World's first all-digital car-buying experience

 
•World’s first digital-only car-buying destination
• Not a traditional dealership
• Can buy a car in full online, without seeing, touching or test driving it

Hyundai UK has teamed up with Rockar, a brand-new car-selling franchise, to launch an all-new, entirely digital way of buying new cars Cars can be researched and bought entirely online, although you can also travel to the store in order to try out your desired model. Eschewing the traditional dealer setup, Hyundai Rockar has created something more akin to a technology shop and is located within Kent’s Bluewater shopping centre.

Both Hyundai and Rockar are keen to stress that this isn’t intended as a replacement for the traditional dealer-led method of selling and buying, merely an alternative. Rockar has developed its own car-buying software which, the company says, provides the customer with all the information they could ever need when buying the car – there are no brochures in store and only a couple of cars. Indeed, it has been said that it’s possible to buy a car from start to finish in under five minutes, either from home or at the store itself.

Cars can be bought on any internet-enabled device, be that a desktop computer, smartphone or tablet – either in the store or at home – and the car doesn’t have to be bought there and then, either. You can save your progress in your account and consider your options – either booking a test drive at the ‘Experience Centre’ at Bluewater and maybe continuing the purchase in-store, or taking that quote and going to another dealership to see if they can best that price.

There are also no ‘salesmen’ in the traditional sense. None of the Rockar ‘Angels’ that work at the store are on commission and they all come from a retail, rather than sales, background. The company says that they are there to guide you through the process and answer any questions you may have about the process, or the vehicles themselves.

Should customers want to get their cars serviced, they can do that there, too, with full maintenance facilities available. The store, ‘Experience Centre’ and garage all keep the same hours as the shopping centre itself, too. Just like a normal dealership, too, customers can trade in their old cars as part-exchange.

At the moment, there are no plans for any similar sites anywhere else, but it’s something which both Hyundai and Rockar are contemplating should the Bluewater store be a success.
By James Richardson

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