Not sure if I missed this, but was this an outsourced automotive chat provider? If it was, I would be doubly disappointed in the chat script I read. And if this case was typical of the chat experience, then I would rather not have outsourced chat for after hours.
We have chat will often provide great leads, with more information than any other lead we typically get. Put someone behind a keyboard and all of the information you ask them for in person or on the phone suddenly pours out into that chat. When you train your folks to read that chat transcript closely, they can often start piecing most of the deal together, and more important, they have all of the information they need to provide a personalized response.
We tested managing chat ourselves. I am certain that there are folks that do incredibly well at this, but in today's environment where car sales reps are already overwhelmed with everything they are supposed to be an expert at, asking them to be great at chat is one more item on the list. We found in most cases that our sales reps handling chat was NOT good. In this case, I say "pick and choose your battles". Paying a managed chat service can be a great investment to ensure a great chat experience while managing your expenses (as opposed to paying folks in-house to do it).
I agree that there is not a large percentage of people that utilize chat, BUT, chat is one more mode of communication that you can provide to accommodate those shoppers that prefer chatting rather than the phone.
