be more likely to be impressed with the purchase process?
Another situation that pops up pretty regularly is that the customer would like to put money down to order or hold a vehicle but wants to finance the full amount. Refunding the money to the customer is as easy as can be, whether days, weeks, or months after the initial payment was made! With our top-notch reporting and search function, the Finance Manager would simply search the customer’s last name (or any other variety of identifiers) and pull up the previous transaction. With one click, that transaction can
be refunded! Dealerships don’t need the card number the original payment was made on, they don’t need to issue a check, there is no lag time. It’s so simple!
How about in service? A customer brings in their vehicle, the dealership performs the requested service, the customer pays, then they head out! Again, that’s the ideal, but it’s not always that simple. What about when the shuttle takes them to work? Or when they drop off their car the evening before? Or when it’s left overnight for a larger repair that may take several days? In those scenarios, the customer isn’t in the dealership when service is completed. A service advisor calls the customer to let them know their vehicle is finished up, and how much they owe. At that point, a customer must figure out when to pick up the vehicle, and how to make payment. Again, if partnered with Dealer Pay, a text or email payment request could be sent. A credit card could be accepted over the phone as well if the customer isn’t particularly tech-savvy. The refund function, mentioned above, is just as easy when a customer is mistakenly overcharged, or perhaps there is an error, and the dealership decides a discount is warranted.
With any transaction, an email or text receipt can be sent to the customer with the click of a button. Every dealership is looking for ways to cut costs and reducing the amount of paper used daily could be a HUGE money-saver, on top of being more convenient for the customer. They don’t have another piece of paper to fold up and throw in their glove box!
These processes, many unique to Dealer Pay, can increase CSI in several ways. The overall experience score is likely to be increased if the payment process is smooth and easy. Customers are often impressed with how quickly payment goes through, and with the technology available to them. The vehicle pick-up score (in service) is likely to shoot up with the ease of making payment. Most surveys ask about the time it took to pick up the vehicle. That correlates directly with payment acceptance. A purchase survey asks about the finance process. With Dealer Pay’s tools in the store’s back pocket, that finance process is bound to be quick and efficient.
From taking a down payment to completing service work to the parts department to the body shop, Dealer Pay is a dealership’s best weapon against low CSI scores!