Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn is piloting Find Your Ford, an online shopping platform for used Ford vehicles. The platform includes six dealerships in metro Detroit and may expand.
Shoppers can search for used cars from multiple dealerships. They also can filter results, including those that are hard to pinpoint on other sites, such as heated steering wheels and specific driver-assist technologies.
Arnold Kadiu, a structures engineer, and Leda Daehler, an autonomous vehicle engineer, developed the platform through Ford X, the company’s business incubator, after having a hard time finding used vehicles that met their needs.
“Most people (used-car buyers) have experienced the frustration of settling for something less than desired,” says Sundeep Madra, vice president of Ford X. “Arnold and Leda, working with Ford’s dealers and sales teams, have designed Find Your Ford to provide an easy, comprehensive way to sift through what’s out there to find the perfect vehicle.”
Interested customers can schedule times through the platform to see cars.
“The Find Your Ford platform helps customers build relationships with dealerships, so they have a trusted partner in their corner, whether they have questions about the vehicle’s technologies or need an oil change,” says Madra. “Other sites sell them and leave them. We know the importance of customer support after the purchase and for the life of the vehicle.”
Ford X is a division of Ford Smart Mobility that incubates, tests, and validates new ideas and business models through a series of in-market experiments.
“Leda and I both discussed our frustrations shopping for used vehicles and were able to turn those experiences into a new service thanks to Ford X,” says Kadiu. “We were fortunate to join Ford at a time when the company is open to new ideas that can lead to real results.”
The two designed the site, worked with dealers, and launched the pilot. They also worked with Ford’s customer experience team, which helps identify and remediate customer complaints.
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