Credit Union Concierges Remove the Confusion and Fear of Auto Buying
By Steve Cocheo, Senior Executive Editor at The Financial Brand
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Executive Summary
- Auto lending is a mainstay for many credit unions, but Ardent Credit Union goes a step beyond. Two veteran car experts offer members advice and aid in dealer negotiations.
- The auto buying concierges work to help members find the best deal, keep them out of questionable ones, and warn them of excessive dealer fees.
- The concierge program builds loyalty, keeping members, friends and family coming back for more auto loans.
Most people don’t like to go car shopping. “It’s right up there with tooth extraction,” says Steven Roberts of Ardent Credit Union.
Many enter a dealership feeling like no matter how much research they’ve done, how much experience they’ve had, they’re tourists in a foreign land where the natives speak in a language uniquely their own. A salesman may drop a phrase to a co-worker like “pair of dimes” or “pair of nickels” — referring to dollar amounts. And ultimately the goal of the dealership staff is to “move the metal” — sell cars. Along the way, with thinning margins on vehicles, the really big payday on many deals comes at the financing stage.
All of which leaves the car shopper sorely in need of a guide. Ardent offers members a pair of them.
Roberts, now AVP and auto loan specialist at Ardent, came to the Philadelphia-based credit union in 2016 after many years as a salesman and manager in auto dealerships. Initially, Ardent hired him to build up its indirect auto lending business. But soon he became swamped with questions about the auto buying process and cars in general from the credit union’s members. A year later, management agreed to bring aboard more help, specifically Peter Kuryluk, who had worked with Roberts at a dealership in sales after extensive experience in both dealer sales and service departments.
Roberts and Kuryluk today form Ardent’s auto buying concierge team. Credit union members at any stage of the car buying process can tap their expertise and contacts for assistance, from something as simple as what they’ve heard about a particular make and model to in-depth help to negotiate the best possible deal and price at a dealership. On rare occasions they may accompany a member to a dealership, but more often they are working the phones, talking a member through the process, helping them navigate items like questionable dealer fees, or dickering directly with the dealerships on members’ behalf. (There is no charge for this members-only service.)
In part, the program began as a retention effort, to ensure that more members who had been granted direct auto loan approvals by Ardent didn’t wind up taking another lender’s offer after seeing the dealer’s finance department. However, the program’s impact has become more nuanced over time.
Members looking for a car have Roberts’ and Kuryluk’s cell numbers and it’s common for both to get calls from members over the weekend, when many people do their car shopping.
“They’re not shopping when we’re working our day shifts,” says Roberts. “That’s just not realistic for most people.”
Depending on what they say they are hearing from a dealership, in such calls the concierges give different advice. They may ask the member to shoot a document with their smartphone so they can examine the details via text or email.
Then they advise: “Sometimes it’s ‘stick and stay’,” says Roberts, “and sometimes it’s ‘run, run as fast as you can, to get away from there — and don’t look back, please’.”
How the Auto Buying Concierge Process Begins
Members come to Roberts and Kuryluk in different ways. A form on the credit union’s website sends requests for help straight to their inboxes, and frequently fellow staffers tell would-be car buyers to contact the concierges.
But as the program rolls on, Kuryluk says satisfied concierge users generate a lot of the volume.
“A pretty common flow for us is to be helping, say, a son after I helped his mother and her husband,” says Kuryluk.
Some people seek help when they are already far into the buying process, while others may be planning far ahead and want a concierge’s assistance from the start of their search.
Frequently, members aren’t quite sure what sort of vehicle they want, according to Roberts, and a key first step is walking through what they currently drive. Do they like what they have now? Does it fulfill their needs? Or is there something else they’d prefer? A question the concierges like to ask is if the member has actually ever driven the model they seem to like.
Ardent Credit Union’s Auto Buying Concierges, Peter Kuryluk, l., and Steven Roberts, r., bring decades of experience in auto dealerships to members’ aid. The credit union estimates they have saved members over $1 million to date.
Roberts is a big believer in getting behind the wheel before buying. While he acknowledges the growing role of remote online sales dealers such as Carvana that deliver cars purchased online, he swears by an actual driving experience.
“People will say, ‘Oh, I want the blue car’,” says Roberts, convinced that that vehicle is “it.” However, eyes on the vehicle can cool that down fast.
“It turns out the blue car is ugly as sin, and they say, ‘I don’t want the blue car.’ That happens all the time,” says Roberts.
“The mass market really wants to be able to touch, feel, drive before they make a decision. It’s not a pair of sneakers,” Roberts says.
However, unless the member wants an exotic vehicle, Kuryluk also says that these major purchases have a commodity aspect. There are usually multiple vehicles in a given make, model and range of years, and this gives the concierges the opportunity to help members sort out the best deal based on many factors.
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Concierges Dig Into Dealer Fees and Save Members Money
Beyond narrowing down the choice of the vehicle itself, the dealers also help members navigate the variety of potential fees dealers may reveal at different stages of the process. Roberts says charges like documentation fees, sales tax and tag fees are standard, but other charges like dealer prep fees and security etching should be questioned.
“Either the dealership makes an adjustment for such things, rolling back the number for you — or you should probably walk away from the deal and we’ll find you another Toyota Camry somewhere else,” says Roberts.
Kuryluk adds that some dealer pricing practices and tactics have become odd post-Covid. He often scrutinizes fine print, like the assumption that a trade-in worth at least X thousands of dollars will be made, in order to obtain an attractive advertised price.
“And then there are dealerships that hide their price behind incentives that almost no one will ever see all of,” says Kuryluk. “These are the kinds of deals where you have to be in the military, a nun, and buy on the third Thursday of the month, before 4:00 o’clock, to be eligible.”
Besides one-on-one assistance, Roberts and Kuryluk have done a series of Ardent podcasts and periodically conduct car buying workshops, according to Alletta Emeno, Ardent’s chief marketing officer. The credit union now also offers a first-home concierge program, part of its stress on “high-touch,” Emeno says.
Read more: Auto Buying Fraud is Exploding. Capital One Is Using AI to Fight Back
Moving Metal: Dealers Who Love Concierges (and Those Who Don’t)
Retention of commitments to lend was a reason for starting the concierge program. But Roberts notes that dealer incentive financing, such as 1.9% and 0% offers, can be pretty hard to beat. Such offers aren’t seen much right now.
When incentive programs are in force, sometimes there’s a rebate alternative and the concierges will help the member determine if taking that choice and sticking with the offered Ardent loan makes the most sense. Even if the consumer goes with the incentivized loan, Roberts says, the assistance they’ve received may give Ardent an in for a future refinancing of the dealer loan.
There’s also a loyalty dividend. Kuryluk points out that the experience members have increases the chances that Ardent will be called on when they next need to buy a car, and promotes strong word of mouth.
“There are people who won’t buy cars without us,” says Kuryluk. Roberts says being part of a credit union enables them to focus on what’s best for the member.
As for dealers, it’s a two-edged sword.
“There’s a dealership or two that don’t ever want to talk to me again,” says Kuryluk. “I take that as a badge of honor. Those interactions didn’t go the way they did because everything the dealer was doing was above board.”
On the other hand, Roberts says some dealers see the positives of working with Ardent’s concierges.
“If you’re a dealer, and I call you and ask if you have a Honda Accord in this trim level and this color, and you do, I’ve just brought you a deal,” says Roberts. “That means I am now your best friend.”
