The decline in car sales seems to have given birth to a new normal. Online car shopping is something that car dealers had never thought to prepare for. The resources and techniques required to sell a car online are vastly different from those of selling cars in the traditional format. Even car companies that have brought “the future” to car selling weren’t anywhere near prepared for a full online car market.

The whole country on lockdown has put a halt on anything, but people are still buying cars. There has been a 37 percent sales decline in March and car dealers are being forced to adapt.

With good reason, online car shopping tools were scarcely invested in. There would barely be a convenience factor in buying a car online, and examining words about a car is nothing like going and really examining the car. In recent days, essentially, it has become the only way to buy a car. Roadster, a company that provides those online tools dealers need to make sales online, had an increase in calls and requests for their services. By the end of the year, it is likely that the car market goes mostly, if not completely, online.

There will be new difficulties that come along with the new medium of shopping. Loans are required for the vast majority of car deals, so communication and conversation needs to be going around for the deal to be made. Human conversations do need to happen, but a face to face negotiation is not likely going to be the course of action one will take to make it happen.

Phone calls can be made, and e-signs do exist. However, most states will not allow you to e-sign for a car. Test driving a car is an essential part of the car buying process. There are these minor things that require human interaction or putting ourselves in designated, unsafe places that are not available to us anymore. Roadster is one of the companies that is working with dealers to help adapt the car-buying process to the 6-feet-apart world.

Once the dealers are able to get their stores in order, which they will, they will be able to analyze their buyers in a more advantageous way. With the ability to really watch what their buyers do on their websites, they will be able to have the upper hand when making sales to their customers. Having that upper hand will likely be a reason for the online car market to stick around for a while. What the future will hold for the car market is unknown. There is a wide realm of possibilities, as well as a high likelihood that the convenience of shopping for a car from home will be increased tenfold. Once again, the human race adapts. Every business has to change the way they play the game, and the economy will find its way to thrive. As the world throws more challenges, onward the human race drives toward advancement.

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