Car buying in Puerto Rico shifts back to in-person post-pandemic
Premier Insurance’s Miguel López also noted the need for better-trained sales staff.
Although some consumers continue to purchase cars online, a trend that began during the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority prefer the one-on-one experience of visiting dealerships and reviewing their options, according to Premier Insurance + Warranties President Miguel López in an interview with News is my Business.
López spoke with News is my Business during the Premier Auto Summit 2024, an educational event about Puerto Rico’s automotive industry, which was held at the Sheraton Puerto Rico Resort & Casino in San Juan.
“With regard to consumers purchasing their cars online, we saw a rise in the process of online transactions during 2020, 2021 and even early 2022,” López said. “Not that many dealers are following that approach [anymore], and we have returned to that in-person purchasing experience. However, and I think it’s also a cultural topic, what has dramatically changed is that consumers now arrive at the dealership very well informed about what they want to purchase.”
López estimated that consumers spend around 14 hours researching their desired vehicle before visiting the dealership. By the time they arrive, they “know all the car’s features,” he said.
The shift, he noted, has led to the need for dealership staff to “be even more prepared because consumers are arriving more prepared [about the product] than salespeople. That’s a big change we’ve observed in recent years.”
He emphasized the importance of sales staff being knowledgeable about their products because “no one should know your product better than you, given that you are the one that sells it.”
López continued: “It should be an educational process at the dealership regarding each model, and it should be done rigorously and constantly because the features change, models change and the car changes. There is so much technology that you have to be at the forefront.”
Beyond the sales aspect, he added, “we recognize that culture and talent are one of the most important factors at the end of the day at a car dealership; it is people talking to people. We believe that elevating the [company] culture, elevating how talent is managed and the talent’s education is imperative to continue being sustainable over time.”
