Automobile owner databases can be an ideal way for new car dealerships to procure qualified leads that are looking to purchase or are in the market for a new vehicle.
Automobile marketing is an area that requires an abundance of caution when marketing as there are many laws surrounding this type of data and how it can be used for marketing purposes. Specifically, the Drivers Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) of 1994 which made it illegal for driver information from state Department of Motor Vehicle data to be used for marketing purposes.
The information contained within the automobile owner database is known owner data and none of the data contained within the file is modeled. To ensure accuracy the automobile owner database requires identical information on a record to be provided by two major data filers. Of the main data sets that must be included and validated name, address, make, model, year and VIN, would all need to be present for the record to be added to the database.
The automobile owner database is compiled from self-reported and never modeled, sales and service data, auto warranty info, aftermarket repairs and scheduled maintenance type data sources.
Then, the automobile owner database is constantly maintained and updated to ensure that the data within it is reliable and accurate. On a monthly basis the database is run through address standardization, name parsing and deceased file processing. We then CASS certify and run the file through the NCOA (National Change of Address) database. Finally, we eliminate any bad or incomplete data and remove any records outside of the US or our target geographical areas.
To make the automobile owners database more robust and effective for improved targeting, we also pass it against our consumer database and append important demographic information like age, income, marital status, homeowner vs. renter and presence of children. Additionally, where available, phone records not included on the National DNC (Do not call) registry can be included in the file.
The key to using an automobile owners database properly is to ensure that you’re only using known user data and not modeled information. This information should be precise and will allow you to better predict the owner of a current vehicle which will in turn allow you to predict if they will be the potential buyer of a new vehicle.