Business View Magazine | July 2022

183 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 7 return policy specific to customers who bought a vehicle completely online, sight unseen. They can return that vehicle within seven days of receiving it with no questions asked. Finally, Auto Boutique offers a 30-day price match guarantee. If the buyer finds the same vehicle make and model within 100 miles of the company’s Columbus, Ohio location for a lower price, Auto Boutique will reimburse the difference in cash. Perhaps that is why well over 30 percent of the company’s sales come from repeat customers, despite having been in business for only eight years. Levitsky acknowledges, “We provide these offers because we want to get potential buyers off the sidelines who have some of the common objections to buying a new or used vehicle.” The industry is faced with many challenges for car buyers One of Levitsky’s biggest concerns for the next few years is the affordability of used vehicles, since so many of Auto Boutique’s marketing efforts are designed to help customers get the best possible deal. He expects car prices to drop 15 percent in the near few months, but that other “ominous clouds” are forming for car dealerships. Those challenges include rising interest rates and gas prices. It is those low interest rates that have kept car buying somewhat affordable for customers in recent years even as prices have increased. “We’re worried that customers will stop purchasing big-ticket items given the inflationary pressures and vehicles are at the top of that list,” Levitsky says. “So, we need to offer the options and opportunities that customers want to make it easier for them to afford a used car.” Parts and service costs are also rising, and Levitsky admits that finding parts for certain vehicle repairs is difficult thanks to the global supply chain challenges. Auto Boutique does offer its own in-house service center to handle repairs for any AUTO BOUT IQUE