Dealers Drool, But Will Consumers Consider?

September 27th, 2005

A recent study by the ATX Group, the world’s second largest automotive telematics provider in North America and Western Europe, shows that sales and service managers from a cross-section of U.S. automobile dealerships see value in using real-time, telematics-generated data from the vehicle for generating new service revenues and augmenting their current customer relationship management (CRM) processes. The qualitative research was conducted among 30 dealerships located in 10 states and representing both luxury and mass-market automobile brands.

According to the study, a wide majority of the respondents said data generated from telematics-equipped vehicles was unique and would enable them to be more proactive in servicing their customers. Respondents said telematics appears likely to generate more valuable and credible customer leads for vehicle service because the diagnostic information comes directly from the vehicle, an attribute they believe will win greater trust among their customers. They also thought that real-time, vehicle data systems were easy to use, the data was timely, and that the data is both customer — and vehicle-specific.

Before you jump on the bandwagon, however, consider that this study was conducted by a telematics manufacturer. Dealers may be drooling over this system, but I’m not so sure that consumers are going to be falling all over themselves to take advantage of this, even if the system is offered to them at no cost.

Let me give you an example. The other evening, my wife and I were watching television, when an ad for BMW came on. The ad showed a guy in his BMW getting a call from a dealer service department, saying that his car was due for an oil change. When the guy asked the dealer service rep how he knew that, the rep replied, “The car told me.”

My wife was horrified. She said she’d never own a car that collected and provided that kind of information without her approval. My guess is that instead of creating more consumer confidence, many others will be put off by this, seeing it as “Big Brother-ism.”

For more information on the study, visit the ATX Group website.

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