If you accept credit cards at your auto dealership, you've surely heard the buzz word, "PCI Compliance", but what exactly does it mean?

The basics of PCI Compliance are similar to the standard business practices you already use to safeguard your own business. You lock your doors as a matter of course, right? Well, to protect your customersʼ information, you also need the proper “locks” on your credit card processing system and network.

A recent study  of US and European businesses by Forrester Consulting, revealed activities that may put cardholder data at risk:

• 81% store payment card numbers
• 73% store payment card expiration dates
• 71% store payment card verification codes
• 57% store customer data from the payment card magnetic stripe
• 16% store other personal data

The Payment Card Industry (PCI) standards were established to help you safeguard customer information—and protect your business.

If you accept credit cards at your auto dealership (or any other business for that matter), you are required to be PCI compliant.

12 Key Requirements for PCI Compliance

Build and Maintain a Secure Network
1: Install and maintain a firewall configuration to protect cardholder data.
2: Do not use vendor-supplied defaults for system passwords and other security parameters

Protect Cardholder Data
3: Protect stored cardholder data
4: Encrypt transmission of cardholder data across open, public networks

Maintain a Vulnerability Management Program
5: Use and regularly update anti-virus software
6: Develop and maintain secure systems and applications

Implement Strong Access Control Measures
7: Restrict access to cardholder data by business need-to-know
8: Assign a unique ID to each person with computer access
9: Restrict physical access to cardholder data

Regularly Monitor and Test Networks
10: Track and monitor all access to network resources and cardholder data
11: Regularly test security systems and processes

Maintain an Information Security Policy
12: Maintain a policy that addresses information security

As a merchant, you are at the center of credit card payment card transactions so it is imperative that you use standard security procedures and technologies to thwart theft of cardholder data.

If you need help navigating the PCI Compliance maze for your auto dealership, Novera Payment Solutions can help. We take the mystery out of the process and requirements, as well as help ensure that your business is fully compliant.

There are few things more frustrating to auto dealerships than losing precious recurring service business to the aftermarket. Fortunately, several strategies are available to help auto dealers to build service retention programs and to profit from them. Let's review two popular approaches.

1. Pre-Paid Maintenance (PPM) Plans

The obvious reason for implementing a PPM is to keep customers coming back to your auto dealership for their recurring maintenance needs. With properly trained service advisors and proper pricing, PPMs can be profit providers rather than loss leaders for auto dealers.

In recent auto dealer news, a consumer survey conducted by DMEAutomotive (as reported in the  January 2013 Issue of Auto Dealer Monthly), indicates there are some other interesting reasons to consider a PPM.

• 56% of consumers with PPMs (or complimentarty maintenance plans) are likely to continue serving their vehicle at the dealership after expiration.
• Approximately 1 in 4 automobile owners have some type of PPM and 62% of those who use the plan for all their maintenance needs are likely to stick with their dealer.
• Next generation servicers (under 35) are more likely to have a plan (31%) than those over 35 (18%) and are more likely to have all service done at their dealer under their plan (72%) than those over 35 (62%).

Ongoing interaction with satisfied customers through the life of the vehicle builds relationships and customer loyalty. Pre-Paid Maintenance Plans are clearly a good option to consider for your auto dealership.

2. Auto Dealer Customer Loyalty Programs

Auto dealer customer loyalty programs are another great way to keep service business at your dealership. MediaTrac's recent study of 72 auto dealerships and over 6 million repair order transactions showed:

• Auto dealership customers who were enrolled in rewards and loyalty programs visited their dealership every 4.26 months versus every 6.82 months for non-members.
  
• The average annual member spend paralleled the increase in service visits with a 97% increase.
  
• Retention of loyalty/reward members was nearly 60%.

According to John Fogg, President of Fogg's Automotive and Suzuki, “The Stored Value Cash
Card has been terrific for our dealership. We use it for bird dogs and also as a tool to help close the sale”.

The idea of the auto dealer customer loyalty program is to use it  as a marketing tool to help your dealership sell more cars and get additional service business from your existing customers.

Just as with pre-paid maintenance plans, customer loyalty card programs keep car owners coming back to your dealership through the life of the vehicle, allowing you to cultivate long term relationships with your customers and ultimately create repeat purchasers and referrers.

Novera Payment Solutions is an industry leader in auto dealer service rewards programs, as well as flat fee credit card processing for automotive dealerships. With proven successful partnerships serving the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers (NJCAR), the New York State Automobile Dealers Association (NYSADA), the Mississippi Independent Auto Dealers Assoc. (MIADA), and the Massachusettes Independent Auto Dealer Association, Novera Payment Solutions helps auto dealerships sell more cars and get additional service business from existing customers.

Learn more about Loyalty Cards and Service Rewards Programs for your dealership:

• Get started with Novera's Loyalty & Service Rewards Program for Auto Dealers and increase your customer service visits

• Use the Loyalty & Service Rewards Program to bring customers back to repurchase

• See dramatic savings on your credit card processing fees with Novera's flat fee, transparent processing rates for auto dealers

Credit card processing fees and rates can be confusing.

More often than not when we speak with a business owners, auto dealers, and associations they lack a certain understanding of why they pay what they do to accept credit cards. They often feel that the service providers are out to get them with their seemingly high rates and statement fees that appear to be written in some foreign language.

The truth is the majority of the money you pay to accept credit cards goes to a combination of the card issuing bank, the processor, and the card association.

How Credit Card Fees Typically Work

The majority of the cost/expense to accept credit and debit cards is the same for all merchants large and small, and is referred to as interchange which goes to the issuing bank. Whether it’s Novera Payment Solutions or your local bank we all pay the same interchange cost/expense. Whatever is leftover after paying interchange is the processors cost and the service providers profit. The volume you average on a monthly basis will usually determine the amount of actual margin left over.

Unfortunately most merchant service providers will take advantage of the lack of knowledge that business owners have on costs and line their pockets with margin, which is typically an unfair amount based on that businesses volume. There are fair options for pricing out there that disclose cost and margin but it is often not used.

Novera delivers a transparent flat fee credit card pricing model for auto dealers and associations. It benefits you because:

• The transparent flat fee credit card processing pricing model provides you with the fairest rates available anywhere.
• The pricing advantage passes through the exact underlying costs and adds a flat monthly fee which is based on YOUR average monthly credit card processing volume.

“Novera Payment Solutions was very helpful in explaining and saving our company significant monies in the area of credit card processing”
Ken Goldman
Chrysler Jeep Dodge of Paramus NJ

We save hundreds of auto dealers money on credit card processing fees.

Find out how much we can save you on credit card processing fees!