Kevin Mantz said the Rplate digital license plate symbolizes the technology trends in automobiles. Mantz, who is general manager for Future Nissan in California, said about 40% of vehicles’ cost today is dedicated to technology.
“The license plate is the only remaining element of a vehicle that heretofore remained untouched by technology's advance,” Mantz said in a news release.
ReviverMX is developer of what it describes as the world’s first digital license plate, and on Wednesday the company said it entered into an agreement with the Future Automotive Group to sell Reviver Rplates through its Future Nissan dealerships in Folsom and Roseville, Calif.
The agreement between the two companies provides them with a path to direct sales of Reviver's Rplate and a shared revenue stream. Future Nissan will offer Rplates with new Nissan vehicles and through Future Nissan’s service lanes.
The companies say that with the Rplates, Future Nissan gains what they describe as a distinct differentiation. They say the Rplates enhance a vehicle's technology profile with a unique look.
In the area of technology, Rplate owners can conduct many DMV transactions and reduce or eliminate paper-based transactions during registration renewal.
The registration renewal process takes place over the air through Reviver’s proprietary smart-phone app. Because the Rplate updates itself, that helps eliminate the need for traditional stickers.
Rplate owners can display DMV-approved banner messages. They can also modify their Rplates’ appearance by changing background colors through the app.
Reviver and the Future Automotive Group said their alliance will help both companies in other ways. Reviver founder and CSO Neville Boston said Rplates bring value to vehicle sales by helping to start conversations about vehicles on showroom floors displaying them.
The plates at Future Nissan display the Future Nissan logo.
“When a potential customer sees the Rplate for the first time, the discussion frequently begins about the Rplate, bringing incremental value to the purchasing process,” Boston said. “Customers are compelled by how good it looks. Once they see it change from the dealer's display to another image, they’re amazed. It’s a real game changer.”
“Rplates look great, and their compliment to Nissan’s onboard technology offerings is brilliant,” Mantz said.
Reviver is currently selling the Rplate and the more advanced Rplate Pro for vehicles registered in California and Arizona. Eleven other states are actively engaged in adopting Reviver plates.
The company is currently selling Rplates through channels such as automotive dealerships and affinity groups such as Susan G. Komen and the Arizona State University alumni association. The company is gearing the Rplate Pro to serve small- to medium-sized commercial fleets.
A new product called the autoniq Retail Index provides dealers with live retail listing data within a 150-mile radius.
The data includes average sale price, mileage and days on lot for vehicles of a specific year, make, model and trim. autoniq is a business unit of KAR Global.
With the new product, available by subscription on the autoniq app, dealers can filter and sort vehicles based on specific trims to only see the most refined and relevant data. That can help them gauge market saturation and estimate potential profit for exact vehicles.
Dealers armed with the digital tool can gain a deeper understanding of their local market. Making data-backed purchasing and pricing decisions can help them maximize their profits, KAR said.
The autoniq Retail Index was developed in collaboration with franchise and independent dealers searching for better, more comprehensive real-time market data.
“This technology removes the guesswork for dealers and gives them a competitive advantage by allowing them to effortlessly keep a pulse on their local retail market,” Joe Oliveri, vice president of product management and data services at KAR Global, said in a news release.
The index is available by subscription on the autoniq app for $25 a month. Existing users can add autoniq Retail Index to their account by contacting support@autoniq.com. New users can sign up at autoniq.com/signup or by calling (866) 482-8421.
Tom Fisher, chief digital officer and executive vice president at KAR, said dealers now more than ever need real-time local market intelligence to help them make faster, better-informed bidding, buying, pricing and selling decisions.
“autoniq Retail Index aggregates data from diverse sources across the industry and distills it into clear, actionable information,” Fisher said in a news release.
Fisher also said, “We’re empowering our dealers with an easy-to-use digital tool that helps them achieve the best outcomes possible. And it’s just one more way KAR Global is evolving our data and technology to lead the digital transformation and make remarketing easy for our customers.”
“autoniq Retail Index is a game changer for dealers in today’s fast-paced industry,” Oliveri said.
Independent used-car dealership group Off Lease Only has opened a new location in Bradenton, Fla., saying it would serve the Bradenton, Sarasota, and broader Tampa Bay areas and the entire West Coast of Florida.
The location, at 3230 14th Street West, offers hundreds of 2017-2021 economy to luxury used cars, trucks, SUVs and vans. New inventory arrives daily. The company now operates five retail locations in Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Miami, Orlando and Bradenton, which is near Tampa.
Off Lease Only, with 17 years in operation, offers no negotiating, no haggling, no hidden fees, and a five-day, 500-mile, no-questions-asked free exchange policy. The company said its customers range from those buying their child’s first car to those buying the luxury vehicle of their dreams. Off Lease Only also said it offers complete transparency throughout the car-buying process
“We are thrilled to be open for business in our new Bradenton location and look forward to serving this growing market with our unique approach to customer service and our market-leading selection of vehicles priced thousands of dollars below retail,” said Off Lease Only executive vice president and chief operating officer Alan McLaren in a news release.
McLaren also said, “As our many thousands of satisfied customers across Florida can attest, we believe Off Lease Only’s value proposition is second to none.”
CarMax is recognizing its associates’ commitment to customer service and their work in introducing new offerings such as its omni-channel platform during a challenging year.
CarMax president and chief executive officer Bill Nash said “associates are the heart of CarMax” as the company said it will issue bonuses to 22,000 of those employees.
More than 80% of CarMax associates will receive the bonus, with full-time employees receiving $500. Eligible part-time associates employed by March 1, 2020 will receive $250.
Bonuses for eligible associates hired after March 1 of last year will be prorated. The remaining associates are eligible for other bonus plans.
Nash said he appreciated how employees adapted over the past year to meet customer expectations while implementing new consumer offerings that he said have transformed his company’s business.
CarMax launched CarMax Curbside in response to the need for social distancing. That program provides a contactless process for customers to complete the car buying and selling experience. Customers can complete most of the process online in advance and can test drive and complete their purchase outside the store.
In September, CarMax said it completed its omni-channel platform rollout. The company said that program continues to evolve, but customers can use it to buy a car on their terms. Those include online (including home delivery), in-store, and an integration of both.
The company introduced the Love Your Car Guarantee in January. With that program, customers can take 24-hour test drives before committing to purchase. The program includes a new 30-day money back guarantee.
“No one could have forecasted the challenges that we all faced this year,” Nash said in a news release. “Our associates have worked tirelessly to take care of each other and our customers, and this reward is in appreciation of their efforts.”
Through a new partnership between SureSale and Tampa Bay-area dealer Maus Family Automotive, a vehicle report will be available to consumers on each of Maus’ pre-owned vehicles.
Providing vehicle histories, inspections, and assessments of current quality, SureSale said it offers consumers transparency and confidence in their used-vehicle purchases.
Maus Family Automotive operates four dealerships in the Tampa Bay area, and owner David Maus said the addition of SureSale's quality seal to its MausCare program will help its pre-owned customers make more informed decisions and increase their long-term satisfaction. MausCare is a benefits service that provides added features to enhance and protect each vehicle.
Through the new partnership, each Maus pre-owned vehicle will come with a free SureSale vehicle quality report, which analyzes thousands of data points about each vehicle that the company says provides an informed purchase process. The analysis includes a 170-point inspection, road test, and history check.
“We are thrilled that our customers will enjoy the peace of mind that SureSale provides,” Maus said in a news release.
Rather than only looking at past history, SureSale tells a vehicle's whole story, past and present, Maus said.
“For example, while a vehicle may have a clean history report, its current condition or mechanical state may be far from clean,” Maus said. “That is what makes the SureSale vehicle quality report a better, more comprehensive resource for consumers.”
Maus Nissan of New Port Richey, Maus Nissan of Crystal River, Maus Nissan of North Tampa, and Maus Acura of North Tampa are the four dealerships Maus Family Automotive operates in the Tampa Bay area.
Maus Family Automotive said its dealerships have long had an interest in the pre-owned vehicle category. The company’s pre-owned vehicles come standard with MausCare.
The company said the addition of SureSale to MausCare can ensure their customers have the most positive experience when purchasing a pre-owned vehicle.
A vehicle’s history is important, but a vehicle’s current condition is more important to consumers, SureSale vice president of sales Sean Peoples said.
“Uniquely in our industry, SureSale offers both, helping to increase car buyer confidence,” Peoples said.
Peoples also said, “It is clear that David Maus, and Maus Family Automotive, put their community and customers first, and that helping their customers better understand the value and benefits of their vehicle purchase is a priority. The deep, credible data and transparency about each vehicle that SureSale provides is a perfect complement to this mission.”
Manheim and vAuto have partnered on a new offering to help provide deeper insights for dealers to make better wholesale buying decisions.
Manheim, saying that dealers are relying more heavily on digital tools and are hungrier than ever for those insights, said the dashboard will wrap around Manheim.com, Simulcast, OVE and Manheim Private Stores.
The new offering is called Manheim Dashboard, and it will give vAuto Provision clients instant access to data insights that would previously require a full appraisal of the VIN to inform their interest and actions.
That, according to Manheim, allows dealers to make more informed buying decisions at a glance. All in one place, they can use more than 15 key data points to determine the value of every vehicle in the Manheim Marketplace.
“The better data dealers have at their fingertips, the better decisions they can make,” Manheim Digital Solutions senior vice president Zach Hallowell said in a news release.
Manheim Dashboard provides insights for clients that it says are well beyond the traditional MMR data they typically rely on.
With the integration of vAuto’s “Live Market View,” dealers can click a lightbulb icon next to the vehicle listing to see retail market data including guidebook values and vehicle condition information on hundreds of cars. Manheim said dealers can do that in a fraction of the time it would normally take.
Dealers who do pre-work can save cars to a favorites list.
They can also write and save their own personal notes.
That information will follow the car — even through a Simulcast live sale — where quick decision-making on how much to pay is crucial.
In addition, the Manheim Dashboard is directly connected with clients’ vAuto Provision software, allowing them to perform a full appraisal right from the same window, and they can do that with no more time spent cutting and pasting VINs.
With the new feature, buyers gain greater purchasing power. They do that by expanding their current reach and providing all relevant data needed to make a more educated, on-the-spot decision.
vAuto’s intelligence is fueled by an analysis of activity from more than 12,000 vAuto dealerships. Those insights are then presented so dealers can more effectively search for vehicles. They can also make more informed bidding and buying decisions, Manheim said.
“While Stockwave is still agnostically available to any dealer using any auction platform, this integration gives Manheim clients a leg up with exclusive access to the glance feature earlier in their acquisition workflow,” Manheim said.
The company is featuring Manheim Dashboard at the virtual NADA 2021 conference.
“This solution brings together the power of the Manheim Marketplace with the actionable insights dealers trust to create an extra boost of confidence when they’re stocking inventory,” Hallowell said.
Nissan has selected automotive e-commerce provider CarSaver to power its new online shopping platform.
The platform is called Nissan@Home, and Nissan chose CarSaver's e-commerce platform to support components of a new end-to-end online buying experience for customers.
That experience will take place from first click to home delivery.
“Nissan@Home changes the customer buying and ownership experience and helps to deliver contactless commerce,” Coral Springs Nissan chief operating officer Jack Jackintelle said in a news release.
CarSaver said e-commerce has become the norm in many areas, including books, travel, groceries, electronics.
But auto sales often still require a visit to the dealership to complete the transaction, CarSaver said, adding that nine out of 10 customers already shop for cars online.
But despite weeks of research, the average buyer spends five or more hours in the showroom, CarSaver said.
The Nissan@Home purchasing experience integrates CarSaver features such as end-to-end online purchase of new, certified pre-owned and used vehicle inventory. That and other features can provide a seamless online experience for customers, according to CarSaver.
Some of those other features include:
— VIN specific pricing and payments
— Real-time, OEM direct rebates and incentives
— AI-enabled deal structuring
— Captive and retail lender loan and lease integration
— eF&I
— eContracting
— Guaranteed online trade-ins
— Vehicle delivery management software
Nissan chose CarSaver after a pilot program with seven dealers.
“We’re a progressive dealer, so we've demoed every digital retailing tool that's out there and ultimately, when I participated in the Nissan@Home pilot, I knew that this e-commerce platform was going to be the leader in the industry,” said Tamaroff Nissan and Jeffrey Nissan president Eric Frehsee.
Frehsee also said, “The ease of using Nissan@Home, and the customization of being able to sign in to your own portal and choose your own payments, run your own credit score, appraise your own trade-in, all in real-time and all with live transactional data is what sets the platform apart. The real benefit of the tool is to the consumer.”
Jackintelle of Coral Springs Nissan said, “I can see why JD Power ranked this ecommerce platform the best for OEMs, because it has everything we need and it’s really easy to use.”
“Shopping for a vehicle with CarSaver's tools is like ordering a pizza, but more fun,” CarSaver chief executive officer Chad Collier said.
Collier also said, “It's easier for both the customer and the dealers, and it saves everyone a lot of time and money. We’re thrilled to work with Nissan to lead the way into the future of automotive ecommerce.”
A new web ite from cloud-native dealer management system Dominion VUE DMS offers resources to support dealers as they navigate a changing landscape of new consumer shopping preferences, regulations, security threats and emerging technologies.
“A DMS is the digital heartbeat of a dealership,” Dominion DMS president Sharon Kitzman said in a news release. “So the decision to change solutions is highly complex.”
Kitzman also said the new site seeks to educate dealers on selecting the right technology for them and how to best maximize value across their enterprise to bring greater business continuity and profits.
Dominion VUE DMS describes itself as a cloud-native solution that helps give dealers the confidence to use digital mobility, security and efficiency to meet what it says is today’s rapidly changing market.
The company said it has decades of experience serving dealerships, noting that it built VUE from the ground up as a true cloud-native product.
Dominion developed the DMS on Microsoft Azure and said it gives peace of mind to dealers when they see that their data is protected by a cloud provider.
Continuing to use strategic partnerships with Microsoft, VUE said it will ensure dealerships can use the latest technologies to grow their business.
To help dealers navigate a rapidly changing market, a Resources section on the new site features press release announcements, blog posts and interactive media.
On the Dealer VUEs section, customer success stories will show how clients use VUE’s inherent security, mobility and efficiency features for a strong user experience, reduced costs and protection for their business.
According to Dominion, that will serve as the foundation for what will eventually include various resources in different formats to help dealers run their business.
“Dominion DMS benefits from having a large team member base that [has] decades of automotive retail experience,” said Dominion VUE DMS marketing director Robert Gorincen. “Combined with our strategic partnership with Microsoft, we can share these insights with dealers in the most efficient way.”
Dominion DMS digital marketing manager Benjamin Weinberg said the website serves as a resource for dealers looking to adapt and adjust their operations, and that is the case no matter what the market conditions are.
Weinberg said, “It was designed with responsiveness and ease-of-use, so dealers can quickly get what they need and on with their day.”
NCM Associates, which provides analytical data, education, and consulting services to the automotive industry, announced a new collaboration with a technology company to help solve issues that the company says has hurt the industry for decades.
Those issues are data ownership, fragmentation and lack of visibility to business insights and intelligence.
NCM’s collaboration is with Tekion Corp., a provider of business applications on the cloud.
The two companies say the combination of Tekion’s technology and NCM’s operational expertise will result in a partnership that could support and lead what they describe as a rapid and accelerated transition to digitization and modernization for the industry.
Tekion will work with the NCM dealership advisory group to ensure that Tekion clients have access to the optimal combination of advanced analytics and operational intelligence.
In addition, Tekion has also chosen NCM as the preferred provider of its new Technology 20 Groups reserved exclusively for Tekion clients on an invitation-only basis.
Tekion founder and chief executive officer, Jay Vijayan, said Tekion and NCM have aligned goals in enabling dealers to run the best retail operations and bring the best retail experiences.
“By partnering with NCM, the rapidly expanding Tekion dealer base is poised to benefit from the joint efforts of both organizations,” Vijayan said in a news release.
Vijayan also said, “For over 70 years, NCM has been working with dealers on translating data into operational improvement and now, Tekion’s most advanced technology and data platform will help enhance the improvement and value exponentially. We’re excited to welcome them into the Tekion environment.”
“Make no mistake that Jay and his team are challenging the status quo,” said NCM president and chief executive officer Paul Faletti.
Faletti also said, “Their passion and commitment to elevating the performance of their clients through technology is inspiring. NCM’s pledge to support dealerships and their selected partners in maximizing potential is unwavering and we are honored to be welcomed into the energized community of Tekion advocates. This is undoubtedly a very exciting day for these dealerships and the industry alike.”
C.A.R.Score vehicle condition reports will now be available on the CARFAX Vehicle History Report.
C.A.R.Score is a division of Dealer Specialties LLC.
Shane Marcum, the president of Dealer Specialties, said including C.A.R. Score report data in the CARFAX report will allow its companies to provide consumers with specific vehicle information at different points across its lifecycle.
That will allow consumers to make better decisions about the vehicle they are considering, and consumers will be more confident in their purchase decision, Marcum said.
The vehicle condition details that C.A.R.Score captures will live indefinitely within the CARFAX Vehicle History Report for applicable vehicles.
C.A.R.Score vehicle inspectors perform a full, cosmetic evaluation of the vehicle.
That includes photos of any visual damage, and after completion of the inspection, the car receives a star rating. The company said that allows consumers to gain a better understanding of the vehicle's current condition.
C.A.R.Score reports display the exterior and interior condition of the vehicle, and that includes instrument and control panels, mirrors, and upholstery.
Those reports even address the scent of the vehicle.
The interactive condition reports show specific details that car shoppers seek. The company says such details were not available on vehicle history reports until recently.
“CARFAX is the trusted source of information for shoppers looking for their next car,” CARFAX general manager of data Faisal Hasan said in a news release.
Hasan also said, “The addition of the C.A.R.Score report to the CARFAX Report helps build consumer confidence by offering another reference point about the condition of a vehicle at a specific point in time. It’s a great compliment to the other information you find in a CARFAX Report.”
C.A.R.Score vehicle condition reports provide transparency to dealers and their customers during a time in which COVID-19 has had an impact on the automotive space. In such a time, transparency is extremely important to the completion of an automobile transaction, the company said.
“Our partnership is designed to drive consumer engagement through exposure to a vehicle’s condition, empowering consumers with the information necessary to make most or all of their buying decisions online,” Marcum said.
Under the Detailed History section, CARFAX will display C.A.R.Score reports within their vehicle history reports. Each section provides inspection data, location, and a link to the full C.A.R.Score report.
