CarGurus: Shifting Car-Buying Process Online Boosts Customer Satisfaction

Offering car dealers and shoppers value beyond the leads it has traditionally delivered is paying off for digital auto platform CarGurus.

The company’s fastest-growing product is its Digital Deal tool, which enables consumers to start their financial application, book an appointment and start a trade-in online before completing the process at the dealership, CarGurus CEO Jason Trevisan said Thursday (Nov. 7) during the company’s third-quarter earnings call.

“The transaction elements of car buying and selling continue to shift online, and we are enhancing and expanding our digital capabilities to empower our dealer partners to compete on a broader scale beyond their local presence while sourcing and selling inventory more efficiently online,” Trevisan said. “Digital Deal is our fastest growing product in the U.S., and we are very pleased with its continued strong adoption and elevated customer satisfaction.”

The adoption of Digital Deal in the U.S. leaped 150% year over year to reach 8,474 dealers, CarGurus said in an earnings presentation released Thursday.

The company expanded this offering to Canada Monday (Nov. 4), saying in a press release that Digital Deal gives dealers access to shoppers who are ready to buy, gives consumers greater confidence by helping them understand their financing eligibility up front, and saves both parties time in completing the transaction.

“With increasing demand for more digitally enabled solutions from both consumers and dealers, we see significant opportunities to replicate the success of our transaction enablement playbook as our international business continues to mature and gain share,” Trevisan said during the Thursday earnings call.

During the third quarter, CarGurus also launched a website redesign, added swipeable photos and updated browsing to its app, and updated its lead submission experience, according to the presentation.

Trevisan said during the call that the updated website offers a more personalized experience that is resonating with consumers, that the mobile app now drives 30% of the company’s leads, and that the lead submission experience is now faster and more intuitive.

CarGurus is making these updates to its marketplace at a time when car shoppers are focused on affordability, the company said in an Oct. 8 press release.

The firm reported that it is seeing the greatest sales growth in price segments that are affordable: $20,000 to $30,000 for new vehicles and $15,000 to $20,000 for used ones.

It attributed this trend to consumers facing economic uncertainty and interest rates and vehicle prices that remain high.

“We continue to build a transaction-enabled platform that leverages our unique and extensive consumer data to deliver actionable insights, tools and functionalities for our dealer partners, supporting them in their daily decision-making processes,” Trevisan said during the Thursday earnings call. “Simultaneously, we are deepening our connection with consumers and enhancing the shopper experience across our channels.”