Cox Automotive announced this week the integration of two of its dealer management tools. With this integration, data from VinSolutions CRM can be accessed via the vAuto Provision suite, helping dealers make better inventory management decisions while using Provision.

Randy Kobat, the vice president and general manager of vAuto, believes the integration will be mutually beneficial for users of both tools.

“Our shared vAuto and VinSolutions customers can get a powerful new advantage with this integration,” Kobat said. “Dealers have the opportunity to apply the unique insights from their own shoppers in addition to the already comprehensive market data in the Provision system — giving them the right information in the right context at the right time to make better used vehicle appraisal, acquisition and pricing decisions.”

According to Cox, the enhancements to Provision are:

• The Pricing module can display the number of active leads for every vehicle in a dealer’s inventory, providing dealers with the ability to make real-time pricing decisions in the context of real-time customer demand.
• The Provisioning module can identify when vehicles that match the dealer’s stocking strategy are scheduled for service appointments, giving dealers the opportunity to present timely trade-in offers and acquire needed inventory.
• The Appraising module will notify dealers when they are appraising vehicles that appear on their shoppers’ wish lists, allowing them to appraise and acquire with the confidence that there is a buyer for the vehicle.

“The point of integrating this data is not just to provide dealers with more information, but rather to give them more insights that they can act on immediately,” said Sean Stapleton, the vice president of sales and marketing at VinSolutions.