Is Your Auto Dealership Marketing Data Compliant?

The use of big data has become crucial to the auto industry today. Consumers rely on data and technology to browse car dealership’s inventory online, book a test drive and research vehicles thoroughly before making a buying decision. Auto dealerships pull insights from their website and rely on data providers for accurate, up-to-date contact lists to help them form and implement strategic marketing and sales decisions.

Data tools like Relevate’s Follow the Car help dealerships keep in contact with vehicle owners about important car recalls, repairs and other necessary notifications. However, because of restrictions like the Shelby Amendment, dealerships and marketers must stay informed on how they, and their data providers, collect, store and use information.

What is the Shelby Amendment?

The Shelby Amendment is part of the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) that was added in 2000. The DPPA was created as a way to protect information that the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) collects from individuals. Before the amendment was added, state DMVs had to notify individuals about steps to opt-out before they could release information to marketers and other third parties within the industry. The amendment changed the act by requiring DMVs to notify and require individuals to opt-in to be included on lists that were then made available to third parties.

How It Affects Auto Dealers and Marketers

Those in the auto industry must be well-informed on how to properly collect data to make sure their methods comply with the DPPA, the Shelby amendment, and other regulatory standards. If marketers or auto dealerships fail to comply, it could result in civil action by the individual that the information was taken from, as well as cause irreparable damage to a business’ reputation and customer loyalty.

What Types of Data Can Auto Dealership Use?

The DPPA protects third parties from getting information like a driver’s name, address, phone number, license ID number, and other identifying information like height, age and medical disabilities, from state DMVs. When obtaining information for marketing purposes, dealerships should evaluate the data retrieval practices of providers.

Auto ID uses the best data practices to ensure that lists meet all regulatory and compliance standards. The information that our service gathers is collected through transactional means, and is not modeled. This ensures that the data is both accurate and compliant. For instance, when someone purchases a vehicle from your dealership or requests more information on a particular vehicle on your website, they can opt-in to your marketing lists.

Relevate’s database has over 190 million vehicles with car owner names, email addresses, residential addresses, phone numbers and other important contact information. Each year, 27.4 billion consumer records are processed. Monthly, an estimated 3.6 billion auto records are processed. All of this data has been collected through means that meet the latest standards and involve someone opting-in to share their information. Relevate does not use any data originating from DMVs, and data pulled from other sources is evaluated to check for any possible violation of privacy regulations.

Relevate takes data privacy and compliance seriously. Consumers have concerns about how their data is shared and used and auto dealerships and marketers need to be conscious of where their data originates. In order to reach out to new and existing customers with new deals, offers and recall notices, auto dealers need access to up-to-date data. With a quality data provider, dealers can have that access while also respecting the privacy needs of customers and meeting regulatory standards.

To learn how you can use Auto ID to improve your marketing strategy, reach out to us!