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Please be advised... (is it yours if you don't control it?) *RANT*

ryan.leslie

One of the good guys
Apr 20, 2009
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Ryan
Good afternoon,

Please be advised that the third party product (CarStory) you requested to add to your website is not allowed for addition onto your FCA Digital program website. Please visit fcadigitalcertified.com for a full list of all approved products and services within the FCA Digital Program.

Sincerely,

FCA VIP Support Team

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Background:
The emphasis above is mine, and I'll admit I'm showing some frustration here. Many of you know that CarStory has had a free merchandising tool available to tier 3 dealers for three years. Totally free, costs nothing, no commitment to buy anything from us, inline deployment with no links or lead forms unless you want them. It is admittedly an advertising arm for us that allows us to give something of value before we ever ask for anything of value from our dealer partners, and I don't think that is a bad thing. We have a decent number of FCA sites deployed already. We've worked directly with many OEMs to create customized CPO information within the tool for their dealers too.

Yesterday I was cc'd on this email to a dealer principal. His name is on the side of the building for goodness sake! I need some help a.) understanding this, and b.) I need advice from Refresh to help him get it approved if possible.

Rant:
Is it really YOUR website if you don't control it? I understand a measure of control from the OEM for new cars, but used, c'mon? That isn't at all about brand standards. Shoot, other OEMs are actively augmenting the content with valuable CPO information. FCA dealers, and my dealer specifically, is at a competitive disadvantage.

I'm sure "certification" is at cost to the vendor (I really hope to be wrong about that, I'll update this thread when I know for sure). Is it just expected that the cost is transferred to the dealer, how is that acceptable? On that note, is it disclosed? How is it acceptable to dealers for programs like this to limit their effectiveness? Again, they are disserved and at a competitive disadvantage to other dealers that can deploy the tools they choose that don't carry the additional cost of "certification," or in our case, carry no cost at all.

Help:
How can I help my dealer? Does anyone here have a high-level contact at FCA Digital they'd be willing to PM me? I've thoroughly reviewed the FCA digital program rules and for the life of me can't understand how this tool breaks them. We were careful to meet the provisions for "non-certified" 3rd party tools well before we were made aware of those provisions. How would you proceed if you were me? Have any FCA dealers been successful in negotiating with FCA Digital for tools that are not "certified?"

Sorry for the rant. I'm really frustrated because my dealer is frustrated. I'm really hoping for a positive outcome for him. If HE wants it on HIS website HE should be able to have it.
 
Update:

Good Afternoon Ryan,

The direction that I was given in this case, is that because CarStory does offer a product that does generate leads, they are not allowed on the dealership website, even if the specific product on the website does not offer leads.

Sincerely,

FCA VIP Support Team


My Response:

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In my experience any of the bigger groups with FCA or large volume stores can help push you through but generally it's going to be a one off sort of thing, outside of becoming certified or convincing the dealer to abandon the program entirely.

There is a considerable amount of existing case studies from dealers that do the bare minimum with the FCA program and drive everything to a secondary site. Might be worth considering if you've got a dedicated dealer ;)