CDK Global

Customer expectations are at an all-time high in the post-pandemic automotive retail industry. Shoppers want more screen time and less wait time during the car-buying process. That’s why dealers around the country are laser focused on upping the customer experience from devices to the showroom.

The Finance and Insurance department — better known as the F&I office — is where customers finalize financing, sign auto loan paperwork, and are walked through the F&I menu of supplemental products before the buyer leaves the dealership with their new vehicle. It can be both a major source of revenue for car dealers and an important stop for shoppers seeking a little extra coverage for their vehicles.

What’s a DMS?

Simply put, a Dealership Management System (DMS) is the central hub of your dealership that integrates all the functional areas like Sales, Accounting, Service and Inventory together in one system. The right DMS should provide insight into how your business is performing in real time, unlock efficiencies in your day-to-day processes, and turn data into profitable growth in a trusted and secure platform.

Your Service department is likely accustomed to auto parts delays that stretch far longer than in days past. While many supply chain issues have been resolved, there are still plenty of companies struggling to deliver in a timely manner. But your customers are likely unaware of the current state of affairs when it comes to parts. While there’s little you can do to speed up a shipment or a backlog of repairs, you can do a few things to appease frustrated customers while they wait.

Your car showroom is a beacon for your community and not just because of its well-lit displays. In smaller cities and towns, they may be the area’s largest employer and tax revenue generator. In fact, according to NADA, each of the 18,000 local dealerships in the U.S. employs an average of 67 individuals, most of whom live within driving distance to the dealership.

Once you go electric, you stay electric. At least that’s what electric vehicle drivers indicated in a CDK study earlier this year. But EVs are set to only reach 10% of U.S. car sales by the end of 2024. While affordable EVs continue to fill up car lots and roads, most car shoppers are still choosing hybrids, plug-ins and gas-powered cars. But why?

Each year CDK produces an array of class-leading research to help dealers better understand their customers, their employees and the broader automotive retail industry. This leads to power insights that can help improve their business. Here are the white papers and e-books CDK published in 2024 to date with more being added before the end of the year.

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Friction Points 2024 Study

Recruiting people to staff entry-level positions at your dealership can be a challenge. Rather than posting a “help wanted” ad and hoping that qualified candidates come to you, there are a few ways to be proactive about filling such roles. Seeking out talent at community colleges is among them. Nearly four out of every 10 undergrads in the U.S. attend a community college, and many of those people are young, local and eager for part-time work or internships. Here’s how to reach them.

Winter is a unique time to sell cars, especially in cold climates. This year promises to be an even more interesting time for dealers to move electrified metal. The existing EV incentives on both new and used cars may not continue indefinitely with a new administration coming to Washington, D.C., in January. And many shoppers may still remember one sensational story about EVs being stranded in a Chicago cold snap last winter.

With the U.S. unemployment rate hovering just over 4%, auto dealership recruiting and retention are daunting challenges facing dealers of all sizes.

The need to replace 76,000 qualified Technicians annually to Service bays nationwide is well-known, it's hard to find and retain good Front Office staff, too, especially for the Sales department.