CarStory announced Monday that independent dealership website provider Wayne Reaves has integrated the company’s CarStory Market Reports into its website platform. The reports are now available directly to all of the nearly 2,000 Wayne Reaves dealership websites, according to the company.
“Keeping consumers engaged once they land on a dealer website is key to converting web browsers into on-the-lot buyers,” said Chad Bockius, CarStory’s chief marketing officer. “CarStory Market Reports’ unique market insights speed up consumer purchase decisions and help dealers to sell more cars – and they are available to dealers absolutely free of charge.
“We are pleased Wayne Reaves has made CarStory Market Reports a standard feature for all the websites they build and maintain.”
Jason Reaves, the president of Wayne Reaves, believes that the integration of the market reports will make his company’s “best” websites even better.
“Dealers already rely on Wayne Reaves for the best custom websites, and the addition of CarStory Market Reports will further enhance interactions between our dealers and their customers,” Reaves said. “Dealers know that our solutions help them sell more cars, and this is yet another way to ensure they receive the most innovative and productive tools. We are thrilled to offer these insightful reports to our dealers at no additional cost and are very impressed with how quickly we have been able to integrate them into our platform.”
For more information on CarStory’s specific offerings, visit their website.
Digital marketing provider Search Optics announced that it has been selected into the Google AdWords Premier SMB Partner Program.
As part of the program, the company will assist smaller businesses with their ad campaigns.
“The Google AdWords Premier SMB Partner Program was created to help small- and medium-sized businesses who don’t have time or resources to manage their advertising campaigns,” said Ben Wood, the head of Google’s Americas channel sales partnerships. “Our PSP partners like Search Optics offer expertise, experience and end-to-end customer service so business owners can focus on running their business.”
Search Optics currently has more than 150 Google-certified employees on staff, a number it says is the most in its industry. The company also says it has over 1,000 dealers that use its services.
“This recognition from Google as part of the Google AdWords Premier SMB Partner Program reinforces our philosophy that quality, hands-on marketing has a more positive impact than automated digital marketing,” said Christian Fuller, Search Optics’ chief relationship officer. “Over the past few years, Search Optics has been rapidly gaining a reputation for thoughtful marketing campaigns that are carefully constructed to fit each of our clients’ needs, thanks in part to our recently launched Blueprint platform.”
Auto Remarketing recently spoke with Fuller about the importance of reaching mobile shoppers in the automotive space. For more information about the Google program, visit its website.
The California New Car Dealers Association (CNCDA) recently selected DealerVault as a licensed vendor for one of the nation’s largest franchised store associations representing more than 1,100 members.
CNCDA acknowledged dealerships are routinely asked for access to their data by vendors that range from listing inventory online to managing CRM systems. Some dealers may give vendors a login and password with full access to all of the data for the entire dealership.
“The fear is that any of these vendors could retrieve dealership or customers’ private data that they are not authorized to access,” officials said. “Another concern is if any of those plugged-in vendors gets hacked, dealer data could become part of the stolen goods.”
To provide stores protection, DealerVault can collect the dealership data and store it securely in the cloud. When a new vendor requests access to data, dealers can quickly setup a retrieval process with a few clicks on the DealerVault control panel. The dealer can choose exactly what data each vendor is approved to access. Only that specific data is pushed to the vendor at regular scheduled delivery times.
The dealership can update data feeds, limit access, monitor all activity and view reports detailing when data was collected and sent to solution providers at any time. Access to data can be turned on and off by the dealer 24/7 via DealerVault’s interface.
“I am happy to announce that CNCDA has selected DealerVault as its strategic partner with a cost-effective solution to safeguard and control our dealer members’ customer data,” CNCDA president Brian Maas said.
“Since dealers have the responsibility to protect this information, we are pleased to recommend DealerVault to manage your vendors’ access to it,” Maas continued.
DealerVault founder and chief executive officer Steve Cottrell explained DealerVault addresses dealer concerns about securing customer and dealership data by allowing dealership solution providers access to only the data needed to drive their solution.
DealerVault charges one flat monthly fee with no setup fees, no long term contracts and offers a monthly discount when dealership affiliates subscribe. Cottrell added that DealerVault users can be assured they are covered by a $20 million cyber liability insurance policy providing indemnification for dealers as data moves from DealerVault to vendors.
“The entire DealerVault team is honored to be licensed by CNCDA,” Cottrell said. “The DealerVault concept radically changes the data movement paradigm and puts the dealership in control of its data.”
For more information, visit www.dealervault.com or call (877) 834-2451.
CarStory announced on Tuesday its partnership with DealerInspire to integrate CarStory’s Market Reports into the DealerInspire’s website platform.
“Today’s auto shoppers use 24 research touch points in their car-buying process,” said Chad Bockius, CarStory’s chief marketing officer. “Every time a consumer leaves a dealer website to find more information, it is a lost opportunity. Keeping consumers engaged by delivering information and insights from across the market can eliminate this leakage — enabling car buyers to come to quicker decisions while helping dealers sell more cars.
“We are pleased that DealerInspire, a truly progressive website provider and one that places a high value on customer experience, has adopted our reports to help their dealers convert more browsers to buyers,” Bockius continued.
According to the company, more than 3,000 dealers now have access to its free CarStory Market Reports, a merchandising tool and lead source. In its recent survey, CarStory found that 67 percent of its consumers want to understand a vehicle’s pricing relative to similar models in their area and 73 percent want to better understand the value of the vehicle they are considering.
“CarStory Market Reports are a great, new solution that help dealers gain customer confidence in the used vehicles on their lots,” said Joe Chura, DealerInspire’s chief executive officer. “We believe the reports will shorten the sales process by encouraging faster purchasing decisions and by helping dealers more rapidly move shoppers from online researchers to on-the-lot buyers.”
More information about either company’s offerings can be found on the CarStory and DealerInspire websites.
AutoAlert announced Monday that it has integrated Experian Automotive’s AutoCheck vehicle history reports with its Deal Sheet function.
This integration allows single-click access to the vehicle history reports, providing vehicle conditions within moments to help appraisers and other users save time and potentially money by being able to identify whether or not there are any prior accidents, damage or title issues that might affect vehicle value.
AutoAlert also announced two other changes to its Deal Sheet, including vehicle and fuel consumption comparisons as well as email template tools. The latter facilitates follow-up communications for staff.
More information about the tool and its components can be found on the AutoAlert website.
CDK Global announced recently the success of its “Agile in a Day” mentoring event at its office in Portland Plaza.
In partnership with Portland’s ChickTech high school program, the aim of the program was to encourage young women to pursue careers in the engineering and technology fields.
“As a company providing innovations to the automotive retail industry, it’s part of our DNA to support interest in technology at a broader level,” said Steve Anenen, president and chief executive officer at CDK Global. “If we can help provide a forum to inspire young women to pursue engineering, everyone benefits.”
The high school-aged women took part in team huddle sessions, working with software engineers, to learn new techniques using HTML and AngularJS. Each team presented what they had learned at the end of the day.
Carla Clay, the program manager for ChickTech Portland, was proud of the partnership.
“ChickTech is super excited to partner with CDK because we both share the vision of changing the ratio of women in technology,” Clay said. “Today provided our girls with a solid foundation in Agile development methodologies, and it was a blast.”
Those interested in learning more about or contributing to the organization’s endeavors can do so on the ChickTech website.
Auto/Mate Dealership Systems announced Monday that it has integrated its dealership management solution with VinSolutions’ marketing solution platform.
Dealers utilizing both systems now can view real-time data updates to assist with their productivity, customer service and customer retention.
“Our Open/Mate program provides vendors like VinSolutions with a low-cost, easy integration process,” said Mike Esposito, Auto/Mate Dealership Systems’ president and chief executive officer. “The result is increased utility of both systems by dealer employees, a necessary precursor to maximizing the efficiency of any technology.”
Sean Stapleton, the vice president of sales and marketing at VinSolutions, commented on the value of instant access to information when dealing with customers.
“We are extremely excited about this industry leading integration; customers have been asking about this for year,” Stapleton said. “The ability to integrate our platform with a dealers’ DMS is critical for improved sales efficiency and decision-making. Having real-time access to customer, vehicle and deal information empowers dealership employees to better serve their customers and manage opportunities through the complete lifecycle of ownership.”
TrueCar announced that it has partnered with several AAA locations in the western United States to provide upfront pricing information via its network of TrueCar Certified Dealers.
The program, which began this month, allows AAA club members to go to their respective AAA car buying website to find vehicle pricing information.
“Part of TrueCar’s heritage is providing members of our partner programs access to dealers who are committed to delivering hassle-free buying experiences,” said Scott Painter, founder and chief executive officer of TrueCar. “We’re thrilled to extend the benefits of TrueCar beyond the 30 million AAA members we already serve.”
The partnership connects three AAA club locations, for Northern California, Nevada and Utah, who have over 4.2 million members, to the network of TrueCar Certified Dealers. TrueCar was also previously honored at the 2014 AAA Automotive Conference in Charlotte, N.C. as its five-year preferred supplier.
TrueCar recently released its fourth quarter and full-year results from 2014, reporting a Q4 total revenue of $55.5 million, a 38-percent increase year over year. Its total revenue for the entire year was $206.6 million, a 54-percent increase over the fiscal year results for 2013.
AuctionACCESS announced recently that it has added AuctionCredit to its network of floor plan providers through the AuctionACCESS system.
According to the company, AuctionACCESS auctions are now able to view updated AuctionCredit floor plan availability as well as initiate AuctionCredit floor plan transactions through the system.
“We are pleased to partner with AuctionCredit and excited to add another finance company to our growing floor plan platform,” said Charlie Adams, AutoTec’s director of business development. “This process will make it easier for auctions and dealers to floor plan with AuctionCredit. This is a great step as we continue to create a centralized solution to automate floor plan data throughout the wholesale industry.”
Jeff Bunch, the chief operating officer at AuctionCredit, is hopeful that the integration between the two companies will help streamline the process for his company’s customers.
“We are excited to partner with AuctionACCESS on their floor plan platform to provide our dealers and auction partners a convenient and efficient process to conduct business with AuctionCredit,” Bunch said. “As we continue to add new products and processes to benefit our customers, we believe this is a great addition to our current service.”
Credit union lease program CU Xpress Lease announced Thursday it has partnered with Affinity Federal Credit Union. Located in Basking Ridge, N.J., Affinity is New Jersey’s largest credit union and will begin offering automotive leasing to its members in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York on March 16.
Scott Witherspoon, the senior vice president and chief credit officer at Affinity, believes his members offer a unique and strategic benefit when it comes to leasing.
“New Jersey represents one of the top lease markets in the U.S.,” Witherspoon said. “By working with CU Xpress, Affinity is able to add value to our members with affordable vehicle financing while enhancing the credit union’s dealership exposure. Further, leasing provides us an opportunity to immediately expand our automotive portfolio. Since leasing is becoming more popular due to lowered monthly payments and no money down requirements, we know our potential will only increase with this new service for our members.”
Frank Rinaudo, the senior vice president of GrooveCar Inc., CU Xpress’ parent company, foresees a growth in leasing now that more and more consumers perceive it as more affordable.
“The cost for new cars has steadily increased and driven the popularity and demand for leasing simply by virtue of the fact that monthly payments make otherwise unaffordable vehicles affordable,” Rinaudo said. “2014 saw leasing rise nationally to represent 24.9 percent of the new-retail market – that translated into 3.36 million cars leased. For 2015 we project growth to rise to approximately 26 percent, making leasing incredibly attractive for both members and credit unions in highly saturated markets.”
