Three numbers, and they belong together. 69% of consumers want to always know what their vehicle is worth. Among people who service at a dealership that rises to 76%. And 84% say third-party valuation backing increases their confidence in an offer.
The expectation changed and nobody announced it
Vehicle value used to be something a customer found out when he was ready to do something about it. Now it is something he expects to know continuously, the way he knows what his house is worth without calling anybody. The outfit with the national ad budget spent years teaching him that, and it worked.
The 76% is the part dealers should sit with. Your own service customers, the ones with the most reason to trust you, are the group that most expects to be kept current on the number. And only 14% of them have ever been offered one.
They expect the number. They just do not expect it from you.
On the 84%
Third-party backing raising confidence is not a knock on dealers. It is how any offer works when the buyer has more information than the seller. A number that can be checked is a number that can be believed, and a customer who believes the number stops shopping it.
That cuts in the dealer’s favor more than it looks. The store that makes the first credible, checkable number is usually the store that buys the car.