Todd Cripe, chairman and co-founder The changing automotive industry presents a persistent challenge for dealerships— sustaining meaningful customer engagement. Although industry titans like Ford, Hyundai and Kia have deployed their proprietary car care applications, a crucial element conspicuously absent is direct communication channels between car owners and their go-to dealerships. Created by automotive enthusiasts who understand cars, car owners, and auto dealers, this is where CarCarePro steps in with a platform that fundamentally recalibrates the customer relationship management paradigm within the automotive space.
Unlike OEM-centric applications, CarCarePro enables dealerships to reassert their role as the primary link between a vehicle and its owner. The platform liberates dealerships from the constraints of being mere service stations, empowering them to offer an extensive array of incentives and rewards. This strategy not only fosters long-term relationships based on trust and reciprocal value, it offers dealerships a distinctive edge in an intensifying competitive market.
"CarCarePro helps dealerships to cultivate lasting customer relationships by providing effective communication and compelling reasons for ongoing engagement," says Todd Cripe, chairman and co-founder.
Innovative Edge for Dealerships
While common belief suggests that car dealerships primarily benefit from vehicle sales due to their overt emphasis on advertising, the reality is more nuanced. A surprising 50 percent of a dealership's profits are sourced from their service departments. Far from being ancillary, the financial viability of dealerships is intrinsically tied to their service, repair and maintenance offerings.
To this end, CarCarePro has harnessed the power of gamification and developed a transformative, web-based platform tailored exclusively for auto dealers and bringing with it a host of clear advantages. Among these benefits is the consistent ability to entice customers to return to their dealership for all vehicle service and repair needs.
This customer retention is fueled by CarCarePro's advanced predictive maintenance and data analytics features. It considers factors like mileage and OEM’s service guidelines to equip dealers with the ability to deliver their customers timely, relevant messages that are tailored to individual service and repair needs. Since car owners receive services based on trusted OEM recommendations to ensure maximum vehicle reliability and optimal performance, dealerships transition from being perceived as profit-driven repair shops to trusted advisors that preserve vehicle longevity and peak performance.
The firm goes a step further by enabling auto dealers to send messages that include high-value incentives, which serve as building blocks for lifelong customer relationships. Dealers can customize incentives and rewards to reflect the customer behaviors they wish to encourage. This means a range of options for customer rewards, including service and repairs, purchase parts and accessories, referrals, vehicle trade-ins, and more.
Addressing integration concerns, CarCarePro eradicates the need for complex hardware or software installations. Customers are offered a simple mobile application that works in tandem with the web-based dealer platform, enabling seamless, two-way communication and improving user experience.
In addition, the firm designs its solution with versatility in mind. Dealers are empowered to establish CPOV programs or enhance existing ones to diversify revenue streams and foster customer trust in the market for pre-owned vehicles.
“Certified pre-owned cars represent a lucrative revenue stream for dealers, offer car owners an asset with elevated resale value, and provide car buyers with the assurance of a well maintained, trouble-free investment,” says Cripe.
CarCarePro aspires to bring uniformity despite existing market conditions, where CPOV standards are either non existent or vary significantly between manufacturers.
At the heart of this mission is the establishment of a universally recognized set of criteria that a vehicle must meet to qualify for the coveted CPOV status. These requirements cover a wide range of criteria, from ensuring optimal braking performance to complete vehicle maintenance. Dealers can utilize these guidelines when certifying vehicles, opening up new revenue streams.
This standardization, benefiting various stakeholders, notably car owners, is complemented by the firm's gamification approach, adding a delightful element to the process.
CarCarePro helps dealerships to cultivate lasting customer relationships by providing effective communication and compelling reasons for ongoing engagement
For prospective car buyers, CarCarePro's CPOV standardization brings peace of mind. They can be confident that a CPOV adheres to a set of maintenance and performance criteria, reducing the risk of unexpected problems after purchase. CarCarePro intends to introduce a transferrable gold CPOV status to denote certified pre-owned vehicles, which will be prominently displayed on vehicle history reports, including Carfax and other vehicle history databases.
Car Ownership Made Rewarding
CarCarePro's customer-centric strategy, combined with a gamification approach, provides car owners with compelling incentives to maintain an ongoing relationship with their chosen dealership. To begin, the firm has introduced a tiered customer status system where all customers start on an equal footing, but their status evolves based on their loyalty and engagement with the dealership. It can ascend from a regular to a preferred or premium status, depending on how much they spend and the criteria they meet. Dealerships have the flexibility to define the perks for each status level, making it worthwhile for customers to strive for higher standing. This system offers car owners a sense of belonging and recognition within the dealership community, encouraging them to participate and gain access to exclusive privileges.
Secondly, CarCarePro's points-based reward program, which is another component of the firm’s gamification concept, resembles loyalty programs seen in other industries, like airline mileage programs. Customers accumulate points when they use dealership services or make purchases.
These accumulated points can be redeemed for various goods and services offered by the dealership. Whether it's obtaining a car cover, a car wash, or an oil change, CarCarePro allows customers to leverage their points for tangible benefits, ensuring their loyalty is met with valuable rewards.
The Driven Visionaries
CarCarePro's team embodies an ideal blend of talent essential for success in this sector. Cripe and Craig Tieman, founders, bring extensive knowledge and expertise to the table, making them well-suited to lead the company's innovative endeavors. They share a deep enthusiasm for automobiles, a passion ingrained in them since their teenage years. Their automotive experience spans various facets of the industry, including hands-on repair and maintenance, car racing and vehicle sales. They proudly identify as ‘car guys’ and embrace this term as a testament to their deep-rooted love for cars.
An engineer and inventor, Tieman’s professional journey is marked by numerous engineering certifications. His extensive experience includes influential roles in major automobile companies, where he contributed to cutting-edge automotive technologies. Tieman's innovations have earned him a place in the Delphi Automotive Innovation Hall of Fame, and his impressive 13 patents demonstrate his unparalleled expertise in automotive technology.
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Certified pre-owned cars represent a lucrative revenue stream for dealers, offer car owners an asset with elevated resale value, and provide car buyers with the assurance of a well-maintained, trouble-free investment.
Cripe complements the team with his tech-savvy background, honed over decades in the technology arena, particularly in loyalty systems. He has held senior positions in various SaaS companies and his expertise in developing software as a service for loyalty, messaging and rewards qualifies him as a seasoned professional.
Cripe’s proficiency in loyalty solutions and software development, coupled with Tieman’s profound understanding of automotive technology, form the cornerstone of CarCarePro's capabilities. This combined expertise and proven track record in their respective domains qualify them to address the evolving needs of the automotive industry, delivering innovative solutions that resonate with car owners and dealerships.
Today, the founders’ key priorities are to gain a substantial market share and constantly enhance their solution. They intend to build a bridge between the automobile industry's storied past and its exciting future.
The road ahead for CarCarePro is paved with exciting opportunities. While it initially focused on the U.S. and Canadian markets, its versatile solution, compatible with all vehicles, brands and model years, has created a path for the firm to expand internationally.
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