CDK Global announced on Friday that it recently chose nine new partners to join its growing program made up of 210 companies that together offer auto dealers, third parties and OEMs more than 315 different applications they can use to run their businesses.
The CDK Global Partner Program provides business-ready data, and serves as a marketplace of applications and integration selections.
“The partner program is focused on providing stronger security, better reliability and more choices for its dealer customers,” CDK Global said in a news release.
Currently, it serves more than 27,000 retail locations and automotive manufacturers, according to the integrated information technology and digital marketing solutions provider.
For a full list of vendors and applications available through the CDK Global Partner Program, visit www.cdkglobal.com/partners.
The program's new partners include:
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Auto Data Direct, Inc. (Tallahassee, Fla.) – provides vehicle registration services
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Auto Powered Solutions (Beaverton, Ore.) – provides service appointments online
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AutoLoop (Clearwater, Fla.) – provides CRM and service appointments online
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CloudOne (Vancouver, Wash.) – provides CRM and telephone services
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CTMS LLC (Kent, Ohio) – provides vehicle registration services
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Digital Dealership System, Inc. (West Palm Beach, Fla.) – provides business intelligence and analytics
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GrowthFX, Inc. (Highland, Utah) – provides CRM customer marketing/follow-up
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Minacs Limited (Fremont, Calif.) – provides service appointments online
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Unotifi, LLC (Houston, Texas) – provides CRM
Following the Federal Trade Commission’s move to increase its non-compliance fine and OSHA’s decision to increase max penalties, Total Dealer Compliance (TDC) and Automotive Development Services (ADS) entered into a strategic partnership that provides a comprehensive solution to ADS’ dealers looking to reduce exposure from federal regulations proactively.
“We recognized that meeting the new, stricter F&I standards not only keeps you out of trouble, it makes you more money,” ADS president Mark Nania said in a news release.
“We believe in applying our expertise in training and personnel development to our customers which complements TDC’s modus operandi. Total Dealer Compliance’s on site detailed audit and e-learning platform, which boasts over 20 online courses, will be available to ADS’ network for continual education and certification.”
The fine for non-compliance went from $16,000 to $40,000 and OSHA increased max penalties from $70,000 to $124,709.
“Car dealers are viewed as easy targets by regulators, therefore are excited to help mitigate the risks ADS’s network may face,” TDC president Max Zanan said. “Increased compliance results in transparency and improves the customer experience.”
“By combining our strength and resources, we look forward to providing a comprehensive solution for ADS’ auto dealers to ensure compliance with Federal regulations,” Zanan continued.
ADS is currently working with more than 200 dealers in 11 states.
eBay Motors announced on Tuesday it has recently added new partners to its Dealer Referrer Network, further expanding its selling platform to the U.S. dealer community.
Through the Dealer Referrer Network, partners can sell eBay’s subscription packages to their existing dealer networks.
eBay said increased dealer partners can ensure that buyers on its platform have a wide selection of vehicles listings direct from dealers.
“At eBay, we’re committed to providing our buyers with the best choice and most relevant inventory. Specific to our automotive shoppers, the new dealers we’ve signed on will help expand the breadth and depth of our vehicle inventory,” Tony Hoang, general manager of Vehicles at eBay Motors said in a news release.
“With the Dealer Referrer Network, eBay will be able to extend its reach to many dealers nationwide, introducing a new subscription model that’s armed with strong-lead generation and seller insight tools.”
The subscription packages available through the program provide dealers with ability to combine local listings and national buy-on-site listings, flexibility to easily modify inventory promotion and convenience to list inventory faster on eBay’s Vehicle Merchandising Platform, according to eBay.
“We’ve been a longtime partner with eBay Motors,” said Ray Basha of Auction123.
“With the new eBay Dealer Referrer Network, we’re able to help bring more inventory onto the eBay site. Our dealers are particularly enthusiastic as it allows them to get exposure to millions of global buyers.”
eBay currently has 167 million active buyers and approximately 1.1 billion live listings on eBay Marketplace.
Dominion Dealer Solutions announced that it has improved its new-car incentives application and newly partnered with AIS Rebates, a part of Cox Automotive, to deliver incentive data instantly to dealers nationwide.
“Managing the application of pertinent incentives to new car inventory has been a longstanding pain-point for dealers across the country,” Dominion general manager of inventory solutions Shane Marcum said in a news release.
“In forming this strategic partnership with AIS Rebates, Dominion Dealer Solutions resolves this issue for dealers by making incentive data available within our applications, delivering it in an easily accessible interface, and providing an intuitive way for users to quickly apply those incentives to their new-car inventory.”
Dominion Inventory Manager will now have 90 percent to 95 percent incentive availability for new vehicles because of the merger, according to Dominion.
The software offers a streamlined process for dealers to both identify and apply new car incentives to their new vehicle inventory.
Through Dominion’s new-car incentives, dealers can now price inventory based on market analytics as well as incentive availability which Dominion suggests makes pricing more accurate.
Dominion said the improved process offers dealers more efficiency in locating incentives and applying them automatically to any matching inventory.
“Cox Automotive is committed to transforming the automotive retail experience by providing transparent pricing information wherever online consumers choose to shop,” said Brad Korner, general manager for Cox Automotive Rates & Incentives.
“We are pleased to provide our AIS Rebates incentive information to Dominion Dealer Solutions to deliver the most current incentives for dealers to instantly apply to their inventory, simplifying the sales process and increasing customer satisfaction.”
GWC Warranty, a provider of used-vehicle service contracts and related finance and insurance products sold through dealers, has once again been named a Bronze Level National Corporate Partner of the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association.
NIADA’s National Corporate Partner program is designed to provide its members with an extensive, highly vetted roster of partners they can rely on for vital everyday services.
As a Bronze Level National Corporate Partner, GWC Warranty is recognized as one of the NIADA’s distinguished, trusted resources with a proven track record of quality and excellence.
“GWC’s partnership with NIADA is a natural fit given our likeminded goal to help independent dealers be more successful,” Rob Glander, chief executive officer and president of GWC Warranty, said in a news release.
"At GWC Warranty, we help dealers sell more cars by giving car shoppers the confidence to become buyers. It’s this principle that has helped us partner with more than 20,000 dealers since 1995," Glander added.
Having recently surpassed $400 million in claims paid in 2016, GWC was named to Auto Remarketing’s Power 300 as well as the SubPrime 125 produced by SubPrime Auto Finance News.
Dealer Marketing Services, the makers of ProMax Unlimited, announced last week the completion of a certified integration with Autosoft DMS, a leading dealer management system provider.
“Partnering with Autosoft is a positive step for ProMax and our mutual dealer customers,” ProMax chief executive officer John Palmer said in a news release. “We pride ourselves on having the best front-end solution, and this integration is another way we can contribute to our dealers’ success.”
Autosoft is the latest dealer management system to be fully integrated with ProMax. The two-way integration can facilitate the automated transfer of data between ProMax and Autosoft including inventory, open and closed ROs, customers, service, and delivered deals. This data flow can enable dealers to streamline their processes and improve accuracy.
“Autosoft is thrilled to announce ProMax as a Certified Connect Partner,” Autosoft Connect Program Director Dale Novotniak said. “The deep integration between the Autosoft DMS and ProMax reduces dealership inefficiencies in the F&I process.
“Our products complement each other very well to provide dealerships a complete integrated workflow, driving more productivity and, ultimately, more profitability for our dealers,” Novotniak went on to say.
Auction Management Solutions (AMS) announced earlier this month that firm has partnered with KASP Auto Auction in Lexington, Ky., for business development consulting.
KASP owner Jim Williams his aligned with AMS, which was started by industry veterans Tom Stewart and Richard Curtis to provides consulting services for independent auto auctions, service providers and vendors.
“We are very excited to be a part of the AMS group of auctions,” Williams said. “We are celebrating our 35th year in business and have spent a lot of time building a great base of dealer consignment business over the years, as well as some fleet /lease and repossession business including the AVIS RAC account, and feel that it is time now to start to expand into focusing on national consignors.
“We feel that AMS can be a great help to achieve our goals,” Williams continued.
The focus of AMS is to provide strategic business development services with an emphasis on business processes and profitability that aid in the growth and success of client/partner businesses. Adding KASP Auto Auction brings the group to 15 total locations which also includes:
— Columbus Fair Auto Auction
— Greater Quad City Auto Auction
— Rochester Syracuse Auto Auction
— Greater Erie Auto Auction
— DAA Chattanooga
— DAA Murfreesboro
— DAA Memphis
— DAA Huntsville
— DAA Mobile
— Southeastern Auto Auction
— Dealers Auto Auction of Idaho
— 166 Auto Auction
— All Valley Dealers Auction
— Central Auto Auction
“We are very excited to be working with KASP,” Stewart said. “Jim and his sons have built a very strong auction in the Midwest, and consignors are looking for strong independent auctions to partner with.
“One of our goals here at AMS is to focus on providing our customers with the best service we can, while working through a proven sales strategy to help them grow their business,” Stewart continued.
KASP was started back in 1982 and offers a live weekly sale every Wednesday morning across four auction lanes on more than 40 acres of land. The operation currently offer 350 to 400 units weekly.
KASP is a full-service auction with full reconditioning and light mechanical services as well as in-house transportation.
“Tom will be working closely with Kurt Armstrong, our national sales manager, on continuing to build relationship within the industry,” Williams said.
For more details, visit the auction’s website at www.kaspautoauction.com.
After hearing from the growing community of dealers using its mobile app to move inventory, startup 5miles integrated its platform with the Frazer dealership management system.
The mobile marketplace recently announced an integration with Frazer DMS is the company’s latest partnership.
“Dealers were flocking to 5miles to use our platform to sell more cars and the initial approach is where mobile, dealers would go out to their lot and take photos of their inventory add a description and publish their cars on the five miles app,” said 5miles general manager Rick Cantu in a phone interview.
“Based on our conversations with dealers, they kept asking us 'Hey, it would be really neat if you guys could integrate with our dealer management systems.' As we started becoming better versed in the car industry we realized this is something that dealers are asking for.”
With the integration, when dealers upload their vehicles’ descriptions and prices into their DMS platforms they can push a button and all of that inventory is pushed on to the 5miles app that they have come to enjoy using.
Cantu said the integration is an opportunity for 5miles to better serve its customers and get their inventory to its network of millions of users across the U.S. much faster.
“Frazer was one of our first partners who said 'Absolutely, we’d love to work with you.' And they have dedicated a lot of technical resources to help us get this project going, and now we have a good number of dealers who use Frazer to push inventory from their DMS platform onto the 5miles app,” said Cantu.
“Our users ask us for these integrations and we’ll continue to expand our slate of available offerings” added Cantu.
5miles started off as a mobile marketplace app intended to attract users interested in a platform to sell and buy anything such as sporting goods, electronics, clothing, furniture items, but cars has become one of the company’s top performing categories.
“As we grew our user base and our marketplace across 15 plus cities in the U.S., we noticed that cars was becoming one of our fastest growing categories and with that growth came the smaller to midsized car dealers that we learned were using our app,” said Cantu.
According to 5miles’ director of sales Jon Bailey, the appeal with car sellers is that 5miles is a mobile marketplace where you can create listings easily just after taking a photo and providing a description.
“Organically we’ve gotten a lot of traction from car sellers that way; it takes a lot less time than it typically has with some of the desktop sites where they can list their vehicles,” said Bailey.
There are an estimated 8,000 dealers on 5miles and an estimated 60,000 people search for cars on the app every day, according to 5miles.
The start-up also celebrated its second year in business this year; currently there are 1,700 cars are sold daily and another 5,000 are listed every day.
Pearl Technology Holdings announced Wednesday that it integrated its ShowroomXpress platform with RouteOne to offer consumers a streamlined online and in-store retail experience.
ShowroomXpress now gives dealers the tools to contract customers on mobile devices and websites through RouteOne’s online credit application and eContracting platform.
The newly integrated technologies allow consumers to complete a purchase online, or in the showroom and faster than traditional retail time.
“The integration with RouteOne is a critical final step in creating a complete express retail platform. ShowroomXpress will first pencil both purchase and lease transactions to the dollar without a SSN on mobile devices or desktop,” Pearl chief executive officer and founder Bruce Thompson said in a news release.
“Once the customer agrees to the terms, we pass the deal structure to RouteOne behind the scenes. The customer can then complete the credit application and RouteOne will electronically obtain the finance source’s decision. Dealership personnel login to their RouteOne account and verify the terms and the transaction is ready for signatures.”
ShowroomXpress incorporates Experian Pre-qualification technology which provides customers pre-qualification without a hard inquiry or SSN.
For both purchase and lease transactions, dealers select the finance sources they utilize and the top three finance source quotes are shown to the consumer.
Additionally, dealerships’ team members can instantly adjust terms and roll payments via ShowroomXpress.
The platform is designed for both one-price and negotiation stores.
“We’re very excited to be able to provide our technology to Pearl for its ShowroomXpress product,” said RouteOne chief operating officer Brad Rogers.
“It continues to build upon our philosophy of streamlining the vehicle buying process and allowing the dealers to select their systems and services of choice. By integrating RouteOne’s online credit application and eContracting capabilities with ShowroomXpress, Pearl has created a true express retail solution that has potential to change the way dealers and consumer think about automotive retailing.”
RouteOne connects dealers across North America to finance sources for vehicle financing.
In 2002, the company was formed by Ally Financial, Ford Credit, TD Auto Finance and Toyota Financial Services.
The Appraisal Lane, a used-car trade network and communications platform, announced recently that it has added the Grappone Automotive Group and Lee Auto Malls, to its growing dealer community who use the real-time platform to submit used cars for appraisal from their smartphones and receive cash offers from a live network of used-car experts.
The additions of the New Hampshire-based Grappone and Maine-based Lee dealerships highlight The Appraisal Lane's continued growth and a recent focus on expanding into the Northeast region, said the company.
"For the past year, we've used The Appraisal Lane at four of our dealerships," Lee Auto Malls chairman Adam Lee said in a news release. "In that time, we reduced wholesale loss by over 50 percent, and in some cases turned a profit at year's end. With today's market volatility, having a consistent, reliable, check writer for each car allows us to make more retail deals, mitigates wholesale loss, and gives us a firm baseline so we know where we stand on every transaction.
“For us, The Appraisal Lane is a money maker, and we're moving forward with using it at all of our 19 locations." The Appraisal Lane's footprint currently spans the Atlantic coast. Network dealers are located throughout major metro areas of the coast.
The Appraisal Lane is fully optimized for mobile and manages appraisal submissions and purchase offers, in addition to sales and fulfillment channel information.
