One of the most digitally progressive dealerships in the country, LMC, already offers consumers the ability to buy vehicles online through online retailing and lead management platform, ClickEngage, and are extending their forward-thinking mantra to include futuristic currency.
LMC are a family run used car dealership who were established in 1980 and are based in Grays, Essex, they specialize in high quality used cars including: family cars, 4×4’s, sports cars, prestige cars, exotic cars and even low cost run-a-rounds. Company owner, Spencer Kent said: “We decided to accept Bitcoin as we like to try and be at the forefront of technology and open minded about the possible use of different payment methods. “We have been considering accepting cryptocurrencies for a while and felt the time was right to see if there was an appetite for customers to pay via crypto, which of course there is!”
Bitcoin was created in 2009 by an anonymous person known as Satoshi Nakamoto and is a type of digital currency in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units and verify the transfer of funds, operating independently of a central bank.
Transactions are made with no middle men – meaning, no banks are necessary for the purchase of vehicles. In addition, international payments are easy and cheap because Bitcoins are not tied to any country or subject to regulation. The currency is widely used to book hotels, shop for furniture and even buy console games. But much of the hype is about getting rich by trading it.
Bitcoin is indeed an interesting proposition for used vehicle dealerships because there are no credit card fees involved in the purchasing process. It is also true that the currency is an investment, and is predicted by many to rise in value in the years to come.
In fact, the price of bitcoin skyrocketed into the thousands in 2017 and if there was to be a repeat this year, LMC’s recent transactions could prove to be very shrewd pieces of business. LMC’s first Bitcoin sale actually came as a result of their highly successful social media marketing strategy, which is another benefit of their strong online presence, as owner, Spencer Kent explained: “Our first sale was last month and our second was this month, we advertised the fact that we took payments with Bitcoin on a Facebook ad and the first customer saw it from there.
“The second customer was a referral from the first as the crypto community is quite closely knit and still very niche in the UK.”
Many marketplaces called “Bitcoin exchanges” allow people to buy or sell Bitcoins using different currencies. Coinbase is a leading exchange, along with Bitstamp and Bitfinex. Bitcoins are stored in a “digital wallet,” which exists either in the cloud or on a user’s computer. The wallet is a kind of virtual bank account that allows users to send or receive bitcoins, pay for goods or save their money.
The pioneering LMC supremo is convinced of the future potential of Bitcoin and believes that more independent dealerships will adopt the currency in the future to cater for the growing consumer demand: “The popularity of Bitcoin is growing at a rapid rate of knots, not just in the millennials but if you ever went to a crypto meeting you’d see that they are full of people of all ages and backgrounds. “I think in the future, crypto payments will certainly sit alongside the mainstream payment systems but if I’m being honest I don’t see the big dealer groups considering it yet, independents like ourselves will be the ones that take the leap initially and try different tech to maximise our business potential,” said Kent.
To talk to LMC Cars about buying a vehicle through Bitcoin or through any other means, get in touch with Spencer and the team today via: sales@lmc-cars.co.uk or by calling either 01708 863247, or 07850 654356.
