Since adding Kelley Blue Book to its list of data providers, PERQ said the addition has increased the number of trade-in leads generated by PERQ’s FATWIN Web Engagement platform for its dealer customers by up to 300 percent.
The integration of Kelley Blue Book’s data with FATWIN provides online visitors both increased confidence in the valuations of their used vehicles and a better online experience, PERQ said.
“We’re excited to work with PERQ and further extend our market-reflective Blue Book Values,” said Damon Bennett, senior director of syndication for Kelley Blue Book. “Given that determining whether pricing is fair is among the biggest pain points when transacting, Kelley Blue Book is providing consumers with the confidence of how much to expect for their car.”
Initial results have shown that combining Kelley Blue Book data with FATWIN’s trade appraisal is drawing more online visitors and yielding higher conversion.
“Dealerships are, on average, experiencing a 3-time increase in trade-in leads, 5 times the volume of trade-in sales and a 9.2 percent higher average gross profit per unit sold,” PERQ said.
There are more than 300 dealership websites currently utilizing PERQ’s FATWIN Web Engagement solution, according to the company.
“The consumer experience is of paramount importance to engaging online visitors and converting leads into dealership sales,” PERQ executive vice president of product Stephanie Ragozzino said. “By combining Kelley Blue Book’s valuation data with PERQ’s uniquely intuitive interactive online experience, dealerships have an even more powerful opportunity to engage more visitors via our trade-in tool and turn more of those leads into car sales.”
For more details about FATWIN’s use of Kelley Blue Book’s data, click here.
CDK Global announced Wednesday morning that it has signed a deal to acquire Auto/Mate Dealership Systems, a DMS provider.
CDK said in a news release it will integrate the Auto/Mate DMS into its product offering.
Each of the company’s boards has approved the deal, which is subject to customary closing requirements and regulatory approval. The deal, whose terms were not disclosed, should close this summer, the companies said.
The purchase appears to have been first reported by The Banks Report.
“This planned acquisition reinforces CDK’s commitment to dealers, regardless of size, by offering a broad range of products designed to improve dealership returns and the consumer experience,” CDK president and chief executive Brian MacDonald said in a news release. “Auto/Mate’s products are a natural fit with CDK solutions and provide an intuitive, flexible and fit-for-purpose DMS solution that will offer strong value to dealerships.
“My team and I are looking forward to working closely with our new and existing customers to deliver solutions that will provide them with numerous operational benefits, including speed, efficiency, and flexibility in managing their businesses and serving their customers,” he said.
Auto/Mate president and CEO Mike Esposito said: “I am confident the traditions of unparalleled customer service and ever-evolving technology that Auto/Mate customers have grown to expect will continue under CDK, and we are excited for the new opportunities that the combined companies will provide to help our customers succeed.”
GWC Warranty is now offering Elite Dealers a free 30-day trial to access video email marketing platform Covideo, which allows dealers to create and track video email marketing messages for customers.
Dealers can use the marketing service tool for internet inquiry responses, vehicle walk-arounds, sales follow-ups and service reminders.
“Use of Covideo in dealerships has been proven to increase internet lead conversion rates by 20 percent and produce 27 percent more dealership visits,” GWC Warranty said.
An additional one-user package designed for smaller independent used car dealers is available at an exclusive discounted rate, according to the company.
Through the end of the year, dealers who sign up for the Covideo trial offering will have the option to extend their one-user subscription.
GWC Warranty Elite Dealers can contact their dealer consultants to sign up for Covideo.
Sometimes that vehicle you delivered just turns out to be a lemon. Los Angeles-based law firm Consumer Law Experts conducted a study to find out how often lemons are rolling over the curb and which automakers manufactured those units.
The firm also made a recommendation on the role dealerships can play to prevent the situation from developing into a legal quagmire impacting everyone involved.
Attorneys searched electronic court filings nationwide to see which automakers had the most lemon law cases filed against them from 2013 through 2016. Consumer Law Experts compared the litigation results to the total U.S. sales for each manufacturer over the same time period.
Out-of-court settlements were not included in the study, the law firm said in a news release announcing its findings.
Consumer Law Experts determined Toyota was the major automaker found least likely to defend themselves in court over a lemon law case with one adverse result per 60,926 vehicles sold in America.
According to Consumer Law Experts, a consumer is eight times more likely to be hit by lightning over a lifetime than to go to court with Toyota on a lemon law claim.
At the other extreme, the firm found BMW was 30 times more likely than Toyota to sell a consumer a defective vehicle. Firm lawyers said they saw a lemon law case filed against BMW once for every 2,021 vehicles sold in the U.S. in 2013 through 2016.
The study showed Ford’s fortunes were not much better, with a lemon law courtroom loss occurring once for every 3,523 units sold. Consumer Law Experts pegged that likelihood as about the same odds that a baby will be born with a tooth.
Is a BMW or Ford vehicle really 20 or 30 times more likely to be a lemon than a Toyota? Probably not, according to Jessica Anvar, managing partner of Consumer Law Experts, a leading California lemon law firm.
“There are many reasons why some manufacturers are more likely to lose a warranty case than others,” Anvar said. “How the dealership resolves consumer complaints is probably the biggest factor.
“The best way to avoid a lemon law case in court is to make the customer happy at the first sign of a problem,” Anvar went on to say.
In a news release earlier this week, The Presidio Group discussed a few details surrounding the sale of four Serra Automotive, Inc. dealerships to former AutoNation executive Mike Maroone, a deal in which it advised Serra Automotive.
As part of the transaction, which was completed Monday, Serra Automotive will keep a minority interest in these Colorado Springs, Colo., stores, which will now be known as Mike Maroone Chevrolet South, Mike Maroone Chevrolet North, Mike Maroone Volkswagen and Mike Maroone Honda.
Terms of the deal were not shared.
Maroone was AutoNation's president and chief operating officer from 1997 to 2015. He is president of Maroone Enterprises and a private capital dealer.
Al Serra, father of company president Joe Serra, bought Al Serra Chevrolet South — which, after this deal, is now Mike Maroone Chevrolet — in 1986.
Over the course of 1998 to 2003, he opened and bought Al Serra Chevrolet North (now Mike Maroone Chevrolet North), Front Range Honda (now Mike Maroone Honda) and Al Serra Volkswagen (now Mike Maroone Volkswagen).
“We have been very happy with the performance of these four stores over the years. The time came to do some portfolio management, and I was fortunate that my friend of many years, Mike Maroone, had interest in purchasing the majority stake in these terrific stores and allowing me to remain on as a minority partner. This partnership will be great for our employees and customers,” Joe Serra said in the news release.
“The Presidio Group was incredibly thoughtful, creative and professional throughout this entire transaction,” he added.
Maroone said in the release: “Serra Automotive is one of the very best auto retail groups, and these four dealerships have a great reputation in Colorado Springs. I look forward to partnering with Joe Serra to continue the success in this strong market.”
M&A advisory services were provided to Serra via Presidio Merchant Partners, the company’s investment bank.
“Presidio is pleased to have advised Serra Automotive in the creation of this partnership, which demonstrates the creative structures available to the best buyers and sellers in today’s marketplace,” Presidio founder and CEO Brodie Cobb said in the release. “It was an absolute honor and pleasure to work with two iconic dealers to put this transaction together.”
AutoNation background; moves this week
As far as Maroone's background, AutoNation announced his retirement as president and COO on Jan. 15, 2015, a move that was set to take effect April 1 of that year.
Bill Berman became executive vice president and COO on Feb. 4, 2015, with chairman and CEO Mike Jackson adding the role as president.
Berman then became president and COO on Feb. 1, 2017.
Berman resigned from that position on Monday, but will continued to be employed by AutoNation in an advisory role through June 30.
Jackson will take on operating responsibilities and the company will start a selection process for its new president and COO.
“I thank Bill for his 20 years of service and leadership at AutoNation. We wish Bill all the best in his future endeavors,” Jackson said in a news release on Monday.
Following an analysis of its online reviews, Cars.com released its latest list of U.S. consumers' both most reviewed and most highly reviewed vehicles on Wednesday.
“Shopper reviews are a critical part of the car shopping process,” Cars.com data analyst David Greene said in a news release. “Cars are one of the largest investments anyone makes, and the car you choose is going to be in your life for years. Shoppers want to know from trusted peers whether or not they’ve had a good experience with certain makes and models.
On Cars.com's list of top five, the Honda brand takes the first, second and fourth spot for most reviewed car.
Greene said, "The Honda Accord is a top-seller, and has been for years, so it’s no surprise that it is also one of the most-reviewed cars on Cars.com."
The following is a list of the top five most reviewed cars on Cars.com:
- Honda Accord
- Honda Civic
- Toyota Camry
- Honda CR-V
- Ford F-150
The iconic Chevrolet Corvette is the review site's highest rated car, followed by the Toyota 4Runner, the only SUV and economy model to take a top five spot on the list.
“It’s surprising to see the Toyota 4Runner get such high ratings as the only sport-utility vehicle among a top five list of sports and luxury cars,” Greene said. “The 4Runner is one of the last SUVs built on a truck frame, while most competitors have moved to building car-like crossovers.”
The following is a list of the top five highest-rated cars by Cars.com reviewers:
- Chevrolet Corvette
- Toyota 4Runner
- Ford Mustang
- Porsche 911
- Mercedes-Benz S-Class
Additionally, the site's data analysts also identified where U.S. consumers are leaving the most dealership reviews.
“We looked at the data to determine where in the U.S. consumers are most inclined to review their experience at a dealership and found that, by a wide margin, Florida shoppers leave the most dealership reviews,” Greene explained. “Runner-ups include Texas, Nevada and California, where shoppers were all highly inclined to review their experience at a dealership.”
Here is a list of the five states with the most dealer reviews on the review site and respective review totals:
- Florida – 365,000 dealer reviews
- Texas – 255,000 dealer reviews
- Nevada – 249,000 dealer reviews
- California – 247,000 dealer reviews
- New Jersey – 226,000 dealer reviews
LotLinx has expanded its Facebook product suite to include LotLinx VS – Lead Enabled Remarketing, a newly created VIN-specific tool for Facebook users that leverages LotLinx proprietary technology to target high-quality shoppers.
The company’s new product can allow dealers to both strategically target visitors to Vehicle Details Pages and remarket to shoppers interested in a specific VIN on Facebook or Instagram.
“This is a powerful extension of our VIN-specific demand generation platform. Every dealer knows that a car needs to be shopped in order to sell, and now dealers can produce high-value leads on the inventory they need to move,” LotLinx chief executive officer, Len Short said in a news release.
The LotLinx VS- Facebook solution is designed specifically for new cars and it focuses on car shoppers who are nearing a purchase decision.
According to LotLinx, the new product has already had an impact on dealerships such as Nimnicht Chevrolet of Jacksonville, Fla.
“We used LotLinx to identify visitors to our site who indicated interest in the cars we needed to move. Then, when they saw those VINs later on Facebook or Instagram, they were presented a pre-populated lead form. With one click, that contact information went into our CRM,” Nimnicht Chevrolet corporate business development director Frank Reynolds said. “We’re very pleased with the results — our BDC reps are busy!”
Additionally, on Memorial Day weekend, LotLinx announced that it will be its offering dealers a money back guarantee in an effort to showcase the company’s retargeting technology. For more details click here.
The dealership group may not discuss it publicly very often or show its hand. But don’t be mistaken.
Asbury Automotive Group is working on — and investing in — its digital capabilities.
“We all agree this industry is changing, and it’s changing very rapidly. And so are we. We are not very public about what we are doing to change our business, but I assure you that we are making investments every day in technology and the Web and our digital capabilities,” Asbury chief executive officer Craig Monaghan said in the retailer’s latest quarterly earnings call.
“And those investments are baked in our SG&A. So, rather than a big one-off, it’s just something that we’re doing quarter to quarter. The investments are all about improving the customer experience and expediting the sales process,” Monaghan said. “We actually believe that many of the new entrants that are coming to our space are, they’re actually doing the right thing. We admire some of the moves that they’re making, but I would also say that many of the things that you see them doing (are) happening in our stores already.”
In fact, Asbury has had a 25-person in-house digital marketing team for close to two years, Monaghan said. He credits this team a great deal for helping to lift internally generated Internet leads by 37 percent in 2016.
Digital accounts for three-quarters of Asbury’s ad spend, he said.
What’s more, Asbury had 130-percent more website visitors in Q1 than it did a year ago, Monaghan said, and 5 percent of unit sales for the quarter started in the “PUSHSTART” online sales tool.
“And I’d encourage you to go to one of our websites in all of our stores, look at a particular vehicle and click on the button that says ‘buy online.’ And it will take you to our PUSHSTART tool and you will see an online sales process that in many ways is very similar to what you see Carvana doing,” he said.
It doesn’t offer the entire transaction process online, given that many states still need ink signatures, “but it is a huge step in the right direction,” Monaghan said.
While online sales are growing rapidly, it’s not just cars; Monaghan said close to a quarter of Asbury’s parts and service visits are set up online.
“We’re all about ROI. Sometimes that means we buy stores; sometimes that means we buy stock. But the first place we spend money is always in the stores and on technology that we think we need to have in place to grow our business in the future,” he said.
Monaghan added: “We think there’s an opportunity to blend this digital world with the traditional brick-and-mortar world, and those are the things that we’re working on.”
DealersLink has released FastBook Pro 5.0, the company's new booking tool that can allow dealers to scan vehicles’ VINs and book out NADA, KBB, MMR, Black Book, CARFAX and AutoCheck simultaneously.
“FastBook Pro 5.0 has the fastest VIN scanner on the market today,” DealersLink chief executive officer Mike Goicoechea said in a news release. “It will help take the risk out of live auction bidding. As dealers consider inventory and decide whether or not to bid, they can use the app to instantly compare multiple book values on the fly. It’s fast, accurate and ensures they have all the information they need before placing a bid.”
The booking tool’s new features include the following:
- Swipe navigation
- Faster multi-threaded book retrievals
- Improved superfast VIN scanner
- Matrix of all book conditions
- Vehicle grades, competitive pricing and velocity charts
- Improved user interface design
- Previous book-out launch list
FastBook Pro 5.0 is now available from the Google Play store and iTunes. For more information or to request a live demo, click here.
Search Optics has introduced the Virtual Business Development Center (VBDC), a turnkey solution for comprehensive automotive dealer lead management that is designed to improve response times, increase lead conversion rates and reduce the cost of sale for dealers, the company announced on Tuesday.
“As a digital marketing company with many years of specialization in the automotive market, Search Optics knows the challenges and pain points that dealers face,” Search Optics chief executive officer David Ponn said in a news release. “In developing the VBDC, we’ve applied our global knowledge and local focus to produce the most effective lead management approach available for dealers today.”
Over three months, Search Optics said it administered a pilot program to measure VBDC’s potential results.
VBDC proved to boost lead generation by facilitating high engagement with prospects through an accelerated communication cycle. The pilot program’s results showed an improvement of initial response times within 10 minutes, according to Search Optics.
“Dealers generally have limited resources to manage, respond to and capitalize on leads, which results in missed opportunities and lost revenue,” Ponn said. “By shortening lead response times and more effectively managing customer engagement, VBDC is proven to produce more appointments in the showroom, and ultimately, to reduce the cost of each sale.”
Through VBDC leads are responded to by a live person on a 24-hour clock within minutes and following the initial engagement, each prospect receives consistent follow-up, Search Optics said.
In addition to timely lead response times, VBDC’s key offerings include:
- VBDC agents who are automotive-experienced and go through extensive training to ensure the highest levels of customer service
- Personalized and OEM-compliant responses, the VBDC solution provides complete compliance with all OEM communication requirements such as the GM IMR and Cadillac Pinnacle programs
“VBDC is highlighted by experienced agents who use industry-leading practices and personalized processes to manage the entire lead development program in partnership with Search Optics’ auto dealer clients,” the company said.
For more details about the VBDC, visit the Search Optics website.
