$79 Monthly Charge from Chrysler Digital for Mobile Internet Access

[steve_biegler]

I just talked to friend of mine and he said he is now being charged 79.00 per month for being able to access dealer connect on his smart phone.....even if he does not have one! Can some of you guys check your statements and see if you are being charged. Is it more expensive for Chrysler to have you hook up with a mobile device over a regular computer? I'm thinking its a profit center. 79.00 X 2300 dealers is 181,700.00 each month or 2,180,400.00 a year.

[79LilRedExpress]

Originally Posted by steve_biegler

I just talked to friend of mine and he said he is now being charged 79.00 per month for being able to access dealer connect on his smart phone.....even if he does not have one! Can some of you guys check your statements and see if you are being charged. Is it more expensive for Chrysler to have you hook up with a mobile device over a regular computer? I'm thinking its a profit center. 79.00 X 2300 dealers is 181,700.00 each month or 2,180,400.00 a year.

Yep. It was on my statement too.

[jayhawk]

its on our statement too. tried to remove it in jan., was told its now a mandatory chg. even though we dont use it. theft, plain and simple.

[CL Pgh]

Originally Posted by steve_biegler

I just talked to friend of mine and he said he is now being charged 79.00 per month for being able to access dealer connect on his smart phone.....even if he does not have one!

We’ve been paying this $79.00 charge for well over a year. This used to be a Chrysler Digital “option” but now as you know… mandatory. The charge comes in as Website Mobile under Chrysler Digital and it’s not for us… it’s for the customers that search our website’s on their mobile devices. There’s actually a big difference (improvement obviously) in the look and functionality of our sites on a customers smart device with this option/feature. Our “mobile viewing” traffic for 2010 was up 305% and for 2011 it was up another 285%... having a website that functions properly on these smart devices is worth the $79 per month… in my opinion of course.

However… having no choice to deny this monthly expense is another discussion entirely!

[XDCX]

I created a new thread and moved the above posts so this topic wouldn't get lost and it would be easier for our members and guests to find via a Google Search.

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by CL Pgh

We’ve been paying this $79.00 charge for well over a year. This used to be a Chrysler Digital “option” but now as you know… mandatory. The charge comes in as Website Mobile under Chrysler Digital and it’s not for us… it’s for the customers that search our website’s on their mobile devices. There’s actually a big difference (improvement obviously) in the look and functionality of our sites on a customers smart device with this option/feature. Our “mobile viewing” traffic for 2010 was up 305% and for 2011 it was up another 285%... having a website that functions properly on these smart devices is worth the $79 per month… in my opinion of course.

However… having no choice to deny this monthly expense is another discussion entirely!

CL - thanks for the clarification - that makes a lot more sense.

I recently read that mobile access now represents over 7% of all Internet traffic and that figure is expected to grow significantly as smartphones become more popular and more powerful.

Concerning your growth in mobile traffic for your Chrysler Dealership Website, is that information easy for Chrysler dealers to access? I wonder how many Chrysler dealers know how much of their web traffic originates from mobile phones?

[CL Pgh]

Originally Posted by XDCX

Concerning your growth in mobile traffic for your Chrysler Dealership Website, is that information easy for Chrysler dealers to access? I wonder how many Chrysler dealers know how much of their web traffic originates from mobile phones?

1. Dealer.com
2. Analytics
3. Leads
4. Origin Trends

The reports (analytics) section is very thorough… the kind of weird thing here … all the analytics from 2011 concerning mobile web traffic is now gone! The traffic reports are there for 2012 for mobile web traffic… but for some reason when you search “Last Year” the graph reports area where Mobile Web normally is, is now empty. ???

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by CL Pgh

1. Dealer.com
2. Analytics
3. Leads
4. Origin Trends

Thanks for the information.

Originally Posted by CL Pgh

The reports (analytics) section is very thorough… the kind of weird thing here … all the analytics from 2011 concerning mobile web traffic is now gone! The traffic reports are there for 2012 for mobile web traffic… but for some reason when you search “Last Year” the graph reports area where Mobile Web normally is, is now empty. ???

That's odd that Chrysler or Dealer.com would remove the analytics for 2011 - maybe it's just a temporary thing.

Concerning accessing a dealer's Chrysler website via my smartphone, I've never done that. If you notice a visit to your website from a Droid X from the Phoenix area, it was me...

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by XDCX

Concerning accessing a dealer's Chrysler website via my smartphone, I've never done that. If you notice a visit to your website from a Droid X from the Phoenix area, it was me...

I just checked out the CJDR Dealer in Lake Havasu via my Droid X - I thought the Dealer.com version of the mobile site looked pretty good.

I'm betting that $79/month probably provides Chrysler with a 90% profit margin but I guess that's just par for the course.