Financing an Auto - External testing

MODERATOR’S GUIDE

FA User Testing Worksheet
Data Collection: [insert dates]

The Bureau does not intend to use the work described in this document, or the information obtained
from it, in any manner that would contravene the provisions set forth in 12 U.S.C. § 5519.

Section 1: Introduction
Thank you for participating in this study today. My name is
, and I am a researcher with
the Fors Marsh Group User Experience Team. Today we will evaluate a worksheet about
getting an auto loan.
I will ask you to review a worksheet that we’re working on. It’s about shopping for a car
loan and we want to see whether it works as intended. Then we will do a scenario about
financing a car to test out the worksheet.
Your comments and feedback will help the design team improve the worksheet. I am a
researcher and did not create the worksheet, so please do not feel like you have to hold
back on your thoughts to be polite to me. I’m interested in both your positive and negative
reactions. Difficulties you may run into reflect issues with the design of the material, not
your skills or abilities. Please keep in mind that I am NOT testing you or your knowledge.
Rather, you are helping us to see how we can improve this document.
The entire session will last about 60 minutes. In accordance with the Papework Reduction Act
of 1995, this study as been approved by the Federal government’s Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) under OMB control number [Insert control number]. Without this approval we
could not conduct this study. Do you have any questions so far?
Let’s cover a couple things before we get started.
• We are making a video recording of this session, but your name and personal
information will not be associated with the recordings or your responses.
• Please make sure that you have reviewed the Privacy Act Statement has been
provided in hard copy, if you haven’t already.
• Any questions? Ok, we are ready to begin. I would like you to start by asking you some
background questions.

Section 2: Questions and Tasks
Item 1: Planning around auto finance shopping

Goal: To explore participants’ behavior around auto finance shopping.
1a. You’ve indicated you’re planning on financing a car. Can you tell me about your
experience so far with the auto shopping process? Where in the process are you at
right now?
1b.Today we'd like to talk to you specifically about shopping for an auto loan. Have
you started to think about when and how to get an auto loan?
o [IF YES] What have you done so far?
o [IF YES] Can you tell me about any information you’ve looked at (such as
visiting a website or reading a magazine) to help you research and make
decisions?
o [IF NO] Why do you think it hasn’t come up?
1c. What comes to your mind when you are thinking about shopping for—and
negotiating—an auto loan? [Alternatively] How do you feel about it?

Item 2: First impressions of worksheet

Goal: To evaluate consumers’ first impressions.
Before the scenario, the facilitator provides the participant with the worksheet and,
after allowing time for review, asks a few open-ended questions. The goal of these
questions is to determine if there’s anything preventing the participant from using it.
Additional questions about the worksheet will be asked after the scenario.
We’ve created a worksheet for people to use when they’re thinking about getting an
auto loan for a car they’re purchasing. In a few minutes, we’re going to play out a
scenario illustrating what might happen when you’re getting a car loan. Before we
begin this scenario, I want to give you a few minutes to review the worksheet, which
you may want to use.
2a. Have you ever seen a worksheet like this before? [If yes, explain.]
2b. What is the first thing that caught your eye?
2c. What do you think this worksheet is about?
2d. What do you think it’s for?
2e. Is there anything you don’t understand?
Moderator’s Guide: Auto Finance  0

2f. How comfortable would you be using this during a purchase?

Item 3: Interaction with worksheet during simulated car loan
negotiation

Goal: To evaluate the overall usability, learnability, and usefulness of the auto finance
worksheet.
[Scenario to follow the script below. Participants can respond and act as they
actually would or discuss what they would say or do for each of the interaction
points in the script. After each instance the participant responds, the moderator
will redirect the participant back to the approved script (i.e., only provide the
participant with the loan options below).]
So, as I mentioned, we’re going to show a scenario about what might happen when
you’re buying a car and getting a car loan. Imagine you’re at your home and you’re
shopping for a car. You find one that you’re interested in – a 2014 mid-level sedan in
a silver color. Here is more information about the car you want to purchase. [Provide
participant with an information sheet about the vehicle.] I’ll give you a couple minutes
to familiarize yourself with the car.
3. What would you do next? Would you do anything before you went out to shop for a
car? [If necessary] Would you do anything online before you went to the out to shop
for a car?
“Ok, for this scenario, you’ve decided to shop for the car, seek financing for the car,
and to trade-in your current car. Let’s say you do more research and decide that you
want to pay $19,000 for the car and you want to put $2,000 down. You ask an
appraiser to provide a trade-in value for your 07’ hatchback. You head inside to sit
down with the salesperson to go over pricing. I’ll be playing the role of the
salesperson. As I’m presenting information, feel free to do anything you think you
would normally would do if you were speaking with the salesperson or at least let me
know what you think you would do. For example, if you would pull up any information
on your phone,write things down, or make any calls, feel free to do so or let me know
what you would do. Ok, are you ready to get started with the scenario?
Moderator: This car that you’re interested in is really nice. You’ll have a lot of
upgrades with this vehicle. It’s amazing how much of a difference a sunroof can
make. Only 30,000 miles on it too! Let me run some figures with you on the price.
[Salesperson presents worksheet.] The book value on this vehicle is $21,900. Our
original price was $20,995. We’re running a special on this vehicle so the sales price
is $20,150. Our appraiser assessed your 07’ hatchback at a value of $3,995. The tax
amount is here and here are the titling and fees. Here is your subtotal: $17,314.30.
Have you decided how much you would like to put down or borrow?
Participant: I’d like to put $2,000 down.

Moderator’s Guide: Auto Finance  1

Moderator: Ok, you would have $15,314 to finance. Have you thought about
financing options?
Participant: I know I’d like to finance but I haven’t explored my options yet.
Moderator: Ok, let me run a few payment scenarios for you. We’ll use a credit score of
about 750 to run these very rough payment scenarios. A 36 month loan (3.9%) would
be a monthly payment of roughly $451. A 48 month loan (4.5%) would be a monthly
payment of roughly $349. A 60 month loan (5.9%) would be a monthly payment of
roughly $295. A 72 month loan (6.89%) would be a monthly payment of $260. Do
you have any questions about the figures?
Participant: I think everything is pretty clear.
Moderator: Are you ready to move forward with the purchase?
Participant: [Participant decides at this point if he/she is going to negotiate.] I’m not
too sure about the price of the vehicle. When I look at other cars with these features
and mileage, it’s a little higher.
Moderator: Well, when you look at the sales price we’re well under the Book. Ok, let
me ask you this, what would we need to do to have you feel comfortable moving
forward with your purchase?
Participant: I’d need the sales price to be $500 less.
Moderator: Ok, I know that’s less then what the leadership team was expecting. Let
me just check with them and see if they’re willing to accept that offer. Just to confirm,
you’re ready to move forward with your purchase if they accept your offer.
Participant: Yes, that’s correct.
Moderator: Ok, great. [Moderator leaves the room and reenters after a few seconds.]
Congratulations! [Moderator goes to shake the participant’s hand.] The leadership
team was willing to go to that price. Let me change these numbers around and go
through them with you again. [Moderator shows the participant the sales contract
and walks through figures again.] I just need your signature here at the bottom. [Don’t
have the participant actually sign anything.] The next think we’ll need to do is have
you complete a credit application. [Moderator hands participant an unfilled credit
application.] Let’s imagine that a few minutes has gone by and you’ve completed the
application. [Moderator swaps the unfilled credit application with a completed one.]
Let me take this application to my finance manager, he’ll submit your information to a
few lenders and I’ll come back to you with a few different options.
Participant: Ok, thanks.
Moderator: Your payment scenario is actually better than what we had reviewed
before. [Moderator presents loan options worksheet.] The lender that came back with
the best rate was ABC Bank. For a 36 month loan, you qualify for a 3.75% rate so
Moderator’s Guide: Auto Finance  2

your payment for this option would be $450. For a 48 month loan, you qualify for a
4.1% rate so your payment for this option would be $346. For a 60 month loan, you
qualify for a 5.75% rate so your payment for this option would be $294. For a 72
month loan, you qualify for a 6.5% rate so your payment for this option would be
$257. Which option would you like to go with?
Participant: [Participant decides at this point if he/she is going to negotiate.] I’m not
too sure about the interest rate. Can you do any better? I was looking for a payment
of $290 for around a 60 month loan.
Moderator: Well, what we can do is go to a 66 month loan which would be a rate of
6.2% which would get you under the $290 mark and give you a payment of actually
$274.
Participant: [Participant decides at this point if he/she is going to push about the
interest rate.]
Moderator: Ok, let me talk to my leadership team and see if we can offer you a better
rate to get you to a $290 payment for a 60 month loan. [Moderator leaves the room
for a few seconds.] Ok, great news, they approved that rate, let me write up the loan
contract.
Moderator: [The moderator reviews the loan contract with the participant.] I just need
your signature at the bottom of the contract. [Don’t have participant actually sign.]

Moderator’s Guide: Auto Finance  3

Item 4: Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Please circle the numbers that most appropriately reflect your impressions about
using this Worksheet.
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being more likely, how likely is it that you would recommend this
worksheet to a friend, colleague, or family member as a place to consult about auto finance?
Why?

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Item 5: Post-negotiation review of worksheet

Goal: To evaluate the participant’s perception of the worksheet.
[After the test, we’ll verify that the math is correct.]
5a. How did you do compared to your budget? Why do you think you ended up at this
number?
5b. Can you tell me how you used the worksheet during the negotiation? Why?
5c. Would you take this worksheet with you to track offers when going to get a loan?
Why or why not?
o

[IF YES] How would you take it with you? In which format? Would you print
it out?

5d. What thoughts were going through your mind as you negotiated? Did you feel
better or worse with the worksheet in hand.
5e. Thinking about the worksheet, what parts were confusing or hard to understand?
Why?
5f. Were there parts of the worksheet that were helpful? If so, what were they? Why
were they helpful?
5g. [If necessary], were any of the parts that were hard to understand also helpful?
5h. What would you change about the worksheet?
5i. Who do you think produced this worksheet? Do you think it comes from a
trustworthy source? Why or why not? [If not] what would make you trust it more?
5j. Is there anything missing from this worksheet that you would want to know?
Moderator’s Guide: Auto Finance  4

Follow up questions as needed

If time allows, observers will be contacted to see if they have any specific questions
to ask this participant based on his/her answers.

Moderator’s Guide: Auto Finance  5