As the cost of petrol and diesel keeps rising, you might be thinking of switching to a more fuel-efficient car. The mounting cost of fuel production and transportation, coupled with supply volatility in oil-producing nations, is expected to lead to further price increases for South Africans at the pumps. There’s no time like the present to make a sound financial decision about your family’s transport needs.

But driving around from dealership to dealership, simply browsing for a more fuel-efficient car, is not a good money choice. It’s not just a waste of your time – it’s also a waste of costly fuel, which is what you’re trying to avoid in the first place. There is a better option: digital vehicle malls now make it possible to manage the car-buying process almost completely online, from compiling a shortlist of cars that fit your requirements regarding fuel economy and price, to communicating to the dealership and applying for vehicle finance in just a few minutes.
 

Digital car searches save in more ways than one

‘It’s not just about the fuel savings,’ says Julie Vetter, Executive for Avo Auto at Nedbank. ‘You can save a significant amount of money by shopping for a car online – it’s about the time you save and the fact that you have access to a wider selection of vehicles online than you would if you visited one physical dealership. You don’t have to go to each dealer’s website to find vehicles – simply set the filters according to your taste and let the system find the cars that match your requirements and budget.’

Whether you’re looking for a new or used car, you can filter your options according to make, model, price, specifications and dealerships. You can interact with car dealers through contact forms and, in the case of used cars, view their full-service histories. So, you can get a good idea of the vehicles available that suit your requirements, and the condition they are in, before you make the effort of going to the dealership for a test drive.

Avo by Nedbank is a super shopping app with close to 2 million registered consumers who buy goods online. Following the successful take-up of the Avo app, we launched Avo Auto last year. ‘Avo Auto is a one-stop end-to-end car-buying and car-selling digital vehicle mall,’ Vetter explains. ‘Let’s say you found the car you think you want to buy on an aggregator website. You’ll have to pick up your phone, call the dealership, and hope that they connect you to a salesperson. You’ll have to pay for these calls, and if you are calling many dealerships, the cost of these phone calls, at around R2 per minute, can add up quickly. With Avo Auto, you can start a live chat with the dealership. This can be a video chat, which means you can ask the salesperson to show you around the actual vehicle in real time. The video chat function is a gamechanger for us, as it allows car buyers to look under the hood, literally, before leaving home to test-drive the car.’
 

Trusted dealers and convenient financing

‘Avo Auto car shoppers have the peace of mind that their new or pre-owned vehicle comes from a reputable dealership,’ she adds. ‘The dealers listed on our platform meet the stringent requirements of MFC, a division of Nedbank, which means you can buy a car safely and confidently online without having to question the reputation of the dealership you’re doing business with.’

Avo Auto has been designed to work seamlessly on a laptop, smartphone, Android tablet or Apple iPad. In the next version of the Avo app coming soon, you’ll be able to explore Avo Auto directly from the app.
 

Make the car-buying process paperless

Avo Auto is built to be paperless, to save you time and effort and speed up the process of getting you behind the wheel of a more fuel-efficient vehicle. Once you’ve found the car you want, you can buy your dream vehicle with a few taps and clicks of your keyboard and mouse.

‘Among the many benefits of the Avo Auto web app is that you don’t have to go to the dealership to fill in any paperwork, or to apply for vehicle finance if you need a loan,’ Vetter says. ‘You can fill in all the required paperwork digitally. Our proprietary technology is end-to-end-encrypted, using bank-grade security, so you have complete peace of mind when it comes to sharing sensitive information such as ID numbers. Car shoppers will enjoy the flexibility and efficiency of being able to complete the entire car-buying process digitally.'

Did you know that if you take out MFC vehicle finance and open a Nedbank MiGoals Plus or MiGoals Premium account, you can get R200 a month cash back for the duration of your loan? For an affordable car loan tailored to your circumstances and value-added extras like cash back, choose the bank that’s best for your money.