It’s no secret that consumers dislike spending hours at a dealership to purchase a vehicle, so Island Auto Group in New York sought to speed up the process at an August sales event focused on transparency.
Island Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram and Island Subaru on Staten Island teamed with CarEdge, a company that brokers deals for vehicle shoppers. CarEdge drove consumers into the dealerships by promising a quick sale and no unexpected additional costs.
Three parameters were in place for the one-day event: Prices had to be negotiated in advance through CarEdge, there would be no hidden fees, and buyers would be in and out in one hour or less.
The event generated 13 sales of new and used vehicles for the two dealerships — more than half of their business that day. It was so successful that Island Auto Group plans to repeat it early next year, said Josh Aaronson, one of the group’s owners.
Aaronson said the stores started working with CarEdge around a month before the event. All of the group’s franchises, Aaronson said, now use CarEdge to generate business.
“I think consumers want as much transparency as they can get, and a simplified buying process, knowing that they aren’t going to have to play games, and they’re able to go into a dealership and get the buying experience that they’re looking for, not what the dealer is looking for,” Aaronson told Automotive News.
This was CarEdge’s first sales event, and the company livened up the atmosphere by arranging to have a food truck on-site. Ray and Zach Shefska, a father and son who founded CarEdge in 2020, hosted a six-hour livestream as well, responding to viewer comments and giving buying insights.
In addition to negotiating deals for clients, CarEdge provides one-on-one consultations with consumers to answer questions and guide them through the buying process.
The company has built a vast following on social media, where it shares car shopping advice. CarEdge has more than 140,000 TikTok followers, while Zach Shefska, the CEO, has amassed 250,000 himself. The company also has a podcast.
Zach Shefska said the idea behind the company was to deliver transparency and efficiency to car sales. That mission grew from a resentment he developed toward the business over the years because his father, who spent decades working in various roles at auto dealerships, was away so much. Shefska said more transparency can make auto retailing more efficient and shorten the time needed to finalize a transaction.
There were a few moments at the sales event, however, when the on-site CarEdge team had to step in to save deals because the prenegotiated numbers didn’t line up.
“It wasn’t all roses and rainbows,” Shefska said. “This was one of the big learnings for me. It was like, still, the desk manager changing numbers on things and salespeople still changing numbers.
“It was really eye-opening for me to know that we can do all this work to set expectations, set pricing, really trying to make it as easy as possible. And then we’re in Staten Island — it’s a difficult market, so there’s a lot of entrenched, ingrained ways of doing business. There were quite a few moments where we had to rescue things.”
The event’s sales tally makes it clear what consumers want from the dealership experience, Shefska said.
“The transparency, in and out quickly, not getting hit with fees that you don’t understand,” he said. “It just continues to reaffirm that that’s what customers want. Heck, we even see it with Amazon getting into the space. [Consumers] want different experiences than what they currently have.”