AutoHook, powered by Urban Science, recently partnered with Carfax where individuals shopping for used vehicles on Carfax.com will now receive extra incentives from select dealers to visit their showrooms for a test drive.
The partnership includes the integration of AutoHook’s incentive solutions into the vehicle details pages of Carfax Used Car Listings. The program is currently available to AutoHook customers that also are Carfax Advantage Dealers with Used Car Listings.
The companies pointed out this enhancement comes at no additional charge to mutually subscribing dealerships and there only is a simple form to complete.
Officials explained new dealer and OEM clients of AutoHook that are already Carfax Advantage Dealers on Carfax Used Car Listings will be added to the integration during the initial setup process. They also mentioned dealerships are only responsible for paying for redemptions (actual showroom visits) and AutoHook takes care of the entire incentive fulfillment process.
Following the September acquisition of AutoHook by Urban Science and the January launch of the all-new DriveAutoHook.com, AutoHook president David Metter highlighted the alliance came at a perfect time for customers.
Metter stressed that dealers will see additional benefits of working with the digital conversion experts as he contends the company is the only one in the space capable of attributing conversions to sales in near real-time.
“This industry has seen so many disruptions over the years, beginning with CRMs, then the Internet, and now with mobile,” Metter said. “I am honored to say AutoHook has successfully disrupted the trend of declining lead conversion rates facing automotive today.
“Adding Carfax into this mix opens doors for further increasing both conversions and showroom visits for dealers and OEMs, attributing those clicks all the way to a sale — and it will bring more value to consumers during their research process,” Metter went on to say.
AutoHook emphasized that it continues to show its multidimensional business model while leveraging Urban Science’s data resources.
By adding AutoHook’s technology into Carfax’s Used Car Listings, shoppers are incentivized to take the next step from viewing inventory online to connecting with the selling dealer and visiting their store for a test drive. The integration can help dealerships brand consistently across multiple platforms and ultimately increase conversions, leads, walk-ins and sales.
“Dealers choose to be on Carfax.com because it connects them with more qualified, down-funnel shoppers,” Carfax communications director Larry Gamache said.
“Combining the added incentive dealers can offer through AutoHook’s test drive solution with the many unique benefits people already get from shopping on Carfax.com further increases the likelihood of a sale,” Gamache added.
For qualified AutoHook dealerships that are already Carfax Advantage Dealers with Used Car Listings, there is a simple “opt-in” process, consisting of a quick form to get established in the program. This comes at no additional fee, according to the company
Dealers can opt in to the program here or contact AutoHook dealer support at [email protected].
Reynolds and Reynolds announced Tuesday that it has acquired ReverseRisk, a Web-based analytics reporting platform for automotive dealers.
ReverseRisk will be added as part of the Reynolds Retail Management System portfolio of solutions and can be used by any dealership regardless of their DMS.
According to the company, the platform delivers business information and analytics to dealers, aiming to help dealers assess their dealership’s performance and operating results.
Robert Burnett, Reynolds’ senior vice president for business development and acquisitions, explained the thought process behind the acquisition.
“Dealers I speak with consistently point out that one of the biggest challenges they face is how to identify the right information at the right time to continually optimize their dealership’s performance,” Burnett said. “That’s what ReverseRisk delivers. It’s intelligent, timely business information and analytics at a dealer’s fingertips — smarter, faster, better — that can lead to improved operating results and dealership performance.”
Of course one key trait of a Web-based platform is that it’s available anywhere there’s an internet connection, and the company says any device with internet access can use ReverseRisk. The platform allows information to be shared simply with dealer management, helping them to achieve their objectives from just about anywhere.
Reynolds believes that ReverseRisk is a prime candidate for a standalone reporting platform and “eliminates the need for dealership managers to use multiple reporting systems in order to gain a complete picture of their operations.”
“In the same way that Apple’s technology ecosystem is easy to use but incredibly sophisticated, ReverseRisk is an easy-to-use reporting platform with the sophistication behind the scenes,” Burnett said. “For single- and multi-point dealerships, ReverseRisk delivers complete control of their data and provides usable, relevant information for ongoing operating improvements.”
David Spisak, president and co-founder of ReverseRisk, says he is excited for company to join Reynolds and Reynolds.
“Being part of a company with the proven innovation and product development prowess of Reynolds will be a tremendous advantage for ReverseRisk and for our customers,” Spisak said. “We look forward to continuing to serve and support our current ReverseRisk customers and to adding new customers working with Reynolds.”
As part of a separate, prior partnership, ReverseRisk will continue to also be resold by NCM Associates under the NCM axcessa name to its automotive clients.
AutoPoint released its new mobile technology service drive solution for dealers today, called WelcomePoint, aimed at enhancing the greeting and write-up process.
Acknowledging the service drive as a primary area to enhance customers’ experiences and encourage return business and sustain profitability, WelcomePoint aims to personalize the service process through customer engagement as well as by using the service drive space to jumpstart the inspection process and proactively suggest service recommendations.
“We designed WelcomePoint to solidify the service relationship between the motorist and their dealership from the point of arrival onward,” said Rich Holland, AutoPoint’s managing director. “With WelcomePoint, we anticipate remarkable advancements in motorist engagement and service execution.”
Using tablet-based technology, WelcomePoint allows service advisers to greet customers on the drive by name and view their individual vehicle’s service history. It also allows advisers to pull up vehicle recall data and see current prepaid maintenance plans or previously declined service suggestions. WelcomePoint also includes walk-around inspection tools and photo capabilities that are integrated into AutoPoint’s existing MultiPoint inspection solution.
For more information on AutoPoint and its related features, visit its site here.
LotVantage recently announced that it has finalized an agreement with eBay Motors to become one of the latter’s Preferred Solutions Providers.
According to the company, doing so extends the reaches of LotVantage’s fully integrated software solution for the automotive, powersports, marine, RV, commercial truck, trailer and outdoor power equipment industries.
“LotVantage has been a leader in online marketing for over the last 12 years,” said Matthew Brown, LotVantage’s chief executive officer. “As a firm believer in the power of eBay and their local and national marketing packages, I believe this product is a must have for dealerships to leverage quality leads and secure online transactions. Dealerships are constantly looking for ways to handle their transactions and eBay has been doing this for over a decade.”
Jim Jabaay, LotVantage’s vice president of sales, says having the PSP designation will help extend advantages to the company’s reseller partners.
“LotVantage is eager to grow our eBay product offering to our nearly 4,000 dealerships, both direct and through our reseller partners,” Jabaay said. “LotVantage is now positioned to work with more dealerships than ever before.”
For more information about LotVantage, visit its site here.
Dominion Dealer Solutions announced the integration of its Dominion ACCESS dealer management system with General Motors’ MyPriceLink.
According to Dominion, ACCESS is the first automotive DMS to integrate with MyPriceLink, the latter which provides GM’s real-time retail and trade pricing for collision parts to its dealers in lieu of fixed list prices.
All GM dealers that use Dominion ACCESS now have MyPriceLink integration available with any subscription to CollisionLink PLUS, allowing any GM dealer with the subscription to export a quote or order information from the MyPriceLink tools within the ACCESS invoice system. Dominion also sends invoicing info to the dealer back through the MyPriceLink application, saying it increases the speed of reimbursement for GM dealers that use the Bump 2.0 program.
“Our customers expect solution and we are very proud to be the first DMS to complete the integration,” said Van Koppersmith, the president of Dominion DMS. “MyPriceLink allows our dealers to work seamlessly with body shops and collision estimating systems insuring fast, accurate pricing on GM parts. By eliminating much of the time-consuming quote building process, parts departments can focus on fulfilling the order and delivering the parts in a timely manner.”
Dominion Dealer Solutions recently took part in a three-month dealer pilot of the MyPriceLink integration. The integration is available at no additional cost to any GM dealer using Dominion ACCESS. For more information on Dominion Dealer Solutions’ offerings, click here.
CarStory’s parent company and data-as-a-service platform, Vast, announced Tuesday that it has received a $14 million investment from Capital One Growth Ventures.
The aim of Vast’s data services is to connect buyers and sellers of cars and homes through data-driven discovery experiences. CarStory.com uses Vast’s data platform to match shoppers with vehicles. With the investment from Capital One, the company hopes to increase CarStory's influence while also expanding the Vast platform in other industries, such as real estate.
As part of the investment, Capital One Growth Ventures’ managing partner Jaidev Shergill will join Vast’s board of directors.
“What Vast is delivering to consumers with its CarStory product is very intriguing to us at Capital One,” Shergill said. “Consumers expect more information at their fingertips and for that data to be personalized and customized. Big data technologies enable this and Vast delivers it.”
John Price, Vast's chief executive officer, says that, "big data for life's biggest purchases" is what his company is all about.
“Our patented approach delivers critical discovery information, predicts alternatives and analyzes the local market to guide the purchase decision in service of the buyer," Price said. "Companies like Capital One are utilizing Vast to help ensure they are delivering a positive user experience to their customers fueled by insights that both inform and delight.”
For more information about Vast, visit its website here.
Various areas around the world, including college campuses, cities, residential areas, and peer-to-peer platforms have already or are in the works to be affected by General Motors’ vehicle-sharing initiatives. On Thursday, these initiatives united under one new GM brand: Maven.
According to GM, Maven’s mission is to give customers access to highly personalized, on-demand mobility services. Globally, the Maven team has over 40 employees with experience in the connected-car technology industry as well as ride- and car-sharing experts from Google, Zipcar and Sidecar.
“GM is at the forefront of redefining the future of personal mobility,” said Dan Ammann, GM’s president. “With the launch of our car-sharing service through Maven, the strategic alliance with ride-sharing company Lyft, and building on our decades of leadership in vehicle connectivity through OnStar, we are uniquely positioned to provide the high level of personalized mobility services our customers expect today and in the future.”
Here’s a breakdown of Maven’s expanded global offerings, as listed by GM in its news release:
City: Maven is announcing that it is offering its car-sharing program to more than 100,000 people in Ann Arbor, Mich., initially focusing on serving faculty and students at the University of Michigan.GM vehicles will be available initially at 21 parking spots across the city.
- Additional city-based programs will launch in major U.S. metropolitan areas later this year.
- Maven customers will experience seamless smartphone and keyless integration with the vehicle. Maven customers use its app to search for and reserve a vehicle by location or car type and unlock the vehicle with their smartphone. The app also enables remote functions such as starting, heating or cooling and more. Customers can bring their digital lives into the vehicle through Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, OnStar, SiriusXM radio and 4GLTE wireless. Each vehicle will provide an ownership-like experience with the convenience of car-sharing.
- Maven pricing is simple and transparent and includes insurance and fuel.
- As Maven grows, the team will use innovative ways of connecting personally with customers. Ann Arbor Maven users will have direct access to Maven leadership and core team members via the messaging application WhatsApp to share their experiences, ideas and thoughts with the team as they help shape the Maven service.
Residential: In the first quarter of 2016, Maven will launch car-sharing services for Chicago residents in partnership with Magellan Development Group. Maven is also expanding its existing residential program in New York City (previously called Let’s Drive NYC) with Stonehenge Partners giving users on-demand access to vehicles and preferred parking options. Both programs combined will offer service to more than 5,000 residents.
Peer-to-Peer: Existing global initiatives include peer-to-peer car-sharing through the CarUnity market place in Germany. Nearly 10,000 users have signed up in Frankfurt and Berlin since mid-2015.
Campus: Various programs are running on GM campuses in the U.S., Germany and China to refine and test future Maven commercial offerings.
Karl Brauer, senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book, compared today’s automotive business environment to the early days of commercial Internet.
“The personal transportation industry in 2016 is feeling a lot like the Internet world of 1999,” Brauer said. “There's a massive collision occurring between start-ups and established brands, all of them jockeying for position in an uncertain world. The Maven launch will give GM broader reach in this dynamic atmosphere, but nobody knows which of these alternative transportation systems holds the greatest long-term potential. This is why we're seeing a shotgun approach coming from multiple automakers.”
Another KBB analyst, Jack Nerad, also the company’s executive editorial director, believes this is not only a learning experience but also a solid marketing opportunity for GM.
“While there is some debate over how important ride-sharing services will be in the future, there is no doubt that the top global car companies want to have exposure in the space and gain learnings from early adopters. A pilot program like GM’s Maven can not only provide those learnings but can also be a marketing opportunity, exposing GM vehicles to groups that might not otherwise consider them.”
Eighty million auto shoppers. That’s how many people that Cox Automotive — through the websites its companies manage on behalf of dealers, as well as via Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book — touched last month alone.
That’s according to Mark O’Neil, Cox Automotive Software’s chief executive officer, while speaking with American International Automobile Dealers Association president Cody Lusk on the topic of Cox Auto’s digital reach in the automotive space during Tuesday’s AutoTalk Series.
And that reach has expanded since Cox Auto’s acquisition of Dealertrack Technologies, which O’Neil is formerly the CEO of. He expanded on how that agreement came to be, which he said involved a two- to three-year courtship.
“I’d say, in a short sentence, the reason it came together is that I think we both concluded that we were better together than apart,” O’Neil said. “We had a much broader suite of solutions than we ever would have had individually. And those solutions that we both represented individually, when put together, were not only very complimentary but would let us impact the industry much more significantly in a combined way than either one of us could have done individually.”
So what are O’Neil’s plans, now at the head of Cox Automotive Software? Let’s go back to that huge number of shoppers that are impacted by the Cox Auto’s various outlets on a daily basis — and the data trails they leave behind.
“We’re talking about a huge amount of customer information that we’re beginning to collect and we’re beginning to understand,” O’Neil said. “And the importance of that is we think as we start to aggregate this data and we start to analyze it, we will very readily understand consumer behavior, perhaps better than any other technology company in the automotive space. Because we have more data, by far, than any other player. I mean by multiples, whether it’s three times, five times, ten times, depending what player you look at, we are by far the largest consumer-engagement company from a data side.”
This statement led Lusk to ask the question that many individuals in the industry are probably thinking quite regularly; Is there anything else that Cox Auto wants to buy?
“At this stage of the game, I would say there are no holes in the offerings. Certainly nothing substantive,” O’Neil said. “If you said, ‘What about CRM? What about websites? What about DMS?’ Any of the big holes have been completely plugged. We have terrific offerings.”
O’Neil then immediately jumped into another hot topic that is on the minds of everyone in the industry looking into the future as anticipated catalysts — self-driving vehicles. And the Cox Auto Software leader made some hints at what we may be able to expect in the future in terms of the company’s involvement in the automotive technology landscape.
“And really, as the autonomous vehicle evolves more, there may be new technologies that are more appropriate for us to acquire than to build ourselves,” he said. “On the same hand, we are staying very close to OEMs. We had an OEM approach us recently saying that they want us to sit down to talk about a five- to 10-year plan in technology. They wanted to share with us their vision for technology and figure out how we can work together to deliver things like a virtual test drive, a much more autonomous or self-directed purchase process within a store environment.
“How could we use touch screens and technology within stores to make a much more engaging experience? I think, for the most part, the OEMs are going to have us on their radar and involve us way ahead of how they would have traditionally involved us, which is very much after the fact,” he continued. “Now we’re going to get ahead of the game with them. I think that’s going to help us close any gaps by planning in advance and starting to build technology.”
But what about staying on-top of the industry’s technology landscape. What if new “holes” appear in Cox Auto’s coverage?
“But should we miss anything particular or if a new piece of technology pops up that we think is very exciting, I think the nice part is that Cox has a terrific balance sheet and enormous resources,” O’Neil said. “They think very long term, in terms of five-, 10-, 15-year plans. And I think they’ll give us the capability to acquire anything that we think makes sense for the portfolio that we don’t have today.”
One interesting avenue that you can plan on seeing Cox Auto take in the near future is a bundling of its offerings, especially within the technology space and between its various offerings.
“We do anticipate doing more bundling, particularly in the software arena,” he said. “We’re just starting to think about the concept — in fact we’re going to pilot this year with a group that will test a rewards program amongst Cox more broadly. So that, you know, maybe today you’re primary user of Manheim or Autotrader and you don’t use software very much. You might be able to earn reward points from that that you can use toward software purchases. Or on the flip side, maybe you’re a very heavy software user and you’re not a big user of some of the media services like Autotrader or KBB or Manheim or NextGear or some of our other assets within Cox Automotive. Those rewards points could go that way.”
Online pre-qualified monthly payment marketing technology DriveItNow finalized a partnership on Tuesday with Purple Cloud, a provider of retarget marketing for dealers.
Executives explained that Purple Cloud technology will reinforce DriveItNow’s monthly payment shopping process by driving shoppers who abandon the dealer website back to complete the buying process.
DriveItNow’s patent pending technology can display real monthly payments using dealers’ lender programs and consumers’ actual credit bureau information, without the need for Social Security numbers or birthdates and adversely affecting consumer credit.
Purple Cloud’s advanced marketing platform can tracks and targets consumers on dealer websites, offline marketing collateral and across premium website publishers using retarget marketing through a single dealer website integration.
The companies went on to mention online customers who abandon or do not start the DriveItNow monthly payment shopping process will see dynamic, content specific, retargeted ads encouraging them to come back to complete the shopping process. Clicking the ad brings the customer back into the process improving the overall experience.
“We are excited to partner with DriveItNow given their proven results of increasing sales for auto dealers,” Purple Cloud chief executive officer Josh Shatkin-Margolis said. “Combining DriveItNow's monthly payment shopping process with our feature-rich retargeting tools allows consumers to do their research and then be brought back to continue the buying process with the dealer.
“This digital marketing partnership keeps the car dealership firmly in consideration throughout the vehicle shopping process,” Shatkin-Margolis continued.
According to comScore, retargeting has the highest brand lift of all forms of digital marketing at 1,046 percent. Product-specific dynamic ads have been shown by eMarketer to be noticed by three out of five online buyers.
“We are very pleased to partner with Purple Cloud to bolster the completion rate of our monthly payment shopping process and increase auto dealers' sales,” DriveItNow president Tarry Shebesta said.
“Their vast experience and proven tools significantly increase engagement by guiding customers back to the dealer’s website to reclaim lost sales opportunities,” Shebesta went on to say.
CDK Global announced Friday that it is enhancing its Third-Party Access (3PA) Program with expanded participation from Cox Automotive’s variety of solutions.
According to CDK, the aim of the agreement is to allow dealers the ability to more easily access their vital data and to ensure reliable and secure management of that data.
"At CDK, we understand that an ecosystem exists where our dealer clients utilize many third-parties for a variety of services," said Bob Karp, CDK’s president, Automotive Retail North America. "The 3PA Program was built to enhance integrations, allow secure data access and provide transparency to the types of data being utilized. We believe that allowing data to flow in a consistent, secure and transparent fashion is beneficial to dealers across the industry. Cox's participation in the 3PA Program demonstrates our joint interest in supporting a responsible ecosystem for all dealers."
Here’s the list of Cox’s solutions currently available via CDK’s 3PA program, as listed by the company:
- Service offerings for both Xtime and ServicePro, including appointments and inspection
- CRM offerings for VinSolutions and Dealertrack
- Inventory merchandising and analytics via vAuto, HomeNet, Dealer.com and KBB
- Marketing Services from VinSolutions and Dealertrack
- Dealertrack F&I offerings, including Desking and Menu
Mark O’Neil, chief executive officer of the Cox Automotive Software Group, elaborated on his company’s participation with the 3PA program.
"We are pleased to be working with CDK to enable deeper integration of data to help dealers run their dealerships more effectively," O’Neil said. "We are committed to ensuring that our mutual dealer clients have uninterrupted access to the solutions they rely on today."
Here are the tenets of CDK’s 3PA Program, as listed by CDK Global:
- Helping to prevent the corruption of data: When data corruption occurs, it can be costly and time intensive to fix. Vendors certified by the 3PA program have protocols in place to help make sure data integrity remains intact and dealers can focus on their day-to-day operations.
- Managing secure access: Using a CDK-approved interface, dealership employees can spend less time doing unnecessary data entry and benefit from increased security.
- Improving data syndication transparency: Dealers can also actively monitor access to their data and see where their data is being syndicated.
To learn more about the CDK Global, click here.
