There is no denying that modern cars are leaps and bounds away from the original version invented over 100 years ago. However, the car-buying process has advanced just as much.
Car dealerships consistently use new technology to cut down on the time we spend wandering showrooms, searching for finance options, and haggling for better prices. Though some people still prefer to buy their cars in person, the process of buying or selling your vehicle today means you might not need to leave your home or even look up from your computer.
Adam Rasner AB’ 97 knows all about the ongoing digital evolution of car purchasing. As the vice president of technology operations for automotive retail giant AutoNation, Rasner’s main role is to make the car-buying experience better.
“Ask anybody about buying a car and people will tell you historically, it’s almost as painful as going to the dentist,” he says. “My job is to manage the infrastructure that ultimately helps make your time in the dealership shorter, keeps the paper-shuffling to a minimum, and makes the process as convenient as possible.”
AutoNation currently boasts around 350 locations throughout the country and more than 26,000 employees. Already one of the largest automotive retailers in the nation, AutoNation acquired 40 more dealerships, a financial services company, and a mobile repair company in the last year, so Rasner won’t be taking a break anytime soon.
He currently manages seven different functional areas of technology ranging from support to incident management and he oversees the infrastructure that we use to buy or sell cars, run the collision centers and auction houses, and set up repair orders at their mobile service center.
Rasner will supervise all of the new systems that power this new customer experience and integrate AutoNation’s recent acquisitions. While this may seem like a daunting task, Rasner is genuinely excited to get started.
“I’m a technologist at heart,” he says. “I started my career at WebMD as a network engineer, and I’ve always loved being around technology. In the last eight years I’ve been here, I think we’ve made massive steps toward revolutionizing how you buy a car.”
When he’s not at work, you can find Rasner in the stands or in front of his television during every Georgia game. As a booster, Rasner, who lives in South Florida, takes his investment in Georgia football very seriously and recently attended his 30th Georgia-Florida game in a row.
The Rasner family is full of Bulldogs, including both of his siblings and his niece who is currently a Double Dawg at UGA’s College of Public Health. Rasner has even gotten his wife and daughter to join in on the fun.
“My wife is ’Georgia-by-marriage,’” he says. “She graduated from the University of Rhode Island, but I took her to a Georgia-Florida game for one of our first dates, and her mind was blown.”
