Cranberry Township dealership allows customers to test drive vehicles at work, at home
Though opportunities exist to purchase vehicles online, one Butler County car dealership says most of its customers still prefer to see the car in-person before making their purchase.
At Ron Lewis Automotive Group in Cranberry Township, a portion of its customers will view vehicles for sale online and schedule “at-home or “at-work” test drives rather than plan an in-person visit to the dealership.
“A lot of clients still want to see the car,” said Jobie Glessner, co-president of Ron Lewis Automotive Group. “So what we do is at-home or at-work test drives. The client will go and look at a vehicle, and our internet team will drive it to their home or workplace, do a walk-around of the vehicle, look at their trade-in and essentially email them a pricing quote. They’d never have to come to the dealership.”
If a customer gets home from work at 10 p.m., the dealership may be closed, but they can start their vehicle search online, browsing the dealership’s website and reaching out to indicate interest in a vehicle.
The dealership responds in the morning, and that customer may reply later. It’s more accommodating toward varying work and lifestyle routines, Glessner said.
“Sometimes this process is painful to consumers even though we try to do everything in our internal processes to make it smooth and transparent,” he said.
The process, he said, also provides flexibility and works well for those who are not interested or feel comfortable enough to purchase a car entirely online.
Some customers, however, are interested in buying entirely online.
“We have a system set up that helps a client purchase a car the way they want to purchase it,” Glessner said. “If a client wants to just do it all online, we have internet team that assists the client with that.”
For those who would rather visit in-person, Glessner said, that remains an option.
According to Allied Market Research data, by 2030, the global online car buying market is expected to reach $722.79 billion, up from a 2020 market value of $237.93 billion.
“We just want to keep it really simple,” said Glessner said, of accommodating customers’ buying methods. “It’s a big purchase, and a big monthly investment.”
