A founding board member of Accelerate Auto, Jerry Chinner discusses new research the not-for-profit commissioned to study the Black consumer experience shopping for cars, and whether the auto industry was an attractive industry for Black talent to pursue careers.
Chinner is a well-known figure in the auto industry, having worked for taq Automotive Intelligence (formerly SCI Marketview) for many years, which had him working with dealers, OEMs, lenders and other suppliers.
This story features excerpts from a video interview with Senior Editor Todd Phillips:
PHILLIPS: Let’s talk a little bit about Accelerate Auto. Why did it get founded, and what has the organization been doing?
CHINNER: We officially got our not-forprofit status in February 2021. Accelerate Auto is made up of Black professionals (and allies) that work in the automotive industry, and what we want to do is increase Black representation within the automotive industry at all levels.
PHILLIPS: Take us through some of the third-party research Accelerate Auto commissioned to look at the Black car buying experience.
76 per cent of Black Canadians surveyed reported having a negative experience in a dealership compared to 64 per cent of white respondents.
CHINNER: Our research partner surveyed just over 1,100 people. We wanted to over index on the Black consumer side of it. Let me tell you, there’s some, there’s some great positives — everyone’s super excited about buying a car. But what the survey did find is that there are some distinct differences from different communities, specifically in the Black community when it comes down to the car buying experience. 76 per cent of Black Canadians surveyed reported having a negative experience in a dealership compared to 64 per cent of white respondents. Some things that came up that definitely raised some eyebrows in that the Black community is putting in strategies to be more accepted.They dress differently, they dress for success. They do more research, just because they want to bring the impression across that they know what they’re talking about. And 22 per cent of the time Black car shoppers thought the dealership assumed that had a bad credit score, or they assumed that they couldn’t afford the car that they were looking at and try to move them into a different type of car or a cheaper car. What we’re trying to say here, and I think what the community’s trying to say is that perceiving when I walk into the dealership, that those things are evident for me. It’s a bias and I think from dealerships and from OEMs, we really start need to start looking at that type of experience and trying to eliminate those biases.It’s not good for business.The community’s very loyal and, and are probably more apt to write positive reviews. They’re also more apt to leave a brand as well for negative experiences.
