When it comes to spending time in a dealership to complete a sale, AutoTrader.com says new cars buyers are happiest when the whole purchase can be completed within 90 minutes.
The Dealer Sourcing Study found buyer satisfaction drops once the time spent in the dealership goes beyond that 90 minute time frame, and even dips below the buyers’ average satisfaction score after transactions take longer than 2.5 hours.
The study grouped the cycle times at a dealership into the sales process, vehicle appraisal process and F&I process.
The average sales time could be potentially the most time consuming part, as the average time for that process took nearly 53 minutes —more than half of the desired 90 minutes customer cycle time.
The vehicle appraisal process averaged around 43 minutes, and the time spent in the F&I office was around 61 minutes, lengthened by all of the signatures required on documents and the amount of forms to fill out.
Based on all processes, staff, the process itself and the technology used could contribute to longer than average transaction times.
“While some dealers are making strides in correcting the issues that contribute to purchase-day delays, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done — on our side as a partner and technology provider and in-store at dealerships,” said Jared Rowe, president of AutoTrader.com, in a press release.
