NADA Day 1: Dealers Commit To New Vehicle Pricing Transparency

Wow. Compared to the National Automobile Dealers Association’s (NADA) last convention in New Orleans, this year’s event could be called “gangbusters.”

The aisles at the exhibit hall were full, booths were busy and dealers were buoyant.

At vAuto’s booth, we put dealers to the test with our Conquest product. We said: “If you want to buy this new vehicle inventory management and pricing system, you need to make a commitment that you’ll use it to price and promote vehicles in a more transparent manner.”

I was surprised, and happy, with the way dealers responded. “Game on!” was my favorite.

Time will tell whether dealers will make good on their pledges. But I have every confidence that they will.

Why? Many of these dealers recognize that pricing transparency, when applied to both new and used vehicles, brings three key benefits:

First, dealers get more eyes on their inventories.

Second, they have a better shot at selling a greater number of fresh cars faster—through-put that’s necessary to maximize profitability and ROI from their inventory investments.

Third, dealers have an opportunity to speed up their sales processes by getting closer to “the first pencil” in their online pricing.

Taken together, all this affirms my belief that, dealer by dealer, our industry is moving into the realm of e-commerce and meeting the expectations of consumers who want dealers to offer them a purchase experience similar to what they get from other retailers.

I can’t wait for Day 2 here at NADA.