Jaguar Land Rover North America is requesting customer data from dealerships’ computer systems and threatens dealers who resist with financial penalties.
In the worst-case scenario, some dealers worry that they will be legally liable if sensitive bank data leak out to scammers. Furthermore, they fear they will collide with federal regulators who are enforcing strict rules regarding access to customer information.
“We don’t want guys in our systems,” a dealership source familiar with the request told Automotive News. The dealership is part of a Jaguar Land Rover marketing program known as Single View CRM, announced on February 7.
On the other hand, Jaguar Land Rover says dealers’ data will be adequately protected and promises to withhold quarterly incentives from stores that fail to sign the marketing agreement.
Automakers use this sort of information to create marketing programs that boost sales. Auto plants and dealers can create powerful marketing tools by combining consumer data with that collected by third-party vendors.
For example, marketers can know when to pitch vehicles and services to customers whose leases are about to expire.
“A CRM system allows the company and the retailers to best manage all aspects of a customer’s experience with the brands and to tailor our sales and services efforts appropriately,” Christopher Marchand, executive vice president of operations at Jaguar Land Rover, said in a statement.
However, dealers need to be very careful about which customer data they share with the factories or anybody else, as they must comply with rules from the Federal Trade Commission that prohibit them from sharing nonpublic personal information about customers without the customers’ permission.
By Dan Mihalascu
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