Conquering Car Confidence

How to overcome trust issues when buying online

By Lance Branquinho

𝘖𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳 𝘣𝘶𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘺, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦. 𝘖𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭? 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘱 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘵, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘶𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘤𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦.

Online car sales sites and platforms can bring you that dream car, at a great price. But the vastness and depth of the online marketplace mean you need to choose wisely and know which features build the most trust, with specific virtual showrooms and platforms, when browsing for a car online.

The sheer diversity of models, derivatives and options means your ideal car exists and you are more likely to discover it browsing online, than wasting weekends visiting physical dealerships. But why is it such an angst-ridden experience for many car buyers to discover and purchase their ideal vehicle?

For too many people, online car buying is when expectation meets stress. Buying a car is the second largest financial commitment most people make, after their property. But unlike property, a vehicle has more implied risk. There’s the issue of mechanical wear, related maintenance, unexpected repairs, and depreciation.

The virtual showroom has empowered car buyers to choose from the broadest possible market, regardless of where they are – or the time of day they prefer to browse and shop. Before online car showrooms, the only way you could canvass the broadest choice of available vehicles, increasing the likelihood of discovering that great buy, was the exhaustive physical sacrifice of visiting many dealerships and dealing with potential on-floor salesperson pressure.

Online purchasing gives the buyer control. You get to browse without pressure at your leisure. But despite the general confidence in online purchasing, why are some people still resistant to the outcome of an online car purchase? It’s because the consequences of a mistake can be dear.

Cars with crash damage can be expertly repaired, rendering them cosmetically flawless but structurally unsound. The mistake of purchasing a car with legacy structural, mechanical, or electronic issues can be very costly. Not to mention the added stress of negotiating or litigating for recourse with an uncooperative or unscrupulous seller.

Embracing The Biggest Market

Like anything online, the benefit of a virtual car buying experience is scale. There’s no limitation of space and time, being able to view and experience only those cars you can physically visit and verify. Nor are you limited to a specific city or region. You can browse the broadest possible selection of vehicles, finding exactly the model, specification, mileage, colour, trim, and price you desire.

Not everyone feels comfortable in the traditional physical retail environment. It’s why Amazon and other online fulfilment services have thrived: providing a solution to those individuals who want to browse on their own time and buy without the pressure of a physical sales transaction and interaction.

Buyer’s remorse exists in the physical and online shopping experiences. For physical buyers, it’s often a feeling of having been pressured into a transaction by an overzealous salesperson or rushed through an experience without being able to ask all relevant questions. Online buyer’s remorse relates to fulfilment issues – receiving a dented, tarnished or slightly different specification car from what you saw when selecting it online.

What The Best Online Car Sales Sites Do

One of the great annoyances of in-person car shopping is being pressured or rushed by sales staff. Once it becomes obvious that you are interested in a specific car on the floor, aggressive salespeople can hover and be overly attentive to trigger a deal. That’s not what many car buyers want.

Because a car purchase represents such significant financial commitment and often an emotional alignment, too, if you are pining for a rare vehicle, the anonymity of online browsing and buying has many benefits. When you have time to use all the online tools, like watching expert online video reviews or absorbing impartial information about the car you’re interested in, it becomes a much more empowered decision.

An authentic and trustworthy virtual car showroom provides abundant information and functionality. Dealers who believe in the customer-centric experience of online car retailing will have an interface with several tools and features that allow you to see and experience as much as possible through the screen of your Smartphone, laptop, or desktop.

The best online car shopping experience must allow you the deepest possible browsing functionality. And a lot of that is visual. Platforms offering 360-degree virtual viewers enable you to get a ‘feel’ for the car you are interested in. This is especially true for virtual showrooms and listings that include both external and internal 360-degree viewers, allowing potential buyers to assess the exterior condition and quality of a car’s cabin architecture.

Enhancing UX and deep virtual showroom functionality are elements of trust for anyone nervous about online car shipping. Any dealership that has invested in building a slick, user-friendly platform with responsive interfacing, sound category navigation, product visualisation features (like an external and internal 360-degree viewer), and detailed listing information is confident. And that confidence in their virtual showroom and online retailing experience shows confidence in the quality of inventory they have sourced to display and resell.

The more depth of functionality and associated information an online car sales platform presents, the greater its associated transparency and implied trustworthiness. In any buyer’s market, information is pricing power – and virtual dealerships that give you that power are the most transparent, allowing for the most natural market dynamics.

Minimalist and slick UX design should never be an excuse for information and certification discrepancies regarding an online vehicle you might be interested in. Skilled developers and UX designers will create an online car sales platform that works seamlessly regardless of your device or browser type, delivering all the information and images you deserve to make an empowered car purchasing decision.

Used Car - Good Condition?

When buying, it’s particularly challenging for a mechanically untrained car buyer to spot issues. Traditionalist car-buying advisors will say that buying virtually, without physically being in the presence of a car, has increased risk, but that’s an incorrect assumption.

An external and internal valet doesn’t cost much and will create the impression of a car being in good condition. Addressing mild cosmetic issues, like paint chips, windshield cracks or bumper blemishing, is a quick fix – and again, it has no bearing on the car’s fundamental mechanical or electronic health.

Unless you are a trained technician or automotive mechanic, you are unlikely to correctly assess the true health of a potential buy by merely doing a superficial walkaround. Auto Online uses German technical services company, Dekra, who has spent decades perfecting its systems and setting a standard for third-party verification.

Trusted online resellers will offer verification and validation for vehicles in their inventory. Allowing a third-party entity to provide an expert technical opinion removes the potential for buyer bias and seller ambiguity. Cars are an emotive purchase for some, and when you’ve identified that dream car, a sense of confirmation bias can start building, which might prevent you from recognising potential issues.

An independent evaluation and test certification removes your bias toward a potential buy’s technical health. Also, it gives the reseller a fair reference point for any future dispute concerning mechanical issues.

Quality Used Cars Are Online

The convenience and value of online car buying is unquestionable. Virtual showrooms don’t keep business hours. They are open all hours, welcoming you to browse at a time of your convenience. There’s no burden of dealing with inclement weather or searching for parking after navigating nightmarish traffic. The online car shopping experience is where you want and need it to be.

Without the pressure of rushing to a dealership before closing time and having to deal with the layers of sales pressure online buying can be a more transparent and empowered experience. As the virtual buyer, you have the advantages of time and anonymity. The virtual showroom is open when needed, and there’s no proximity pressure to buy.

For buyers, online car listing and shopping dynamics allow the closest thing to fair price discovery. For introverts, it’s a much better option compared to the intimidation of negotiating with a skilled salesperson on a dealership floor or attempting to outbid wily buyers at an auction house. With inventory being presented to an anonymous audience and no physical buying pressure or sales tactics allowed, the virtual showroom is a more natural market, respecting the buyer.

The approval and trust of all things digital are inarguable. You bank online. You apply for home financing and insurance online. And use online interfacing for all your most trusted communications – from business to personal messaging. So why not search for and buy your dream car online, too?

For your online vehicle purchasing needs contact Auto Online on https://auto.online/contact/