You spend hours online researching gas mileage, warranty packages, luxury options and paint jobs. You plan your day around test drives and spend time in front of the mirror practicing your haggling skills but even with all that preparation you still can’t quite picture your soon-to-be new car as a part of your everyday life.

Toyota BC wants to change that.

With their new Facebook AR Camera Effect, Toyota BC has leaped into the future, giving prospective buyers and curious car enthusiasts alike the chance to picture exactly how a new Toyota could fit into their lives. Using a sophisticated camera lens that’s not unlike what you would use when shopping for furniture or trying glasses on online, this Facebook-enabled tool shows you how a 2018 Corolla, RAV4 or Camry could look in your driveway, garage, office or anywhere else you can think of.

Photo Credit: Contributed

The way it works is remarkably simple: just open the Facebook camera, place the car (and colour!) of your choosing on any image, then snap and share the photo.

In a lot of ways, it’s like a dating app for car buyers. No, you can’t exactly swipe right — this is a match that involves a bit more paperwork — but it’s a new way to shop around and develop a sense of what you’re looking for in a car. If anything, it’s the perfect complement to a dating app. If the app lets you imagine a life with someone, including a future family home with a two-car garage, then the AR Effect helps you imagine what’s in that garage.

This means that when you make it to the dealership to set up your test drive and a sales representative tells you to picture yourself with a new Toyota, you can answer, “I already have.”

“A lot of owning a vehicle is about the connection between an owner and a brand or a model,” said James McInnes, General Manager at Destination Toyota Burnaby. “[If] you can see yourself in that vehicle, it resonates with your identity. This tool lets you do that without having to go all the way to a store to see it.”

Photo Credit: Contributed

So, why is Toyota is getting creative?

Obviously, they know that there’s no substitute for the real thing. To commit to a new vehicle, you need to really drive it — there’s no virtual reality that can replicate the feeling you get when your foot presses down on the pedal. But they also know that the golden days of unshakeable brand loyalty are behind us.

People are more informed but busier than ever, with less time to spend visiting dealerships across town to get the pitch on every new car or truck on the market. Like everything else, much of the car buying process has moved online. This, McInnes said, is just another piece of that puzzle. A new, more hands-on way to research — maybe even a fun one.

“If people are only accessing information on the web and then making a decision to visit one or maybe two different [dealerships], then you definitely want to be at the top of that list,” said McInnes, who sees technology like this as a natural evolution of car shopping. “There’s going to be a long-term connection there, so it’s pretty important for people to make the right decision.”

With Toyota’s Red Tag Days happening now, which includes special offers on 2018 models, the timing couldn’t be better to start visualizing a shiny new car in your driveway. Picking the right vehicle is never easy, but with new technologies like Toyota BC’s Facebook AR Effect, the process becomes that much easier.