The Online Car Retailer's Guide to Online Notarization

The pandemic hit every industry hard, turning the traditional way of doing business on its head. Online car dealerships were growing in popularity pre-pandemic, but quickly became the preferred way for many consumers to buy and sell their cars.

In fact, even before the pandemic, 44% of consumers said they'd prefer to complete car purchases online, and an increasingly young population of buyers expected more digital options. More customers wanted to shop from their couch and pay in their pajamas.

On top of demands for more ease and speed, auto fraud has risen to $7.7 billion and growing. Both consumers and dealerships want secure tech solutions to confirm guarantee the legitimacy of a sale.

The consumer response to these shifts has been overwhelmingly positive, with online car purchases jumping from 2% to 30% in 2020 and consumer satisfaction reaching an all-time high. To capitalize on this growing market, online retailers need to move ensure that the entire car buying and selling process can be completed online. They must clear one of the biggest hurdles to creating a seamless digital shopping experience: the paperwork.

Remote online notarization is a powerful tool that can help to deliver the fully-digital experience that consumers are looking for, especially when it comes to power of attorney forms. By integrating with an online notarization platform like Notarize and educating customers, they can get their POA forms safely notarized online anywhere, anytime.

What is remote online notarization?

Today, online car retailers use programs that allow consumers to shop, compare, and even test drive vehicles without stepping onto the lot. However, that process has tended to stall at the paperwork stage. While eSignatures take care of most of the paperwork requirements, consumers also may need to notarize a power of attorney form.

With remote online notarization, the notary performs the same service as an in-person notary, but with the convenience of an online platform. This allows customers to have the seamless, digital experience that they expect with an online retailer.

By encouraging customers to use an online notarization platform such as Notarize, online car retailers can also reduce the risk of fraud (when compared to the traditional notarization process). With Notarize, the identity verification process is bolstered by technology, utilizing multifactor authentication and credential analysis in addition to the notary's confirmation of the signer's identity. The entire transaction is recorded, encrypted, and stored for easy access in case the notarization needs to be verified at a later date.

How online notarization helps online car retailers and their customers

Auto consumers today expect the same innovation they saw during the pandemic. They want to be able to shop for and sell vehicles in a way that is fast and effective. The Notarize platform, which is seamlessly integrated into the transaction workflow, gives buyers and sellers access to notaries 24/7, removing the inconvenience associated with purchasing a vehicle, especially across state lines.

Now online retailers don't have to rely on customers to chase down a notary to complete their transaction. Instead, customers can sell or buy a car from the comfort of their own home. That, in turn, increases the likelihood of sales.

Now that consumers have tried digital car shopping, there's no going back. More and more people will demand ease, efficiency, and security. With online notarization and encouraging customers to use Notarize, car marketplaces can meet those demands.