Easterns Automotive Group
Easterns Automotive Group is one of the top 50 independents in the country. For the last 30 years, Easterns has made a name for themselves within the subprime market across their eight locations in DC, Maryland and Virginia.
Challenge
In 2012, Joel Bassam, Director of Marketing for Easterns Automotive Group, began to explore digital retailing solutions to expand beyond the subprime customer while also creating efficiencies for his sales staff by eliminating as much paperwork as possible.
Joel has always been a firm believer that their website is their dealership and their stores are their delivery centers. Three years ago they went one-price to further support his philosophy. It was at that point that Joel knew he had to find a better digital retailing solution--one with a modern experience that both his customers and sales team would love. An experience that higher credit tiered customers would flock to and a vendor he could truly partner with to bring his vision to life.
Solutions
Easterns Automotive Group partnered with Roadster to build an online marketplace across all eight stores with a single, centralized BDC team. Today, 80% of their sales are derived from this centralized BDC team who do more than just make appointments, they encourage customers to do most, if not all, of the process online, including F&I, using the Easterns Express Marketplace.
His sales team, who are paid hourly instead of by commission, have full visibility into every step of the deal within the Roadster Admin tool and can use that information to nudge customers along in the process. By moving most of the dealmaking online, Joel and his team have significantly reduced the time that customers and his sales staff spend in-store. The online process is so easy and fast that he is now attracting higher credit tier customers -- taking what once was close to 100% subprime to more of a 60/40 split.
Roadster is the only tool with full Digital Retailing capabilities. Anyone can build a good payment calculator, but it is the backend tools that make it fully transactional. There is a lot of power in seeing everything that the customer did online. Roadster not only provides us with visibility into the customer’s full journey, but they provide robust tools to take action on that information.
Results
Increased Sales
Best salespeople 30+ cars/month
Reduced Transaction Time
Minutes vs. 2.5 hours
Multiplied F&I Product Penetration
Up from 30%
Boosted Customer Satisfaction
vs. Industry Avg of +39
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