But first, a story:

At Rimrock Subaru, my team and I faced a challenge familiar to many dealers: plateauing sales. For two years, we tried everything to break 80 cars a month. Nothing worked—until we rethought how we operated.

We had to ask some hard questions about how our showroom and our online presence were running:

• How long are customers spending with the sales team?
• Is there a disconnect between what they see online and what they’re told in-store?
• Are simple deals tying up the sales and finance managers?
• Is the sales process transparent and easy for customers to follow?
• Are salespeople presenting aftermarket products 100% of the time?
• What are the most common frustrations the sales team faces?

At the same time, we had just launched WebBuy on our website and were floored to see that the deals coming in online were not only faster and easier but more profitable as well.

We're excited to announce that we have officially launched Version 3.0 of WebBuy! This upgrade has been almost a year in the making and has involved a comprehensive overhaul of our underlying architecture. Our development team has worked really hard and created a new base for our system that is robust and that will allow us to build and deploy new features faster than ever!

It’s been almost a year since the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) introduced the Combating Auto Retail Scams (CARS) Rule, setting out to bring greater transparency and fairness to car buying. Although the rule’s original July 2024 effective date has been postponed, the FTC hasn’t slowed down its enforcement actions against dealerships that engage in payment packing or inconsistent pricing practices.

The pressure from fines and regulatory scrutiny isn’t the only challenge. With increasing news coverage around these enforcement actions, consumers are now more aware than ever of deceptive practices in the auto industry, expecting consistent, transparent pricing whether they’re browsing online or visiting a showroom. To meet these expectations and secure compliance, dealerships need solutions designed to keep them CARS-compliant across all sales channels.

With WebBuy, you can manage transparent pricing, ensure consistency across platforms, and protect your dealership from regulatory risks—all while improving customer satisfaction and profitability.

In case you haven't heard, prequalification is by far the most effective CTA with lead capture rates up to 60%. But it isn't just about getting people to enter their name and phone number. Car dealerships that embrace prequalification tools and soft credit pulls are gaining a competitive edge by increasing conversion rates, improving customer satisfaction, and boosting profitability.

One reason we are so passionate about creating a way for dealerships to compete in online car sales, is that digital retailing is not only a way to get more leads, but it is also better for your business and your bottom line.

As the automotive industry evolves, dealerships that embrace digital retailing solutions are not only meeting modern buyer expectations but also achieving higher profitability. Recent J.D. Power U.S. Sales Satisfaction Index (SSI) studies and Power Information Network (PIN) insights confirm that digital retail customers bring in more profit per transaction than traditional retail customers. With competition heating up, dealers who delay their digital transition risk being left behind.

We're excited to announce that WebBuy is launching a new user experience for selecting incentives. With the market becoming highly competitive again, OEMs are offering more incentives, and consumers are getting confused and overwhelmed. Our updated UI will streamline the process and keep users from getting overwhelmed by long lists of incentive programs. 

How it works: 

In order to make your best offer to a customer, WebBuy will automatically find the optimal combination of incentives and finance program for every change made to the deal structure.  

Cash on the hood incentives that are available to all will automatically appear as checked for the user. All of the conditional incentives available for the vehicle are first grouped into a set of relevant categories. The user can read through and select categories that they think apply to them. 

In today’s competitive automotive market, dealerships can’t afford to overlook key statistics that reveal what car buyers expect from their shopping and purchasing experience. From digital retailing to customer satisfaction, these stats underscore the importance of adapting to consumer demand. Let’s dive into the 5 most critical stats every dealer needs to know to stay ahead.

In today’s digital world, customers expect a seamless experience, whether they’re researching online, visiting a dealership, or closing a deal. Unfortunately, the automotive industry often struggles to provide this unified journey, leading to what we call a fragmented customer experience. This disconnect can lead to lost sales, frustrated customers, and weakened brand loyalty.

With new vehicle prices dropping for the 10th consecutive month in July, car buyers are gaining leverage, especially as high loan rates continue to shape the market. For dealers, this shift presents both challenges and opportunities. One critical area where dealers can maintain and even boost profitability is in the Finance and Insurance (F&I) department. WebBuy, a dealer-centric digital retailing platform, empowers dealers to maximize F&I gross by giving them full control over the financing process.

The automotive industry's digital landscape is evolving rapidly, yet many dealer websites remain stuck in an outdated approach. Despite a growing trend towards online car buying, most dealer websites still rely on fragmented, non-transactional call-to-actions (CTAs) that serve as mere lead capture tools rather than comprehensive digital retail solutions. This gap highlights a significant opportunity for innovation and improvement in dealer website functionalities.