Dealer Specialties is rolling out a tool aimed at going beyond traditional vehicle history report information such as accidents; looking to provide dealers and consumers with details that can make the difference between that used vehicle rolling over the curb or being passed over for another model — at another store.
The division of Dominion Dealer Solutions on Thursday announced the national launch of C.A.R.Score, a service offering consumer-facing vehicle condition reports to dealers that are geared to bring significant enhancements and transparency to a dealer’s digital merchandising strategy.
C.A.R.Score has been tested in seven major markets and will be available nationwide this summer.
The company explained C.A.R.Score is a report that can provide shoppers with the ability to see the current condition of a vehicle — shortening the decision-making path and ultimately the time to purchase. These condition reports show specific details that shoppers are looking for, yet, until now, were not available online.
C.A.R.Score reports can assess the condition of all areas of the vehicle including instrument and control panels, interior odors, mirrors, upholstery, even the tire tread depth. Dealer Specialties insisted that other reports only provide a look at a vehicle’s history without providing any actual condition information.
By sharing this type of detail about their vehicles, Dealer Specialties thinks stores can instill a heightened level of buyer confidence.
“Transparency is very important to our dealership. I believe we need to be completely up front with our customers and allow the customer to come to their own conclusions in regards to the vehicles’ condition,” said one beta dealer.
C.A.R.Score offers the only full-service vehicle condition report in the market, according to the company. The reports are facilitated through Dealer Specialties, a Dominion Dealer Solutions company. Dealer Specialties currently serves more than 3,000 rooftops and processes more than 50,000 vehicles on a weekly basis.
Dealer Specialties lot representatives have already developed more than 500 C.A.R.Score reports in beta markets.
“C.A.R.Score reports offer full transparency to the consumer,” said Shane Marcum, vice president of Dealer Specialties, “Photos or other industry reports are insufficient to determine the exact condition and value of the car. Car shoppers do more of their research online and visit fewer dealerships in person. This type of report helps them scrutinize what they really want in a vehicle and maximizes their time spent traveling to dealer lots.”
To validate the initiative with the consumer base, Dealer Specialities surveyed 243 recent car buyers to gauge their reaction to C.A.R.Score. The company reported significant numbers of positive responses.
“I love that it tells you exactly what is wrong, and what is right, with the vehicle you are looking to purchase,” said Ashley from Holden Heights, Fla., a participant in the study. “This is an excellent tool to have because the consumer would be more willing to come and look at, test drive or purchase the vehicle if they know all the info on the car upfront.”
The C.A.R.Score conditioning platform is now available in several major markets and will be available nationwide in the summer.
For more information on C.A.R.Score, or to obtain a sample copy of a C.A.R.Score Report, call (888) 905-9128 or email dealersuccess@drivedominion.com.
The Jim Ellis Automotive Group wants everyone who comes to one of their showrooms to be in a giving mood like company leadership.
Jim Ellis is again partnering with the Marine Toys for Tots program, but the relationship has been amped up a few notches with the automotive group offering the chance to win gas cards and a grand prize shopping spree to individuals helping the dealerships bless children at Christmas this year.
All 17, Jim Ellis family owned and operated dealerships in Atlanta, Buford, Kennesaw and Marietta serve as collection sites for Toys for Tots and will be collecting toys through Dec. 15th at close of business. Each year, the Jim Ellis dealerships also partner with the Metro Atlanta Automobile Dealers Association (MAADA) as the association works with Toys for Tots to equip each of the Jim Ellis dealerships to serve as collection sites for this program.
The public can get involved in this initiative by bringing a new unwrapped toy to any of the Jim Ellis dealerships. These donations will go to make the holidays brighter for children in the surrounding communities in the hopes that every child will receive a gift this holiday season.
“Our Jim Ellis dealerships partner with MAADA and Toys for Tots year after year and have great success in collecting toys for children in need,” said Jim Ellis Automotive Group president and chief executive officer Jimmy Ellis. “This year we wanted to step things up a few notches and really make our customers and the local communities surrounding our dealerships aware of this initiative and how they can get involved.
“Christmas is a time of giving, and we want to do our part to make sure all children in our communities are blessed during the Christmas season,” Ellis continued.
As a way of saying thank you to individuals who contribute at one of the Jim Ellis locations to the Toys for Tots campaign this holiday season, the first 25 people who make a toy donation at each location will receive a $10 QuikTrip gift card.
Every customer that makes a qualifying toy donation during normal business hours through Dec. 15 will be entered for a chance to win a $2,500 shopping spree. Each toy donated qualifies as one entry for the chance to win the shopping spree.
Full contest details can be found here.
According to the Toys for Tots website, the organization was started in 1947 by the United States Marine Corps Reserve Major Bill Hendricks when his reserve unit in Los Angeles collected and distributed 5,000 toys to children in need. The program has expanded throughout the years and today donates an average of 18 million toys to less fortunate children each year.
The Jim Ellis partnership with Toys for Tots is made possible by the MAADA, an organization made up of hundreds of franchised dealers from the 18-county area surrounding Atlanta. MAADA’s pre-existing relationship with the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation has allowed Jim Ellis Automotive to be part of this exciting opportunity each year.
“The Metro Atlanta Automobile Dealers Association, comprised of over 140 franchised new car and truck dealer-members, believes very strongly in supporting efforts that improve the lives of the citizens of our community. That commitment to community service is especially important when it comes to helping Metro Atlanta’s less fortunate children,” said J.W. Southwick, director of marketing and social media at MAADA.
“The Holiday Season is one of joy and celebration, but some parents struggle to make ends meet and that takes away from their ability to put gifts under the tree for their kids. For the tenth consecutive year, the dealers of MAADA are proudly supporting the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve’s Toys for Tots campaign by serving as toy collection locations,” Southwick continued.
“Nearly 900,000 toys were collected during the 2017 campaign, and we’re hoping to help the Marines blast past the million-toy mark for this year’s drive,” Southwick went on to say.
Dealership technology providers are continuing to modify their offerings so stores can take advantage of what can be done via Facebook.
This week, Facebook Marketing Partner, Dealers United, announced a move to help dealers list their vehicles in Facebook Marketplace for Autos without monthly fees.
Meanwhile, Carsforsale.com also announced the latest expansion in its growing suite of solutions with a new opportunity for dealers to increase their social reach, influence and sales with Carsforsale.com via an integration with Facebook Marketplace.
This actions came on the heels of AutoManager making a similar announcement.
Through this offer, Dealers United is aiming to provide a “no-catch” Facebook Marketplace solution with the goal to give dealers more exposure through the Facebook platform without requiring any additional product purchases.
Similar to third-party classifieds like Craigslist and eBay, Facebook Marketplace carries for-sale listings for local shoppers, such as real estate, automobile and furniture to help people buy and sell items within their communities.
Since its launch in 2016, Facebook Marketplace has quickly attracted shopper attention, specifically from in-market auto shoppers. A recent status update from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated, “Marketplace is now used by 800 million people — and is emerging as one of the most popular places to buy vehicles online.”
However, in order to post multiple vehicles into Facebook Marketplace automatically, dealers are required to work with one of Facebook’s approved Inventory Partners.
While Facebook doesn’t allow its Marketplace Inventory Partners to charge per post or per lead, Dealers United explained that the site’s help page asks for dealers to “keep in mind that there may be fees to work with our partners.” Commonly, Dealers United said some inventory partners package the listing service with other mandatory monthly fees, product bundles, upsell or commitments.
“We were seeing a lot of unnecessary markups from other vendors in the space,” said Pete Petersen, chief executive officer of Dealers United. “While there are certainly costs associated with syncing inventory feeds to Facebook, we’ve automated the process to give every dealer the chance to post on this powerful platform for free each month. With us, there aren't any recurring fees.”
Dealers United does require a small, one-time activation fee to get started, which covers pulling the inventory feed from the dealership’s website or feed provider and setting up the 24-hour vehicle sync to Facebook’s API.
The feed then runs daily, posting unlimited vehicles with live inventory updating automatically.
“When we first launched the campaign, we had hundreds of dealers calling in saying that it seemed ‘too good to be true,’ or wondering what the catch was,” said Brooke Jensen, chief marketing officer at Dealers United. “There is no catch. Once you pay the activation fee, you’ll have unlimited Marketplace posts.”
The announcement arrives soon after Dealer United’s recent rebrand as “the Facebook and Instagram advertising solution for the auto industry.” Originally focused on bringing digital solutions to dealerships nationwide, Dealers United now is making a bold statement to purely align with Facebook’s mission in automotive.
“Many dealers aren’t yet taking advantage of the power of Facebook,” Petersen said. “We view this as an opportunity to show dealers how Facebook’s platform can increase their exposure and help them drive more sales conversations. Marketplace is a great starting point.”
To learn more about posting into Facebook Marketplace, visit this website.
More details from Carsforsale.com
Leadership at Carsforsale.com explained how it can enable dealerships to list their used-vehicle inventory on Facebook Marketplace, where millions of people are already looking at used vehicles.
“It’s all about relevancy and exposure,” Carsforsale.com chief executive officer Sean Coffman said. “Automotive buying looks different today. Dealers need to be everywhere. We’re always looking for new, innovative and seamless solutions to drive relevant exposure and create new selling opportunities for our dealers.
“What better way to deliver this, than to grow our dealer’s reach and influence on platforms that are already present in auto buyer’s lives like Facebook Marketplace
This new solution leverages Carsforsale.com’s inventory distribution system, inventory analytics and audience insights to select and instantly share top-performing vehicles across the digital realm. Integrating with Facebook Marketplace can help further enhance dealer’s social reach on a platform where communication can begin in real-time.
This is one of many new offerings Carsforsale.com has recently launched and builds upon the success of other social marketing and real-time connection tools.
Powerful tools like Content Manager, Social Inventory, RapidReply Instant Messenger and a Phone Lead Solution can help enable in-the-moment buyer and seller connections and transactions.
This integration can be activated in minutes and builds on other proven social offerings — at no additional charge. This no-fee, seamless integration instantly delivers used vehicle inventory to Facebook Marketplace, along with dozens of vehicle data points and curated images, to build synergy within a Dealer’s social footprint to drive social sales.
Carsforsale.com reaches nearly 10 million monthly shoppers. Powerful dealer solutions like Carsforsale.com Dealer Inventory Pages, Custom Responsive Dealer Websites and Social Inventory drive cross-channel reach.
The Carsforsale.com all-in-one digital marketing solution is $99 a month.
“It’s value we believe in,” Coffman said, “We always keep our dealer’s best interest in mind by offering the best products at the lowest prices in the industry. This integration with Facebook Marketplace provides another step forward to deliver on that commitment to our dealers.”
Carsforsale.com encouraged interested dealers to sign up for service by calling (866) 401-9778 or visiting this website.
The Jim Butler Auto Group wanted to know more about consumer appeal of digital vehicle subscription services. So the group that’s comprised of eight dealerships orchestrated a survey as it began to pilot its own subscription service.
On Thursday, the Jim Butler Auto Group released findings from its 2018 Automotive Technology Survey. What perhaps pleased this group and maybe others that are considering their own subscription offering, the Jim Butler Auto Group survey showed half of all survey respondents said they would consider subscription vehicle services that bundle the cost of a car payment, insurance and maintenance into one monthly service fee.
In fact, the group learned that 70 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds and 61 percent of 35- to 54-year-olds expressed an openness to this model.
“The increasing popularity of subscription services, paired with ride sharing, innovations in driving automation and e-commerce, are challenging established notions of vehicle ownership and the purchasing process,” said Brad Sowers, president of the Jim Butler Auto Group.
“This has significant implications for brand loyalty today and the ways we will acquire and use vehicles tomorrow,” Sowers continued.
The survey, distributed between Oct. 28 and Nov. 8 to more than 30,000 drivers nationwide, found advanced auto features weigh heavier than brand loyalty, with more than half of respondents saying they would be willing to abandon their preferred vehicle make or model to obtain the specific technologies they want.
The project also showed half of all respondents said they would pay more for a vehicle that had the technology features they want.
Currently, the Jim Butler Auto Group is piloting new e-commerce capabilities, giving buyers nationwide the ability to conveniently and transparently complete online purchases through its Jim Butler Kia, Maserati and Alfa Romeo dealerships.
The pilot follows the dealership’s October introduction of an automotive subscription service, driveBLACKTIE, which combines the convenience of technology with the new and pre-owned variety of the auto group’s $60 million inventory across eight Alfa Romeo, Chevrolet, Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, Maserati and Kia dealerships.
The group explained driveBLACKTIE’s mobile feature builds on its technology strategy, which began with a robust e-commerce presence that has served vehicle buyers in 32 states and has helped make Jim Butler one of the top 15 Chevrolet dealers nationwide and a recipient of the Chevrolet Dealer of the Year Award three years in a row.
View of autonomous vehicles
Turning back to the survey results, while recent headlines suggest automakers are moving closer to fully autonomous vehicles, the Jim Butler Auto Group found that 72 percent of respondents displayed some level of discomfort with operating or riding in self-driving vehicles. And nearly 60 percent went further, expressing outright distrust of the technology.
The survey revealed driver assist features, including hands-free calling, built-in navigation and lane departure warnings, fared better, with 60 percent or more respondents saying they were “somewhat” or “very” comfortable with the technologies.
Drivers age 18 to 34 showed the most openness to autonomous vehicles, with 60 percent in neutral to strong agreement with the statement, “I trust self-driving technology.”
“Right now, consumers are looking to technology to help empower their driving, but not necessarily to become the driver,” Sowers said.
“With attitudes varying by age, fully autonomous vehicles could gain in greater acceptance over time, but for many consumers today, self-driving technology still seems like science fiction,” he continued.
While nearly 30 percent of consumers were neutral to very comfortable with riding in or operating a self-driving vehicle, only 19 percent said they believed flying vehicles would become commonplace in their lifetime. This belief was highest among 18- to 34-year-olds, with nearly 30 percent believing they would commonly see flying cars in their lifetime.
Appeal of buying online
Despite the prevalence of e-commerce, the Jim Butler Auto Group learned just 9 percent of respondents have ever bought a vehicle online.
Overall, consumers expressed greater comfort purchasing new vehicles versus pre-owned vehicles online (36 percent to 28 percent), with price, specific make/model and simplicity of transactions, and specific tech features ranking as most important factors to online new-vehicle buyers.
“Online or in person, the paperwork required to complete a vehicle purchase can be daunting to consumers, but it doesn’t have to be a complicated experience,” Sowers said. “With advancements in digital payment processing and convenient delivery options, we expect online auto purchasing to continue to grow.”
Franchised dealerships with Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac stores in their groups now can leverage help from a pair of advertising agencies.
Both Naked Lime and Dominion Dealer Solutions recently announced they have completed all requirements to participate in the digital advertising program under the GM Dealer Digital Solution.
This program allows dealers the opportunity to leverage in-market retail (iMR) funds to reimburse themselves for the cost of their digital advertising services. Managers and dealer principals can refer to the iMR dealer program guidelines located at www.gmlam.com for further information.
Naked Lime and Dominion Dealer Solutions highlighted participants in this digital advertising program can provide advertising solutions that can include:
— Improved efficiency, coordinated spend and strategy across all tiers of advertising
— Streamlined packages each offering full service solutions for sales and fixed ops
— A single, managed monthly fee with cap
— Performance accountability
— Day one go-to-market readiness
— Strategic and tactical advertising coordination with brands and local marketing associations
— Dashboard for visibility into performance
Dealers who have any questions about the benefits of a digital advertising program can contact Naked Lime by calling (855) NKD-LIME or via email at info@nakedlime.com or Dominion Dealer Solutions at (757) 351-7598 or via email at dealersuccess@drivedominion.com.
Now personnel at dealerships using AutoManager can say they’re not wasting time if a manager spots someone on Facebook.
The dealer management software company recently announced that WebManager, its comprehensive vehicle marketing system, has integrated with Facebook Marketplace. This integration is accessible within the WebManager application and can allow a dealer to export the store’s entire used-vehicle inventory to Facebook Marketplace.
AutoManager mentioned that also built in to this integration is real-time communication between dealers and shoppers via Facebook Messenger.
Facebook Marketplace offers a dedicated discovery and search experience designed to help people find their next vehicle.
“Making Facebook Marketplace available to all our WebManager dealers means we are able to increase the scope of our dealers’ reach, and as a result, our dealers could see more customer opportunities and enjoy more potential customer engagement,” said AutoManager president and chief executive officer Kami Tafreshi.
The company acknowledged that dealers have wanted to list their inventory on Facebook Marketplace. AutoManager dealers can now:
• List pre-owned vehicle inventory to Marketplace
• Receive notifications from interested shoppers and engage in real-time chat through Messenger
• Acquire high-quality leads through Marketplace
To learn more about WebManager’s Facebook Marketplace integration, visit www.automanager.com/facebook-marketplace. To learn more about starting a free trial of WebManager visit www.automanager.com/demo.
When the American International Automobile Dealers Association gathers for its 49th annual meeting and luncheon in San Francisco in January, the group also will be honoring a member from the Golden State.
AIADA plans to give the 2019 David F. Mungenast Sr. Lifetime Achievement Award to Dave Conant, a dealer from Newport Beach, Calif. The award is presented each year by AIADA’s board of directors to an industry leader who possesses a similar community spirit and devotion to the international nameplate auto industry as its namesake.
Conant is the founder, owner and chief executive officer of the Conant Auto Retail Group (The CAR Group), which currently operates 11 automobile franchises in California and Florida. He is a committed and active member of the auto retail industry and served on AIADA’s board of directors for many years, including its executive committee.
Conant’s community involvement spans numerous charitable causes in support of education, health and wellness. The Conant Family Foundation, joined by employee-funded contributions, has provided millions of dollars to local causes, including Make-a-Wish, the American Red Cross, the American Cancer Society, the Boys & Girls Club, City of Hope, Children’s Hospital of Orange County and recent disaster relief efforts in the wake of hurricanes and wildfires in California.
“I am always impressed with the generosity of auto dealers, but when it comes to community engagement, Dave Conant truly stands apart. In addition to running one of the country’s most successful dealership groups, he has always made time to give back to his community and those around him,” AIADA president and chief executive officer Cody Lusk said.
“I can think of no one more deserving of this honor and look forward to presenting the award during our upcoming annual meeting this January in San Francisco,” Lusk added.
In addition to the presentation of the award, AIADA’s 49th annual meeting and luncheon will also feature a look at the year ahead with 2019 chairman Howard Hakes of California, and keynote remarks by Bob Carter, executive vice president of sales at Toyota Motor North America.
Dealers can register today for AIADA’s 49th annual meeting and luncheon set for Jan. 27 in San Francisco by going to this website or by calling 1-800-GO-AIADA.
Two dealers have traded in well-worn trade-in practices for a new model. The new one is based on appraisal-to-delivery ratios that sell more cars and creates more downstream F&I and service revenues.
They call this strategy appraisal effectiveness.
“I want to appraise every car, whether a trade, a private sale, cars in the service lane — or phone ups and internet leads — because I want to ensure consumers do business with us. When we buy a car, a lot happens downstream, and because we now rely less on auctions, our cost per sale is going down,” said David Simches, group used-car director for Crown Automotive Group, St. Petersburg, Fla.
The premise is increasing look-to-book percentages do not translate into more car sales — or downstream revenues.
“Look-to-book gives you a false sense of what is good,” said Ed French, a member of the board of directors with TruWorth Auto, with locations in Indianapolis and Kokomo, Ind. “A dealer appraising 10 vehicles and trading for five has a 50-percent look-to-book ratio, which gives the used-car manager pause to say, ‘We’re doing pretty good.’ But, if you appraise 20 cars and trade for five, is that good? No, no it is not.”
As a management tool, look-to-book lacks accuracy, French noted. It relies on humans and their misjudgments. It focuses on trade margin over downstream revenue potential. Forgetting or neglecting to account for every appraisal opportunity, whether phone ups or online leads, creates false look-to-book metrics.
An appraisal-to-delivery ratio is a more accurate and meaningful metric: appraisal effectiveness, they say.
Simches said an appraisal effectiveness trade strategy focuses on a small win that protects the gross each trade does present. “In today’s transparent market, why not give the customer what the car is worth — who knows, the guy might buy a car from us,” he said.
French, who also advises independent and franchise dealerships as president of AutoProfit Automotive Consulting, encourages dealers to measure their look-to-book ratios and sales to determine how practicing appraisal effectiveness would close that sales gap. He worked with Simches to put this new metric in place at Crown.
Simches minimum appraisal effectiveness is 150 appraisals to 100 deliveries. “A dealer actively sourcing or trading should achieve a best-in-class appraisal-to-delivery ratio of 2 to 1. When I increase appraisals, I sell more units,” he said, which he said is “up significantly year over year” since using this metric as Crown’s trade practice.
“I want trades to feed wholesale and retail sales. This is a move from making more gross on a deal to protecting the gross that is already there. If our industry thinks digital retailing is going to work with under-allowing on trades, we’ve got it wrong,” Simches said.
This appraisal-to-delivery model applies to trades the store doesn’t want to retail
“If I can give someone only $500 on trade and turn around and wholesale the car for $800, why wouldn’t I want that trade? That kind of deal has a ton of value to me. Everyone wants to make trade-in home runs, but success comes with a lot of little bites of the apple,” Simches said.
The topic of appraisals surfaced during a vAuto used car workshop in Chicago in October. Moderator Jim Tritz, director of performance management at vAuto, asked attending dealers:
- Why do we miss appraisals?
- Does the cost we put into the trade make sense by the metrics?
- Why did the particular trade die?
He said dealers who make careful notes of each trade, including valuation(s) offered, the source of appraisal, and reconditioning estimate have the information needed to learn why a trade blew up.
Tritz suggested dealers should treat phone up and internet evaluation requests as bona fide appraisal opportunities. Doing so, he said, would improve the dealer’s average look-to-book percentage from these sources to 30 percent to 35 percent from an average of 10 percent to 15 percent. He said overall look-to-book should be at least 54 percent.
To identify look-to-book, pull up your appraisal records in the CRM. Pull closed deals from whatever inventory management tool you use. Divide that number by completed transactions.
French cautioned dealers to watch the hazards that plague look-to-book. “Look-to-book is easily manipulated because you have to pull every appraisal into the inventory management tool being used, and those deals have to be closed deals. And I can take a vehicle I don’t want in trade and not appraise it to make my look-to-book numbers appear better than they are.
“The truth has to be based on a nonmanipulative number, and the total number of units delivered as we used for measuring appraisal effectiveness is not a manipulative number,” French said.
Consumers might have been elbowing each other for bargains this past week, but it appears dealers were not behaving similarly as auctions held their sales around Thanksgiving.
As a result, Black Book’s newest Market Insights Report showed that prices for both cars and trucks didn’t soften as much last week as they had during the previous month.
“Used-vehicle values were stable with the abbreviated auction schedules last week, and most auto auctions experienced lower demand,” said Anil Goyal, executive vice president of operations, for Black Book as a part of the latest report.
Editors indicated that their volume-weighted data revealed overall car segment values decreased by 0.41 percent last week. In comparison, car values had decreased by 0.63 percent on average during the previous four-week period.
Among cars, Black Book noticed the full-size car segment experienced the biggest drop, sliding by 0.77 percent or $85.
Again volume-weighted, editors pointed out that overall truck segment values (including pickups, SUVs and vans) softened by 0.23 percent last week. That reading is less than half of what editors spotted during the prior four-week stretch when truck values had dropped by 0.48 percent on average
In the truck space, Black Book found that the minivan segment performed the worst, slipping by 0.50 percent or $40.
Turning next to what Black Book representatives gathered from sales nationwide, observers described how dealers might have been spending a little time with friends and family or back at their lots helping customers finalize deliveries if their shopping list included a vehicle.
Here’s the rundown:
— From Michigan: “Not a lot of demand today, and as a result the market was similar to the weather, which was not good.”
— From Massachusetts: “The consignment was good, but the weather affected the attendance. The money was better than last week but still lagging.”
— From Indiana: “Consignment and attendance were both down today. Retail has slowed but most dealers remain optimistic about the market.”
— From Georgia: “Despite the cold and rainy weather, the in-lane attendance was good, and the bidding matched. There was a hesitation among dealers to avoid buying to over stock.”
— From Wisconsin: “Dealer bidding was active on some lanes and non-existent on others. Hit or miss for sure.”
Dealerships using AutoManager now can check Carfax reports to learn when a vehicle that’s new to their shop last had its oil changed, brakes serviced or sparkplugs changed.
According to an announcement distributed on Tuesday, AutoManager has enhanced its DeskManager dealer management system (DMS) so that shop technicians have integrated access to Carfax information. Dealerships participating in the myCarfax Service Shop program can use shop-dedicated Carfax tools within DeskManager to see vehicle-specific details and prior maintenance work reported.
Having this information can help shop managers and technicians more accurately assess maintenance needs, reduce parts-ordering errors, and increase ticket averages.
“I’m pleased that through our strategic partnership with Carfax, our service shop dealers can access vehicle history and specs, by just entering the vehicle’s license plate,” said Kami Tafreshi, chief executive officer of AutoManager. “This functionality not only saves time, but also gives our dealers a huge amount of historical information regarding the vehicle — that was not available to them before — for free.”
Atsushi Suzuki, chief executive officer of Eco Drive Auto Sales and Leasing in Torrance, Calif., described what the capability has meant.
“We can check the service history of our customers, tell them what they need and the best part is that this info is coming from Carfax,” Suzuki said.
DeskManager users also can register customers with the free myCarfax service, alerting those customers when it’s time to return for their next service visit and when new recalls are issued. The one-click registration button automatically can designate the dealership in myCarfax as the customer’s favorite service location, helping to increase customer loyalty and retention.
In addition, nearly 900,000 customer reviews can help drive new business to participating myCarfax Service Shops.
“Dealerships that successfully build relationships with customers often see greater loyalty and retention in service and sales,” said Vern Poyner, general manager at Carfax.
“The myCarfax Service Shop program and myCarfax app helps foster those relationships, bringing repeat and more frequent business to participating dealers,” Poyner went on to say.
