HOW TO GUIDE
How to win more trades by
texting transparent appraisals
To successfully scale vehicle acquisitions from consumers (vs. costly auctions), you need to build their trust in your appraisal process. The best way to do that is with transparency: when consumers understand the factors that determine their vehicle’s value, they’re more likely to accept offers in good faith.
“I can go in-depth and explain how we arrived at the number. I’m not the bad guy anymore because I have this to show them.”
Conor Deason
Sales Associate
Jim Ellis Chevy
Decades of handwritten appraisals and tired cliches have made it difficult for dealers to establish trust, which is why AccuTrade is designed to showcase transparent calculations at every step along the way in a two-way digital collaboration.
All those steps then add up to the Universal Condition Report (UCR), which you can share to give your customers a comprehensive view of every value-impacting detail leading to your precise final offer. This report uses real-time market data and detailed diagnostics to educate shoppers on the “why” behind their valuation, and you can send it directly to their device to make them more comfortable with it.
When you’re able to instantly establish trust in your appraisal process with this report, you can significantly reduce negotiation and increase conversion with consumers — leading to more profitable and streamlined used car operations. Check out how:
How to generate and text a Universal Condition Report
1 Log in to AccuTrade
2 Click ‘Appraisals’ on the left
3 Choose the vehicle appraisal to generate a UCR for your customer
4 Click the grid menu icon
5 Select ‘Universal Condition Report’ to review the UCR before sending, or click ‘Share” if you’re ready to text (or email) it to your customer. You will still have another chance to review the report after clicking “Share”.
6 Click ‘SMS’ to text the report to your customer. From this screen, you can also ‘Email’ the report or ‘Open PDF” to review and print the report.
More tips to build more trade-in trust
Tip #1: Use the Universal Condition Report (UCR) for all types of acquisitions
One of the reasons AccuTrade is so powerful is that it’s so easy to use. Show your sales, services, and BDC teams how to share Universal Condition Reports (using this guide!) to make sure you’re consistently building trust in your appraisal process throughout each area of your business.
Whether the customer is on the showroom floor, service drive, or at home online — make sending UCRs a second-nature part of your team’s process to make the most of every opportunity.
For example, watch how Mercedes-Benz of Paramus has integrated a transparent appraisal into their everyday service process. By offering a free diagnostic scan as part of their experience, and then sharing the Universal Condition Report at the end of the appointment, they have been able to turn their service drive into an efficient source of valuable inventory.
Tip #2: Train your sales staff to appraise vehicles
It takes skill for your sales staff to create rapport with their customers, learn their needs, and build enough trust for them to decide on a significant purchase in a short period of time. That trust can break down when the in-store process is delayed to consult one of the few managers empowered to appraise their trade-in, who the customer doesn’t have a relationship with.
Training everyone on your sales team to quickly and easily appraise trade-ins themselves with AccuTrade removes this friction point, and creates a high-level of trust by combining the transparent process with an established relationship.
Tip #3: Monitor how customers rate your trade-in process
To improve the reputation of your trade-in process, you need to be able to measure it. Check out your Cars.com Experience Report to see how customers currently rate your store’s trade-in process when they leave reviews. The data allows you to benchmark your performance over time, against your local market, and against the national average for same-brand stores.
The more appraisal data you show customers with their trade-in offers, the more positive ratings you should see in your review data.
Starting winning more trades with trust
AccuTrade is designed to create transparency and trust — between your customers and your team — at every step of the appraisal process to streamline vehicle acquisitions. Take full advantage of our easy-to-use technology, such as quickly texting comprehensive Universal Condition Reports, to simplify and scale your used car business.