Car Dealerships: Streamlining processes with eSignatures
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With new car registrations having plunged a whopping 28.7% in the UK due to the pandemic, car dealerships are one of the many who have faced huge changes over the last few years.
Restrictions on retail and non-essential businesses meant that shoppers swapped to online browsing, forcing auto dealers to digitalise perhaps quicker than they would have liked. What’s more, electric vehicle purchases have skyrocketed to account for more than one in six registrations.
With all of these drastic changes, surely it is essential for car dealerships to modernise and therefore streamline their processes in order to keep up – if they haven’t already done so. We take a look at how this can be achieved through digitalising paperwork processes by migrating to electronic signatures.
Payment documentation
There’s a lot of documentation associated with both new and used car purchases. Whether a customer is buying a car through Hire Purchase or Personal Contract Purchase, using a car dealerships in-house finance or via a bank – the customer has many documents to sign.
In a lot of cases, a car dealership require the customer to sign an order form confirming that a deposit has been made in order to take the vehicle off sale.
With electronic signatures, customers can sign on any device, anywhere. After a leading automotive e-commerce firm reported cars purchased through its online platform increased by 1228% in 2020 and have since predicted this method to be “the new normal”, signing on the fly is a particularly handy feature. Signees can even upload ID photocopies and scans easily.
What’s more – electronic signing offers a high level of security for all users. When it comes to documents with sensitive information, this is crucial.
Warranty
New cars should always come with a warranty and it is recommended that someone buying a used car should take out a warranty too.
These are legally binding documents that assure the buyer that the product is without defects.
Since the passing of eidas regulation and signature laws, documents can be digitally signed and are as equally legally binding as handwritten signatures. Essentially, this means that should anything happen to the vehicle (and it is covered in the warranty) the digital document will be fully legitimate when making a claim.
Driveaway car insurance
Usually car dealerships partner with a third party to offer driveaway insurance for those purchasing a car in person. This is often an afterthought in the excitement of buying a car, so the need for this to be signed quickly and easily feeds into the overall experience of the customer.
Electronic signatures offer a faster, more streamlined signing process for all parties. With dealerships and insurance providers being able to choose from a number of templates or existing documents to send, the end-user signing experience and therefore overall customer experience is improved.
Proof of purchase
When the deal has been reached, it’s important to get a receipt. This should be signed by both and kept as proof of purchase and payment for records.
With an electronic document, the signee simply downloads after signing for their own records. Not only does this save on paper (think of the planet!) but digital documents are simply easier to store and far harder to lose.
What is Signable?
Signable is an electronic signature provider helping customers to send documents easily, securely and quickly.
Thousands of customers across various industries use Signable to streamline and digitalise their processes to improve operational efficiency.
Learn more about what Signable can do for your business or car dealership – sign up for our 14-day free trial today.