The new year is here, and with it come new strategies and tools for success. We asked dealers: What do you hope online checkout will accomplish for your business in 2018? Here's what they said:

Steingold Volvo Cars in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, is using online checkout to build trust with customers.

“Online checkout does more than simply allow our customers to purchase vehicles online. It creates an unspoken message to our clients that we are confident in our dealership and the services we provide... By enabling online checkout, our in-store customers feel more comfortable with their purchase. Trust is very important in a dealership, and by providing information upfront with actual sale prices, we have seen increased showroom traffic, higher customer satisfaction scores, and greater ROI.” - Michael Bernardo, Director of Marketing

Madera Auto Center in Madera, California, is using online checkout to speed up the buying process.

“Acceleration. Online checkout will speed up and enhance the auto buying process. It'll be a driver for staying a step ahead by giving consumers a more convenient and effective way of shopping for a vehicle. Because this will be more and more a relationship business than product or transaction, we've got to service customers better than ever to differentiate ourselves.” - Marty Mayfohrt, CEO

Don Herring Mitsubishi in Dallas, Texas, is using online checkout to offer more transparency.

“We are hoping that we can increase our transparency through online checkout in a way that will lead to an increase in sales in 2018.” - Sherri Herring Hawkins, VP of Marketing

Ultimately, dealers who adopt new technology gain a competitive advantage in their market. Here's what we at Drive Motors predict for 2018:

“Dealerships that embrace ecommerce early on will become known as the ecommerce dealership of their region. We believe that top-level car sales will increase, rather than continuing to plateau, and that dealerships will start consolidating. We've seen 70-store groups for the first time ever create centralized command centers and centralized business development. It's more streamlined, it's cheaper, and it's a better, more consistent customer experience. So not only do we predict that's going to increase, but we're taking it upon ourselves to become the foremost authority in helping dealers do that." - Aaron Krane, CEO & Founder

Drive Motors offers seamless ecommerce for dealerships. To learn more about how we can help your dealership become an online shopping destination, request your demo here.