The relationship between car manufacturers and dealers in the area of sharing data information could be changing dramatically, possibly within the next 12 months, says the President of Hyundai Canada.
Don Romano said that because of connectivity, more information about drivers’ habits will be known, which will impact OEMs and dealers in terms of data sharing.
“The way it works today and the way it works tomorrow are two different things entirely,” said Romano in an interview with Canadian auto dealer. “Today the data is pretty much limited to the sales data and the service data, which we acquire from the dealers’ DMS systems. That’s it. It’s their data they are sharing with us. In the future, we get into a very complex situation whereby the majority of data will be coming from the cars and it will include a lot of personal data—driving habits, for example—and that opens up a whole other spectrum of concerns from a liability and a security perspective.
“The question in my mind as I look at the future isn’t how is data going to be shared? It’s going to be first and foremost, ‘how is it going to be secured and protected?’ I think that’s going to be the bigger issue that OEMs and dealers will have to face.”
He said some of that data is just too private that it can’t be shared.
“So you’re going to have to have agreements on how the data will be utilised,” said Romano. “It will require a much more extensive sign-off by the customers to know that we are monitoring this information.”
CADA President & CEO Tim Reuss said security is a huge topic and is covered at length in the Dealer’s Guide to Data and Data Sharing document that it launched in January. It was developed as a strategic initiative around the importance of data for dealers, along with its impacts on automotive retail.
But earlier this month the CADA issued a news release to its members addressing data sharing with five principles created by the National Automobile Dealers Association.
“The important things are that security needs to be addressed from the get-go from the manufacturers’ side, but this cannot be downloaded from the manufacturer to the dealership as in ‘that’s now your problem dealer and you need to take care of this and if there is a breach you are fully liable for everything,’” said Reuss.
