DealerELITE's Exclusive Interview with Tommy McClung, CEO of CarWoo!

1. What is CarWoo!?

CarWoo.com is an online marketplace where car buyers say what car they want and dealers make online offers to sell them a car.  The experience is 100% transparent between the buyer and the dealers so buyers get a market driven price, while dealers get to sell cars based on their professionalism, responsiveness and competitiveness in the market.  Over 53% of CarWoo! buyers do not buy from the lowest priced dealer, as CarWoo! buyers are evaluating the entire online experience provided by the dealers on CarWoo! There is no cost for dealers to sell cars to CarWoo! buyers.

2. How long have you been a DealerELITE member?

I've been a member of DealerElite since May of 2010.

3. What do you like best about DealerELITE?

I love breadth of topics covered on the site.  From sales tactics to macro level events happening in the industry, there is always interesting content and something to learn. 

4. What does CarWoo! do that is different from every other car buying website?

First, CarWoo! focuses on how to make the car buying and selling experience great for both buyers and dealers.  Our product is free for dealers to participate and allows for a completely transparent sales transaction.  One major part of the CarWoo! model that's very different is its driven by a consumer pay model.  Over 80% of CarWoo! car buyers purchase a car within 2-3 days. 

5. This all sounds interesting? Can you explain in more detail?

Sure!  From the buyer’s perspective, it is dead simple.  They create an account and configure a car that they are looking for.  Configuration to the trim level is done with drop downs.  They pick their preferred color(s) by checking boxes.  They describe any options they want in free text.  If they are financing they say what down payment they will have and self-report their approximate credit score.  If they have a trade in, they describe it.  That’s it.  They present their credit card and then the CarWoo! system notifies dealers that a buyer is waiting for offers.

Once a dealer receives notification that a buyer is waiting, they can go to their CarWoo! dashboard, see what the buyer is wanting and make an offer on a car they have, or can get, that is a close as possible to what the buyer wants.  They select the trim and all the options on the car can be selected.  We use Chrome data for that.  They enter the VIN or stock number, MSRP and an offer price.  There is a place to make a helpful comment, and off goes their offer to the buyer.

6. O.K. Tommy, so how does the site work?

Once the buyer and dealer are connected, they can comment back and forth.  Ask questions.  Clarify comments.  Make counter-offers and respond to counter-offers.  Dealers can see the offers made by other dealers, so they know exactly what information the buyer is receiving.  Interactive, responsive, professional communications go a long way toward helping a buyer.  From a dealer’s perspective, the site is your online showroom and the buyer is on the floor when they are online.

7. Why should dealers partner with CarWoo! versus other companies?

There are no other companies providing this level of transparency to dealers.  Dealers can get leads from lots of places, but only in the CarWoo! marketplace do they get to see how buyers respond to both their offer and other offers.  Also, buyers from CarWoo! come free.  No one else does that for dealers.

8. How much does CarWoo! Cost?

A buyer pays $49 in advance and there is no charge to the dealer.

9. What can car dealers do to make CarWoo! better?

Well, we think CarWoo! is pretty good already, but there is always room for improvement.  We welcome feedback from dealers any time.

What I think you are really asking though is what can dealers do to make the experience better.  It is really important to remember that over 53% of the time it is not the lowest price that wins.  The leading indicator of who wins a deal is online behavior.  Dealers who are friendly, helpful, responsive and professional online win the deals.  That makes CarWoo! a better experience for the buyer and the dealer.

10. How would a dE member contact you and sign-up?

Easy…just send an email to support@carwoo.com and one of our Dealer Happiness Reps…that really is what we call them...will get right back to you.