Before I finally settled, I spent countless hours reading online reviews and mauling through myriad specifications, like cargo space, wheel base, turning radius — all of which influenced my final decision. However, it was good old customer service and having a dealer I could trust that ultimately led my pen stroke to the dotted line.
I signed my lease at Sioux Falls Ford, where I spent the better part of high school cleaning up mangled automobiles once repaired in the auto body. My grandfather worked at the dealership for three decades and my uncle still runs the body shop. “Jeff’s nephew” means something around there. I signed my first lease at Sioux Falls Ford in 2008 and really felt taken care of. But, despite my deep loyalty, I looked around this time — online.
Online car sales are a very imperfect science, but I believe there’s a huge opportunity. Though I signed my lease nearly a month ago, I’m still receiving poorly written emails from Ford dealerships closer to Minneapolis, just checking in to see if I’m still interested in their inventory. When I expressed some confusion about car leases on Twitter, however, I received a response from Ford’s customer service account in a matter of hours. So while the Ford Motor Company has one of best social media strategies among Fortune 500 companies, its dealerships have major room for improvement. (I would recommend a centrally located database to ensure no dealership is contacting a customer who just leased a new Ford vehicle elsewhere.)
BEIJING - Jin Dong, a 25-year-old marketing executive, has just taken delivery of his new car - without stepping into a dealership.
Instead, Jin bought his 120,000 yuan ($17,720) Focus hatchback, made by Ford Motor Co's joint venture with Changan Motor Corp, through the Internet.
"I prefer online shopping. It saved both time and energy," said Jin, who ordered the car on one of China's many automotive websites, cheshi.com.
"I didn't even have to pay a deposit, just the full price when I took delivery five days later."
While Jin did not pay online, he did receive a gift pack of accessories with the car.
Jin is among a rising group in China who are using the Internet to buy cars, either through websites such as cheshi.com or direct from manufacturers.
Most deals through automotive websites don't ask for deposits, although some manufacturers are now beginning to do so.
FAW, one of China's largest auto manufacturers, has recently started asking for deposits from online buyers. A 2,000 yuan deposit, for example, will be needed to order a Mazda6.
Geely, China's largest privately owned automaker, announced in June that it will start selling its cars online next year through Alibaba.com, an e-commerce platform, with payments made through Alibaba's Alipay, the country's largest online payment company.
Liu Jinliang, Geely's vice-chairman, said work to set up the system is going well and Geely's target will be to sell 1,000 cars in the first month.
"Geely will offer special models for online buyers, which consumers would not be able to get from franchised stores," he said.
Hu Jun, Geely's online marketing executive, said the company has been researching the online market for several years.
"However, considering government regulations on e-commerce, privacy and safety concerns, we may start with partial payment online."
Geely is not the only manufacturer in China seeking an online market.
"Some manufacturers are willing to give some discounts or additional benefits to customers who place orders online," said Wang Chen, a marketing executive of cheshi.com.
"After the order online, customers could just go to the franchised store to make the payment and collect the car."
Bitauto.com, one of China's largest automobile websites, said it gets about 50,000 "positive" inquiries from online buyers every month. Sina.com, another highly popular Chinese portal, started its online "auto franchised stores" last year, with some of its operators requiring deposits.
Su Yunong, chief editor of sina.com's auto channel, said: "People are willing to buy laptops online which cost up to 20,000 yuan each, so they should have no problems in paying for cars online.
"But manufacturers often build online stores or offer online discounts just to promote their products as most people check the Internet before buying cars." He said online sales should theoretically reduce car prices, but this may not happen for several years.
Websites have also adopted 3-D modeling and offer virtual stores, and many receive more than 10,000 visits a day.
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