The delivery of cars started, but the dealers ask to attend with turns

The automotive dealerships in Córdoba Capital were authorized as of yesterday Monday by the Emergency Operations Center (COE) to resume their activity but in a limited way, carrying out the process of distance selling and delivering vehicles with the modality delivery, that is, taking it to the buyer’s house.

Due to the difficulties it generates, businesses are now requesting the same scheme as real estate companies, that is, attending in the sales room, giving turns.

Strictly speaking, during the period of mandatory isolation to stop the Covid-19 virus, entrepreneurs in the sector continued to sell vehicles through digital channels, especially 0 km units, since most dealers and automotive brands have pages on the internet with information about cars and prices.

The operation was performed remotely; If you needed the signature of any document by the client, it was done through cadetería and the payment was made through the homebanking.

Three weeks ago, the national government authorized the return to the activity of the Automotive Property Registries. This gave rise to the licensees being able to patent.

The automotive market reopens on Wednesday

As only the delivery was missing, the sector presented a proposal to the COE in those days to allow them to deliver the vehicles sold through the modality delivery.

The idea is that the seller brings the fully sanitized unit to the home, based on a protocol proposed by the dealers. This includes the person carrying it with the usual sanitary implements (chinstrap, mask, etc.). Once the unit and the papers are delivered, the procedure is finished, and the taxi is taken from the place.

But the response of the COE only came from this week, when the same organization allowed retail stores to serve the public with limited hours and real estate agencies to work indoors and receive customers Monday, Wednesday and Friday on duty.

As the modality delivery It has its complications, now dealers ask for the same regime as real estate.

Respect distancing

“With a shift system, the client comes in a remis. A vendor attends him, he is given the vehicle and then the salon continues to work indoors without opening it to the public. In Río Cuarto and Villa María, work is done that way, with deliveries in the afternoon, from 14 to 15 “, explains Leandro Pagnone, director of Autocity.

In fact, the concessionaires maintain this shift scheme in the attention of the mechanical workshops and for the sector, due to the size of the sales rooms, the shift system facilitates the closing of the operation respecting social distancing.

“The sector is very advanced in online work, that is why it is not asked to open the sales rooms but to equate the real estate scheme, with previous shifts serving one buyer at a time”, warns Sebastián Parra, director of Parra Automotores .

The sector is increasingly concerned about the drop in patenting. In 2018, it sold throughout the country 803 thousand units, last year it bordered 460 thousand and this year it plans to sell only between 200 thousand and 250 thousand vehicles, given the confluence of the pandemic with the economic crisis.

Only 520 cars were patented during April

For its part, the Córdoba Automotive Chamber of Commerce (CCAC), which represents multi-brand dealers and used businesses, also asked the COE today to allow the public to take turns.

Unlike 0 km, used sellers make videos on social networks showing the unit. But the buyer wants to see the unit in person.

For CCAC, the sale of vehicles is low in public and requires the customer to go to the showroom a limited number of times. Furthermore, with virtual managers and mechanisms, documentation can be done remotely.

“In this phase 4 of the quarantine, store openings were authorized and we were not included. We demand equal treatment with other activities, being able to open in turns, ”says Ariel Ruiz, president of the CCAC.

The same trend in patents is replicated in the sale of used units. In April, the drop in operations was 85 percent year-on-year and, according to the entity, a similar decline is expected for May.