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.
AutoMobility LA has announced that it is now accepting submissions for its 2017 Top Ten Automotive Startups Competition, which recognizes startup companies that have impressive innovations with the potential to shape the future of the new transportation industry.
The competition’s finalists will be named just before the 2017 AutoMobility LA show, which will take place this fall at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
At the convention, the competition’s winning startup will receive an on-stage advisor session with influencers in the technology and automotive industries. The session’s participating advisors will include Bill Tai, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, Norman Firchau, the president and chief executive officer of Porsche Consulting North America and Jeff Henshaw, Microsoft’s quantum computing program manager, according to AutoMobility LA.
“Our Top Ten competition is a true sentiment of what AutoMobility LA is all about – a celebration of the new mobility industry,” AutoMobility LA and LA Auto Show president and chief executive officer Lisa Kaz said in a news release. “As the new mobility industry continues to evolve, our goal is to recognize companies who are truly disrupting the traditional automotive space and building the next great product or service that will change our lives.”
This year, companies will be evaluated by a team of juries made up of the LA Auto Show executive team and senior executives from companies such as Elektrobit, NVIDIA, TIME's The Drive, Porsche Consulting and Microsoft.
Additionally, at the upcoming AutoMobility LA show, the competition's finalists will receive access to a complimentary booth space at the convention as well as an invitation to a VIP reception with the AutoMobility LA executive team, advisory board members, top investors and industry executives.
“The startups will also be recognized in front of 25,000 media professionals, influential thought-leaders, automakers, tech titans, designers, developers, investors, dealers, government officials, analysts, fellow startups and more,” AutoMobility LA said.
Submissions for the Top Ten Automotive Startups Competition will be accepted through July 15. For more information and to apply, visit https://automobilityla.com.
Previous competition winners include Argus Cyber Security, Elio Motors, EverCharge, Inc., High Mobility, HopSkipDrive and PolySync.
Since introducing its services to 17 cities in the past year-and-a-half, Maven has expanded its operations in New York City in order to offer residents Maven City, its fully connected car-sharing solution, the General Motors brand announced on Monday.
"New York City has been part of the fabric of Maven since we launched the brand here in 2015," General Motors Urban Mobility and Maven vice president Julia Steyn said in a news release. "The addition of Maven City car-sharing is an opportunity to showcase what we have learned. We crafted this experience with residents of the city in mind and see this as becoming part of the lifestyle of New Yorkers."
Maven City features technology fitted vehicles that are available for on-demand rental.
All vehicles include 4G LTE Wi-Fi, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, according to Maven. Drivers can also access Maven 24/7 advisor support via OnStar to contact roadside assistance or emergency help.
Maven said the expansion will specifically make more than 80 car-sharing vehicles available across Manhattan for hourly or daily reservations via Maven City.
“Maven will continue to expand into the boroughs and throughout the city to provide cars around the corner from where New Yorkers live, work and play,” the company said.
The group of U.S. cities Maven currently operates in includes: Ann Arbor, Mich., Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
Edmunds has introduced a new Amazon Alexa Skill for voice-enabled access to Edmunds' automotive content, which creates a source for Edmunds data within the Alexa Skills store that goes beyond a computer or mobile device, the company announced on Thursday.
"The freedom to simply ask questions to find relevant information about a vehicle is an invaluable asset, both in the short term when shopping for cars and on an ongoing basis once purchased," Edmunds chief digital officer Phil Potloff said in a news release. "We love how tapping into the power and convenience of natural language with Alexa brings Edmunds content to life for our users and underscores our commitment to innovation that brings increased value for shoppers and owners."
Using Alexa, Amazon's cloud-based voice service, allows users who access the new skill to easily research, shop and keep tabs on vehicle options.
Edmunds said its new Alexa Skill delivers both high-level overviews and in-depth reviews of specific vehicles’ safety, driving and powertrain information.
Alexa is also capable of answering questions about a wide range of vehicle specifications, such as miles per gallon, cargo space, horsepower and basic warranty details.
Edmunds’ Alexa Skill can provide the MSRP for any vehicle and give device users information regarding local inventory and current lease deals.
Additionally, Alexa allows drivers to keep track of their current vehicles’ recall information and maintenance schedules.
"Car owners can ask Alexa what their car is worth and immediately learn the real-time Edmunds True Market Value for their car, or ask when their next oil change is due," Edmunds said.
Edmunds' new Alexa Skill will work with any Alexa-enabled device, such as Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, Amazon Tap, Amazon Fire TV and Fire tablets.
The skill is free and available now. For more information and a list of the skill's supported requests and intents, visit www.edmunds.com/alexa.
dealerIQ announced that it has released its online trade appraisal platform tradeIQ, which is designed to produce increased user engagement on dealer's websites.
The auto dealer software provider said by maximizing user engagement via the newly introduced platform, dealers can expect less abandonment and higher conversion, which leads to more website visitors into the store.
"The online trade valuation software industry has for years refused to evolve to keep up-to-date with current web engagement standards," dealerIQ co-founder Aaron Haimovitz said in a news release. "As a result, car dealers have had no alternative but to use dated technology on their website, driving high abandonment of the visitors they so dearly pay for."
dealerIQ said tradeIQ maximizes the conversion of website visitors to leads by offering a modern interface that also retains each dealer's unique brand.
"Existing trade solutions require visitors to complete lengthy forms resulting in high website abandonment. tradeIQ was designed from the ground up to disrupt the trade appraisal landscape," dealerIQ said.
Through an easy-to-use wizard, the new platform presents visitors with engaging information such as service recall information, estimated credit score and vehicle affordability.
Additionally, dealerIQ said tradeIQ can be easily embedded into a dealer's existing website and designed to integrate smoothly with the brand of a dealer that consumers have come to know.
"Dealers have been held ransom and have come to expect high website abandonment," Haimovitz added. "tradeIQ aims to change the way trade appraisal solutions should work for both dealers and potential customers."
For auto finance providers still unsure about the value of its vehicle location data, Digital Recognition Network (DRN) highlighted the experience of just a single client — Philadelphia Federal Credit Union (PFCU).
PFCU is an early adopter of DRN’s enterprise subscription for auto finance, DRNsights. Here is a breakdown of what happened to this credit union in a single month.
PFCU had 19 vehicles assigned to repossession. Using DRNsights to make contact, the credit union cured 11 installment contracts and repossessed two vehicles, saving more than $150,000 in potential losses.
DRN insisted that users such as PFCU report more cured installment contracts and fewer charge-offs resulting from improved auto debt collection and recoveries. PFCU uses DRNsights in early stage delinquency to find new locations for making right party contact to collect and cure contracts, and also uses the data and analytics at repossession for faster recoveries, saving time and money.
PFCU averages 15 to 20 vehicles assigned to repossession every month.
“Like many credit unions, we had been using DRN’s data to improve our recovery rates, waiting until late stage delinquency to apply the data. And it worked,” said KellyAnn Forrest, asset recovery and collections specialist for PFCU. “Not only were we recovering more vehicles, but we were recovering them faster. And faster recoveries mean higher value of the collateral.
“But then we learned that we could use that same data in early stage delinquency to help us make right party contact through the DRNsights subscription,” Forrest continued. “The impact has been remarkable — we are making better decisions sooner and that means added savings on loans that are cured, dollars not wasted on repo, or faster repos to avoid charge-offs and retain more collateral value.”
By applying DRNsights at early stage delinquency, DRN vice president of financial services Jeremiah Wheeler highlighted that a wide array of clients are reducing the number of vehicles that go to repossession and are curing more installment contracts.
“PFCU began using DRN’s vehicle location data at recovery when vehicles were out for repossession. It quickly became apparent that the data and analytics could add tremendous value to their collections process simply by using the data at early stage collections. That pivotal change enables PFCU to make right party contact faster using new DRN locations. More contact means more cured loans and fewer repos for PFCU,” said Wheeler, who also elaborated about the capabilities during a recent webinar with SubPrime Auto Finance News that’s available here or via the window at the top of this page.
Vehicle location data from Digital Recognition Network is geared to revolutionize the repossession industry by helping finance companies recover up to 35 percent more vehicles and avoid charge-off losses. DRNsights leverage DRN’s vehicle location data and analytics to help lenders better understand their customer’s needs, provide new locations for making right party contact, enable faster recovery and reduce charge-off losses. The vehicle location data is gathered 24/7, 365 days a year nationwide through license plate recognition (LPR) technology.
DRN’s nationwide coverage, with more than 6 billion vehicle sightings, includes the date, time and location of each sighting. This data can provide alerts of possible risk, protection from lien losses, new locations for making contact on 40 percent or more accounts, the ability to collect earlier to reduce charge-offs, and a 50 percent reduction in the days to recover vehicles out for repossession.
Reynolds and Reynolds in the U.K. announced that it has expanded its suite of retailing tools for dealers.
"The customer-dealer relationship continues to change," Reynolds U.K. Automotive managing director Adele Feeney said in a news release. "Over the past several years, we have expanded our suite of retailing tools for dealers. These tools are helping dealers improve operating performance and provide a more engaging and efficient customer experience."
Most notable among the company’s latest set of solution additions is its new Contact Advantage tool.
Contact Advantage provides dealerships and OEMs with a comprehensive tool that manages complete sales cycles and allows them "to take their customers through the entire sales process – from model selection, color and specification configuration, pricing and order forms – all in one, simple-to-use, interactive process," Reynolds U.K. said.
According to Feeney, the new tool is available to all dealers, whether or not they use the Reynolds dealership management system.
"We believe Contact Advantage is the premier showroom CRM solution for keeping track of dealership leads and maximizing sales potential," Feeney added.
Other new retailing tools Reynolds U.K. has also recently introduced include Aptus Websites, Reynolds Integrated Telephone System (RITS) and iMakeNews.
Aptus Websites, a DMS-neutral website platform, allows dealers to connect with consumers at any time and on any device.
RITS, a dealership-wide, customer experience management system combines phone features with dealer's instant customer data from the DMS in order to create more effective phone conversations with consumers, according to Reynolds U.K.
iMakeNews is a digital newsletter that is designed to build customer loyalty and retail action via engaging content. The new tool also delivers unique ROI metrics which aim to help dealers understand consumers’ current buying decisions so they can influence their buying decisions in the future.
"For dealers, customer service has never been as important as it is now," Feeney said. "The customer now initially goes to a dealer's website before walking into the showroom armed with information and knowing what the competition is offering. Therefore, managing the entire sales process to create a rewarding customer experience at every touch point inside and outside the four walls of the dealership is becoming a necessity, not a luxury."
For more information about each of the retailing tools now offered by Reynolds U.K., visit www.reyrey.co.uk/DMS.
As millennials continue to turn from the way previous generations have shopped in this digital age, their growing desire for luxury vehicles has surpassed older generations as well, according to the Harris Poll's 29th annual EquiTrend Study.
The report on consumer’s preferences reveals what Harris found to be the strongest brands across the automotive industry as well as the media, travel, financial, entertainment, retail, restaurant, technology, household and nonprofit industries.
“Millennials may not be as indifferent to American car culture as is often suggested — their aspirations for luxury are driving the U.S. automotive brand landscape,” The Harris Poll said.
Seven of the top 10 millennial car brands are luxury brands, compared to five each for both Generation X and baby boomers, the poll shows.
This year, Mercedes-Benz reclaimed the Luxury Automotive Brand of the Year honor from Lexus.
Up until last year, the German luxury brand steadily held the title from 2011 to 2015.
Compared to an equity rating of 66 among consumers overall, Mercedes-Benz has an equity score of 73 among millennials.
"Millennials are changing not just what we want to drive, but how we drive and how we shop for cars," Joan Sinopoli, vice president of brand solutions at The Harris Poll, said in a news release. "While maybe not a full-blown romance, the flirtation with cars as part of our culture is alive and well with younger generations. Millennials aspire to luxury, and this is nowhere more evident than in the automotive industry, where they are behind Mercedes-Benz's equity strength."
Additionally, the Non-Luxury Automotive Brand of the Year title for the third consecutive year is Toyota.
The Harris Poll said “Mercedes-Benz and Toyota's equity scores rank in the top 25 percent of all brands measured, across industries.”
While the poll showed millennials deeply aspire to drive luxury brands, that admiration isn’t expected to translate into a generation of an overwhelming population of luxury vehicle owners.
Harris points out that desire doesn’t at all mean the generation is more likely to own luxury cars than older generations.
The younger generation influence on infotainment
Though not an award category, Harris said OEM infotainment equity increases each year and there's evidence that millennials are influencing the category's growth.
The poll also suggests that the industry should expect millennials to notably influence car audio, considering their preference for Beats systems over Bose, according to Harris.
Thirty-three percent of millennials are familiar with Beats, compared to 17 percent of consumers overall.
"Millennials are extremely familiar with, and think highly of, both brands, but they may more strongly associate Beats with mobility whereas they associate Bose (Home Entertainment Electronics Brand of the Year) with high-quality sound in-and-around the home," Sinopoli said.
"With the growth in car audio and infotainment equity, we see cars not-so-gradually changing from a durable to a true lifestyle purchase, a mobile business and entertainment hub," said Sinopoli.
This year’s EquiTrend Study is based on a sample of 102,617 U.S. consumers ages 15 and over.
Consumers born between 1977 and 1995 are defined as millennials, according to The Harris Poll.
A total of 4,052 brands were rated, and respondents were asked to rate 40 randomly selected brands.
Harris Poll’s complete EquiTrend Brands of the Year list can be found at http://www.theharrispoll.com/equitrend-rankings/2017.
Generally speaking, consumers and dealers often don’t seem to see eye-to-eye when it comes to trade-in appraisal, says Black Book senior vice president of sales Jared Kalfus.
“The consumer feels that the appraisal being delivered by dealers is not necessarily as accurate as compared to the valuations that they’re doing themselves online,” Kalfus said in a phone interview with Auto Remarketing.
Black Book’s latest online survey, which examined car shoppers' sentiment on trade-in appraisal when purchasing a vehicle, found that 47 percent of those polled desire a dealer’s offer to be within $501 to $1,000 of their researched quote for it to be satisfactory.
“What the survey has found, and is kind of concerning, is that there’s a bit of conflict and there’s a lot of valuation difference based on how much the dealer appraises the vehicle versus the researched quote that the customer found online,” Kalfus said.
Thirty-six percent of the survey’s participants told Black Book that in the past, their researched quote retrieved online was $1,001 to $1,500 apart from a dealer’s offer, and 27 percent said their quote was more than $1,500 apart.
Additionally, 46 percent of the survey’s respondents say that getting an accurate trade appraisal is either “very important” or “extremely important” to their decision on their next car purchase.
Kalfus said that “the industry needs to focus on accurate data to really come to terms with keeping these deals together and validating the appraisals and valuations that consumers are finding when they’re doing their own research to avoid this conflict when they actually get to the dealership.”
The findings of the survey illustrate not only the importance of the trade for the consumer but the accuracy of the valuation, he said.
“What we wanted to validate was just how important the trade was to consumers and to figure out if it was equal, less or more important in the consumers’ eyes than industry folks and dealers who utilize our data,” Kalfus explains. “What we found is that it’s just as important and in some cases even more important from the consumers’ vantage point.”
The survey shows that the appraisal delivered by the dealer is not accurate as compared to the valuations found online.
“The trade-in appraisal is just as important to keeping that deal together and actually consummating that deal as the actual new car negotiations itself,” Kalfus added.
Dealers need to be sure that they are utilizing appropriate data tools, such as valuation guides and industry credible valuation guide books that provide the most accurate valuations, according to Kalfus.
He points out that in cases where the customer is turned off from making deal because of an appraisal value, the dealer not only misses the opportunity to make a sale, but to also acquire a new vehicle trade and sell that customer financing, in addition to service and maintenance opportunities down the road after the sell.
“The trade-in is actually the precursor to multiple other streams of revenue and profit for the dealer. If the deal blows up because of the trade, the dealer loses out on selling the new car to the customer,” he added.
Black Book distributed its survey to roughly 2,100 consumers throughout the U.S. in March, according to the used vehicle valuation solutions provider.
