The automotive industry is navigating a period of unprecedented change. Car manufacturers, dealerships, and service centers are facing new pressures to innovate and adapt. In this evolving landscape, simply keeping pace isn’t enough; businesses need to forge ahead with strategies that build lasting customer relationships. One powerful tool gaining traction in the automotive sector is the Car Loyalty Program. Once considered an unconventional approach for this industry, next-generation car rewards systems are now proving to be highly effective in driving key performance indicators and fostering enduring brand loyalty.
For deeper insights into the latest trends and statistics shaping the future of customer loyalty in the automotive sector and beyond, explore our comprehensive Global Customer Loyalty Report.
What Exactly is a Car Loyalty Program?
A car loyalty program is a specialized customer retention strategy designed specifically for businesses within the automotive industry. This encompasses a wide range of companies, from vehicle manufacturers and independent dealerships to car rental agencies and automotive service providers.
Whether we are discussing car manufacturer loyalty programs, dealership-specific rewards, or car rental loyalty initiatives, the central objective remains consistent: to significantly enhance customer lifetime value. However, the versatility of car loyalty programs allows them to be tailored to meet the unique goals of individual brands. These programs can be strategically designed to amplify personalization efforts, boost brand visibility, strengthen social media engagement, and achieve a variety of other key performance indicators.
“As connected car technology becomes increasingly integrated into vehicles, the opportunities for OEMs to implement effective loyalty schemes will expand dramatically. Introducing a loyalty program that offers tangible value back to the customer will significantly increase the likelihood of them choosing a dealership for service over a third-party garage. The location-aware capabilities of connected cars also unlock exciting new possibilities. For example, OEMs could partner with popular coffee shop chains, driving customers to these preferred brands while allowing them to earn points or redeem rewards, extending the loyalty engagement beyond the traditional OEM relationship.”
Tom Arnold
Account Director at Acxiom UK
Car loyalty programs can take various forms, each designed to achieve specific objectives:
- Commitment-Based Loyalty Program: This model offers members upfront benefits, such as discounts on vehicle purchases. In return, members commit to utilizing the company’s services and network, actively engaging with required mobile applications, and enabling connected car technology to facilitate data sharing. This fosters a deeper, ongoing relationship built on mutual value exchange.
- Membership-Based Loyalty Program: The primary aim here is to cultivate a sense of exclusivity and belonging. Members gain access to premium, members-only content, including exclusive offers, priority service scheduling, and early access to new models or events. While immediate discounts may not be the focus, the goal is to ensure the brand remains top-of-mind for customers when they consider future purchases or service needs, fostering long-term brand preference.
- B2B Loyalty Program for Partners: Extending loyalty beyond end-customers, these programs focus on rewarding partners, suppliers, and subcontractors. By offering special benefits and incentives, these initiatives aim to enhance the performance of partner businesses and solidify the relationships within the entire partnership ecosystem, creating a stronger, more collaborative network.
- Loyalty Program for Auxiliary Services (Coalition Program): This collaborative approach brings together various automotive-related services, such as rentals, car sharing platforms, body shops, and repair services. Customers can accumulate points by engaging with any participating brand within the coalition and redeem those points for rewards across the network. This broadens the appeal and value of the loyalty program, offering greater flexibility and choice to members.
BMW Digital Connect features offer a range of remotely activated vehicle functionalities through subscription, presenting opportunities for high-value rewards within car loyalty programs.
Navigating Customer Retention Challenges in the Automotive Industry
To effectively design and implement a car loyalty program, it’s crucial to understand the unique challenges faced by automotive businesses in retaining customers. The industry’s inherent nature of infrequent, high-value purchases creates distinct pain points that loyalty programs can directly address.
The automotive sector grapples with low purchase frequency, leading to three primary challenges:
- Limited Customer Touchpoints: The time between vehicle purchases or major services can be substantial, resulting in fewer opportunities to interact with customers and maintain brand engagement.
- Scarce Customer Data: Infrequent interactions make it difficult to gather comprehensive data on customer preferences, driving habits, vehicle usage, and evolving needs. This lack of rich data hinders personalization efforts.
- Reduced Ability to Influence Customer Behavior: With fewer touchpoints and less data, automotive businesses have a diminished capacity to proactively guide customer decisions, nurture brand loyalty, and encourage repeat business.
Want to discover more innovative strategies for leveraging customer data to enhance loyalty? Explore our Mission: Loyalty video for cutting-edge insights!
Due to the significant financial investment associated with vehicle purchases and major automotive services, the window of opportunity for car companies and dealerships to meaningfully engage with customers is often narrow. This makes it challenging to build strong relationships, gather reliable data about vehicles, customer preferences, driving behaviors, and ultimately, personalize the customer experience. Furthermore, the limited number of touchpoints makes it harder to effectively educate buyers about new offerings, communicate brand values, and foster a strong sense of brand loyalty that extends beyond a single transaction.
Fortunately, technological advancements are poised to revolutionize customer engagement in the automotive industry. Connected car technology, in particular, offers a pathway to more consistent and sophisticated customer interaction. Features like intelligent parking assistance, accessed through subscription services, create ongoing engagement opportunities. These technologies encourage customers to frequently interact with the brand’s smartphone app, opening up new channels for communication, such as targeted push notifications, personalized offers, and valuable content.
Whether your strategy centers on dedicated smartphone apps or the expanding capabilities of connected car technology, incorporating a well-designed car reward system is essential for strengthening your customer retention plan. Loyalty programs act as a powerful incentive, encouraging desired customer behaviors and fostering deeper engagement with your brand.
“Personalization is the true key to unlocking maximum brand loyalty, especially in the automotive sector. Why? Because purchasing a car is unlike buying most other consumer goods. The time between purchase cycles is considerably longer. Therefore, creating targeted and personalized engagement opportunities with your customers over extended periods of time is crucial. This approach, in turn, will cultivate meaningful brand loyalty and drive long-term customer retention.”
Patrina Kerr
CEO of Hachiko
Essential Features for a Standout Car Loyalty Program
Building a successful car loyalty program requires careful consideration of several key components. To truly capture customer attention and differentiate your program, each element must be seamlessly integrated and optimized for user experience. Here are some of the most impactful features for automotive companies looking to launch a leading car loyalty program.
Engaging Membership Page
Often overlooked, a visually compelling and user-friendly membership page serves as the central hub for your car loyalty program. This is the primary point of interaction for members and a critical touchpoint for showcasing the program’s value. Therefore, it must be inviting, visually appealing, and easy to navigate. The membership page should clearly and efficiently communicate the benefits of joining, highlight the rewards available, and provide a seamless user experience. Essential elements include a prominent display of each member’s loyalty ID for easy in-store identification and a comprehensive FAQ section that clearly outlines program rules, point earning mechanisms, and redemption processes. Furthermore, the design should visually represent member progress towards rewards or tier advancements, creating a sense of achievement and encouraging continued engagement.
An effective car loyalty program membership page visually tracks customer progress towards rewards and new membership tiers, encouraging continued participation.
Next-Generation Loyalty Engine
The “loyalty engine” refers to the underlying structure and mechanics of your car loyalty program. This encompasses the rules, point systems, reward structures, and overall logic that drives the program. For instance, a points-based system allows members to accumulate loyalty currency based on their spending at dealerships, service centers, or partner locations (in coalition programs). These earned points can then be redeemed for discounts on future purchases, exclusive offers, or other valuable rewards.
Alternatively, a perks-based system offers unconditional benefits to all members simply for joining. Depending on your program’s objectives, membership could be triggered by a verified purchase or through simple enrollment. Perk loyalty programs are particularly effective for building a centralized customer database, allowing you to gather contact information and engage with customers through targeted communications and educational content. Carefully selecting the right loyalty engine is crucial for aligning program mechanics with your specific business goals.
Coalition Program Advantage
Coalition loyalty programs bring together multiple brands under a unified loyalty umbrella. Within the automotive industry, this collaborative model can create powerful synergies between manufacturers, dealerships, repair shops, bodywork garages, and even fuel stations. Rather than simply offering isolated rewards from individual partners, a coalition approach allows customers to earn points at any participating location within the network and redeem those points at a different participating brand.
Coalition car loyalty programs significantly enhance the value proposition for members, providing a competitive advantage by offering broader earning and redemption opportunities.
Subscription-Based Membership Model
While most loyalty programs are traditionally free to join, leveraging the allure of complimentary rewards to build a community, companies like Amazon have demonstrated the viability of subscription loyalty programs. By charging a recurring monthly or annual subscription fee, these programs can still achieve remarkable success. The key lies in delivering exceptional value. If the rewards and benefits offered within the subscription are highly desirable and justify the recurring cost, customers will willingly pay for membership. In the automotive context, subscription-based car loyalty programs could offer premium benefits such as priority roadside assistance, complimentary scheduled maintenance, proactive vehicle health alerts, enhanced connected car features, and exclusive access to events or services.
Strategic Partner Rewards
One of the most compelling aspects of a car or dealership loyalty program is the diverse array of rewards that can be offered through strategic partnerships. Loyalty program participants can enjoy everyday conveniences and valuable perks, such as a complimentary beverage or snack at a partner fuel station or significant discounts on car parts at affiliated body shops. The reward catalog of a successful car loyalty program should prioritize convenience, relevance, and genuine value for members. Leveraging a robust partnership network is essential to maximize the appeal and perceived value of your program.
Partner rewards have been identified as a major trend shaping the future of loyalty programs in our Global Customer Loyalty Report 2025. Download the report to gain deeper insights into this and other key trends!
Gamified Data Collection Techniques
A significant challenge for automotive companies is obtaining the granular customer data needed for effective personalization. To address this, consider incorporating gamified surveys and interactive profiles within your car loyalty program. Incentivize members to share information about their driving habits, vehicle preferences, financial situation, lifestyle interests, and opinions on partner services. Reward program participation with points, exclusive content, or entries into prize draws.
By implementing an advanced customer profiling system, you can analyze survey responses and create detailed customer tags to refine your segmentation strategies. Alternatively, you can directly update individual customer profiles based on survey data. This rich, first-party data empowers you to send more relevant and personalized communications, offers, and content, strengthening customer relationships and driving engagement.
Gamified profiling unlocks a new level of customer intelligence, providing valuable insights to personalize experiences and enhance loyalty program effectiveness.
Connected Car Technology Integration for Rewards
The future of vehicle management is increasingly reliant on over-the-air (OTA) updates and connected car technologies. These advancements enable drivers to manage various vehicle functions remotely and access a growing suite of smart features. Car loyalty programs can play a key role in driving early adoption of these technologies. Offer loyalty program members exclusive free trials of connected car features as rewards. For example, new members could receive a complimentary week of enhanced driving assistance features, which they can then extend by redeeming loyalty points. This not only introduces customers to the benefits of connected car technology but also reinforces the value of program membership.
Mobile Engagement and Loyalty Apps
A dedicated car loyalty app, featuring a digital loyalty pass, can serve as a powerful engagement hub, significantly increasing customer touchpoints. The app can deliver timely alerts about the latest deals, exclusive offers, and program updates. Furthermore, a loyalty app can streamline service scheduling, provide access to local partner company information, facilitate reward redemption, host interactive quizzes, and even offer convenient features like real-time weather reports or traffic updates. Beyond a dedicated app, consider implementing a Mobile Wallet solution, which allows customers to store their digital loyalty card alongside event tickets, reward passes, and other digital credentials within their preferred mobile wallet platform. This enhances convenience and ensures your brand remains readily accessible on customers’ mobile devices.
Discover how a Mobile Wallet integration can enhance customer engagement and maintain consistent brand presence in our informative video.
8 Inspiring Car Loyalty Programs & Dealership Reward Program Examples
To provide tangible inspiration, here are eight real-world examples of successful car loyalty programs and dealership reward programs implemented by leading automotive brands:
1. Enterprise: Enterprise Plus
Established in 1957, Enterprise is a globally recognized car rental service with over 8,000 locations. Their customer-centric Enterprise Plus loyalty program effectively combines earn & burn mechanics with a tiered system to reward frequent renters.
- Earn & Burn System: Members earn 1 point for every dollar spent, which can be redeemed to reduce the cost of future car rentals or even obtain free rentals.
- Point Expiration Policy: Points expire after 3 years, but this expiration can be extended by simply completing a single eligible rental within that timeframe, offering flexibility and encouraging continued engagement.
- Tiered Membership: The program features four distinct tiers, each requiring either a specific number of rentals or a cumulative rental duration to achieve.
- Tiered Benefits: Higher tiers unlock increasingly valuable benefits, including enhanced point conversion rates for faster reward accumulation and complimentary car upgrades, incentivizing progression through the tiers.
Offering generous point expiration terms, particularly in car loyalty programs, can significantly enhance customer appeal and encourage sustained engagement.
Why it Works:
- Frequency of Rentals: Car rentals are inherently more frequent than vehicle purchases, making the traditional earn & burn model highly effective in this context.
- Lenient Point Expiration: In the car rental industry, a multi-year point expiration policy is particularly well-suited to customer purchase cycles and travel patterns.
- Tiered Structure: Tiered loyalty programs are excellent for maintaining long-term customer interest and motivating continued engagement by offering progressively richer rewards.
2. Ford Motor Company: FordPass
American automotive giant Ford has been a pioneering force in the industry since its inception. Demonstrating their innovative spirit, Ford has introduced the app-based FordPass loyalty program, rewarding loyal drivers through a variety of valuable benefits.
- Point Earning and Redemption: Customers earn points for spending at Ford dealerships and service centers. These points can be redeemed for discounts on future services, parts, or even towards the purchase of a new vehicle at participating dealerships.
- Complimentary Maintenance: Accumulating 42,000 points unlocks valuable flexible complimentary maintenance services, providing tangible savings and reinforcing brand loyalty.
- 24/7 Roadside Assistance: Through the FordPass app, loyalty program members can conveniently request 24/7 roadside assistance, offering peace of mind and practical support when needed.
- Exclusive Early Access: Members receive priority early access to special events, new vehicle announcements, and exclusive offers, creating a sense of privilege and enhancing brand engagement.
- Connected Car Features via App: The FordPass app enables members to remotely connect to and control various aspects of their Ford vehicle, such as remote start scheduling, vehicle location tracking, and access to vehicle health information, adding convenience and value to the ownership experience.
Ford’s strategic partnership with Visa offers unique bonuses to cardholders who spend $3,000 within their initial billing cycles, enhancing loyalty program value.
Why it Works:
- Strategic Partnerships: Car brands should leverage partnerships to expand point-earning opportunities beyond direct purchases, allowing customers to accumulate points through a wider range of everyday spending.
- Valuable Service Benefits: Benefits like complimentary roadside assistance are highly appreciated by drivers, addressing a practical need and providing tangible value beyond discounts.
- Perceived Value of Early Access: Offering early access to events and new product information creates a strong sense of exclusivity and perceived value, fostering stronger brand loyalty.
3. BMW: Inside Edge
BMW UK entered the car loyalty program arena with Inside Edge, a program specifically designed to connect directly with company car drivers. Powered by Antavo, Inside Edge is a unique no-point, reward-only perks program, providing members with instant access to a range of exclusive benefits.
- License Plate Enrollment: BMW car owners can easily enroll in the program by simply providing their license plate number, which is then quickly validated by the system, streamlining the registration process.
- Diverse Reward Types: The program features two primary reward categories: claimable gifts, such as movie experiences, tickets to sporting events, or gourmet dining, and prize draws offering exciting opportunities to win high-value items.
- Data Collection through Surveys: To personalize reward offerings and gather valuable customer insights, members are occasionally asked to complete brief, 5-question surveys focused on their driving habits and preferences in exchange for accessing certain rewards.
Focusing on exclusive perks for fleet drivers, BMW’s Inside Edge program aims to cultivate strong relationships with company car owners, a valuable segment for brand loyalty.
Why it Works:
- Perk-Driven Loyalty Logic: A perk-driven loyalty program is inherently inclusive and provides immediate gratification through instant reward experiences, appealing to a broad audience.
- Excitement of Prize Draws: Prize draws add an element of thrill and surprise to the program, injecting excitement and keeping members engaged.
- Relevant Partner Rewards: Utilizing partner rewards that are not directly tied to car ownership, such as complimentary coffees or entertainment offers, caters to a wider demographic and enhances the overall appeal of the program.
4. Volvo Cars Loyalty Program
Swedish automotive manufacturer Volvo launched a distinctive loyalty program in the UAE region, offering benefits on parts and labor based on vehicle age. This innovative approach rewards long-term Volvo owners with increasingly valuable benefits as their vehicles age.
- Age-Based Tier Structure: The program features four “tiers” determined by vehicle age, with milestones at 0-2 years, 3 years, 4 years, and 6+ years, recognizing and rewarding long-term ownership.
- Progressive Discounts: Members receive progressively larger discounts on parts and labor as their vehicles age, reaching up to 35% off parts and 30% off labor for older vehicles.
- Additional Benefits: Beyond discounts, the program includes valuable supplementary benefits such as a free 15-point vehicle check, mobility car discounts for temporary transportation needs, and complimentary car recovery services, enhancing the overall ownership experience.
Volvo’s loyalty program strategically engages existing customers by incentivizing them to maintain their current vehicles and benefit from discounted parts and service, fostering long-term brand loyalty.
Why it Works:
- Age-Based Tiers: Tiers are an effective mechanism for motivating members to strive for gated content and progressively more valuable rewards, encouraging continued engagement.
- Loyalty through Ownership Duration: Tiers based on the length of car ownership naturally cultivate brand loyalty by recognizing and rewarding long-term commitment to the brand.
- Haves and Have-Nots Economy: Tiered programs effectively establish a “haves and have-nots” dynamic, where higher tiers signify greater program status and unlock more exclusive benefits, incentivizing progression.
5. Europcar: Privilege Loyalty Program
In the competitive car rental market, Europcar’s Privilege Loyalty Program stands out as a top performer. Their reward system employs a hybrid approach, combining immediate, permanent perks for all members with a tiered structure to incentivize long-term engagement and reward frequent renters.
- Universal Member Perks: All Privilege program members immediately qualify for a 10% discount on the public rate for car or van rentals of 3 days or more, providing instant value upon joining.
- Rental-Based Tier Progression: After just 3 rentals, members earn a complimentary weekend rental, gain access to priority service at rental counters, and receive a free one-car category upgrade, rewarding early and frequent engagement.
- Top-Tier Exclusivity: Top-tier members enjoy even more premium benefits, including a double complimentary car upgrade (subject to availability) and a valuable one-year Priority Pass membership for access to airport lounges worldwide, catering to frequent travelers.
While the Privilege program is designed for a broad range of regular drivers, Europcar also offers a separate, tailored version for business executives, demonstrating the adaptability of car loyalty programs to target diverse customer segments.
Why it Works:
- All-Inclusive Rewards: Making certain rewards universally accessible to all members effectively boosts program enrollment rates by offering immediate and tangible value.
- Freedom of Upgrades: Benefits like free car upgrades provide program members with a sense of flexibility and enhanced rental experiences, increasing program appeal.
- Hybrid Loyalty Approach: Hybrid-style loyalty programs, combining immediate perks with tiered benefits, offer the best of both worlds, attracting a wider audience and incentivizing long-term loyalty.
6. Nissan: One to One Rewards
Japanese automaker Nissan, with its global network of dealerships, enhances the customer experience through the Nissan One to One Rewards loyalty program.
- Earn Points on Purchases: Customers earn points for every dollar spent on vehicle purchases, parts, and service at participating Nissan dealerships, providing a straightforward earning mechanism.
- Vehicle Purchase Discount: Purchasing a new Nissan vehicle unlocks a significant $250 discount applicable towards the next vehicle purchase, incentivizing repeat business within the brand.
- Physical Loyalty Card: Enrolled members of the Nissan loyalty program receive a physical loyalty card, providing a tangible symbol of membership and facilitating in-dealership identification and reward redemption.
The traditional earn & burn approach utilized by Nissan offers the simplest and quickest path to launching a car loyalty program, focusing on straightforward reward accumulation and redemption.
Why it Works:
- High-Value Rewards for Purchases: In the automotive industry, offering substantial rewards linked to vehicle purchases is warranted given the significant investment involved, making the $250 discount highly relevant.
- Swaying Power of Discounts: A $250 discount on a future car purchase has considerable persuasive power, influencing customer decisions and fostering brand loyalty.
- Exclusivity of Physical Cards: Physical loyalty cards, while less common in the digital age, can still represent a sense of exclusivity and program membership, particularly if they are selectively distributed.
7. Fred Beans: AutoRewards program
Fred Beans is a family-owned dealership group serving the Philadelphia area. With over 25 dealerships representing 18 vehicle brands, they created the AutoRewards program to deliver exceptional value to their customer base.
- Point-to-Dollar Redemption: The program heavily emphasizes discounts, with each loyalty point redeemable for a $2 discount, up to a maximum total redemption value of $2,000, offering substantial potential savings.
- Milestone-Based Benefits: Valuable benefits, such as complimentary oil changes, are unlocked upon reaching specific point milestones (350, 500, 750, 1,000 points), creating a tiered structure and incentivizing continued engagement.
- Non-Transactional Earning Activities: Customers can also earn points for activities beyond transactions, such as referring friends to the dealership, utilizing the Fred Beans loyalty app, or simply swiping their membership card during dealership visits, fostering engagement outside of the purchase cycle.
Engaging customers outside of the typical buying cycle is crucial in industries with low purchase frequency, like automotive, as it keeps the brand top-of-mind between major purchases and service intervals.
Why it Works:
- High-Frequency Reward Value: Offering frequently needed services like oil changes as rewards provides tangible and relevant value that customers can readily appreciate and utilize.
- Desirable Tier Progression: Ensuring that each tier milestone unlocks a genuinely desirable reward is key to creating a fulfilling progression path and motivating members to reach higher tiers.
- Rewarding Non-Transactional Engagement: Rewarding activities beyond purchases helps maintain customer connection with the brand during the longer periods between vehicle transactions, fostering sustained loyalty.
8. Subaru: Ownership Benefits
Subaru of America offers all Subaru drivers a collection of Ownership Benefits rather than a formally branded “Subaru loyalty program.” This pool of privileges provides ongoing value to Subaru owners and enhances the overall ownership experience.
- Exclusive Subaru Owner Access: Eligibility for these benefits is limited to verified Subaru owners, creating a sense of exclusivity and rewarding brand commitment.
- Diverse Benefit Portfolio: The benefits include discounts on insurance and technology subscriptions, complimentary lifestyle magazines tailored to Subaru owners, and invitations to exclusive festival events and brand experiences, catering to a range of customer interests.
- Individual Benefit Application: To access each benefit, owners typically need to apply individually or follow the specific service provider’s preferred method, as the program lacks a unified, centralized user experience.
- Dynamic Benefit Refresh: The list of available privileges is updated throughout the year, providing a reason for owners to regularly check the program page and discover new offerings, maintaining program freshness.
The most effective car loyalty programs strive to create a unified and seamless user experience, allowing members to access and manage various benefits and rewards from a single platform, minimizing complexity and maximizing convenience, even when involving third-party partners.
Why it Works:
- Exclusivity through Ownership: Restricting program membership to verified Subaru owners reinforces the exclusivity of the benefits and rewards brand loyalty.
- Value-Added Rewards Portfolio: Providing customers with access to a diverse range of rewards, beyond traditional discounts, compensates for potentially lengthy enrollment or validation processes by offering broader appeal.
- Dynamic Reward Refresh: Regularly updating the reward list keeps the program experience fresh and engaging for members, encouraging repeat visits and discovery of new benefits.
No Speed Limits on the Road to Loyalty Success
Car loyalty programs present a wealth of opportunities for automotive brands to accelerate towards success by cultivating genuine customer loyalty. We are always ready to showcase our advanced loyalty solutions and robust API capabilities to support your vendor selection process. Feel free to send us your RFP to explore how we can help you build a winning car loyalty program.
And don’t forget to download Antavo’s Global Customer Loyalty Report, a comprehensive resource filled with key statistics and future industry trends to guide you in navigating the evolving landscape of next-generation loyalty programs.
Sheila Power
Sheila is Antavo’s VP of UK & North America. She brings decades of experience working with consultancies and SaaS technology providers across diverse global markets. A long-time advocate for loyalty programs, she passionately consults with brands to develop and implement best-in-class loyalty solutions.
