VinSolutions announced Wednesday that it has integrated its VinConnect Desking tool with Autosoft’s dealership management system Autosoft FLEX F&I.
Via the integration, VinSolutions hopes to reduce some of the redundancy of duplicate data entry between the two programs and increase visibility between a dealership’s departments and its DMS solutions.
Through real-time integration, Autosoft data is automatically pulled and stored in the VinConnect CRM databased for dealers desking a deal.
“This integration between two leading software companies reinforces our commitment to providing seamless solutions for our customers,” said Sean Stapleton, VinSolutions’ vice president of sales and marketing. “As technology evolves, dealership software solutions will only communicate with each other more.
“We look forward to helping our customers enhance dealership processes, increase efficiency and better serve their customers.”
Christopher Morris, the senior vice president at Autosoft, believes his company’s FLEX Connect integration program opens up more opportunities for its customers.
“The close integration between our FLEX DMS and VinConnect Desking reduces inefficiencies in the F&I process, driving more productivity and, ultimately, more profitability for our dealers,” Morris said.
More information about the integration can be found by contacting the company here.
Re3 Conference presenting sponsor Digital Recognition Network (DRN) announced on Tuesday that the company is providing its Event Links product to the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) free of charge.
Company officials highlighted Event Links, often used by insurance company special investigative units, uses DRN’s vehicle location data to provide evidence of individual and collusive fraud. They indicated the tool successfully helped to identify instances of fraud and criminal action during the trial run for NICB, which led to the ongoing agreement of free usage.
“DRN’s vehicle location data is proving to be an invaluable tool for our agents,” NICB chief operating officer James Schweitzer said.
Using Event Links and the new unique data provided has given us insights into suspected fraud cases — insights that led to the confirmation of fraud and the apprehension of criminals,” Schweitzer continued. “I am excited that NICB investigators will have access to DRN’s solutions and data now that we have seen what it can do.”
In one case, NICB agents were asked to help investigate a string of home burglaries involving stolen jewelry. A police officer identified a suspicious vehicle in the neighborhood and recorded the license plate. The NICB agent entered the plate information into Event Links and was able to provide recent locations where the vehicle had been spotted, which eventually led to the apprehension of three individuals that were implicated in four home burglaries.
“Without Event Links it would have been more difficult for the NICB and its law enforcement partners to solve this case. The license plate in this case was registered to another address, so the vehicle location data was key to tracking down the suspects,” said DRN chief executive officer Chris Metaxas, who will be one of the presenters during the Re3 Conference, which comes at the midpoint of Used Car Week on Nov. 18 in Scottsdale, Ariz.
“We are excited to see the results from the NICB’s use of Event Links and are happy to give them access to our tools and data,” Metaxas went on to say.
DRN’s vehicle location data is comprised of license plate information gathered throughout the United States. DRN’s license plate recognition (LPR) data includes more than 100 million scans per month.
Infiniti announced Thursday the launch of a new retail sales and service app for its retailers.
Named the Infiniti Client Acquisition and Retention Experience, or ICAR-X, the app aims at streamlining the car-buying process for its dealers by minimizing client “pain points” and system redundancies while also accelerating the overall car-buying process to attempt to increase customer satisfaction.
“The total amount of time spent during the sales process is a critical driver of client satisfaction,” said Jon Finkel, the global director of Infiniti Client Experience. “Infiniti developed ICAR-X to eliminate many of the redundancies and inefficiencies inherent in today’s vehicle purchase process that typically frustrate clients. ICAR-X will lead the way to fundamentally change the car-buying and selling process and set a new benchmark in luxury retail client service.”
The app is currently only available to Infiniti dealers via Apple and Android tablets but will soon be available on other mobile devices.
To learn more about ICAR-X visit Infiniti’s site here.
Chances are, before the last week, you hadn’t heard about The Appraisal Lane. That was on purpose.
Two years in the making, The Appraisal Lane (TAL), a real-time trade network and communication platform for used vehicles designed to conveniently fill the dealer-to-dealer niche with a mobile-friendly solution to provide quick cash offers on vehicles, has been working slowly to build not only its internal team, but also its clientele.
At its core, dealers and auctions can utilize TAL in three different ways:
- Submit vehicles for appraisal. Whether those are pending trade-ins, stubborn vehicles on the lot that are proving to be a tough sell, cars that didn’t sell on the auction block, or anything in between. Depending on the situation, TAL will respond with a cash offer within 10 to 15 minutes. Many times, those cash offers stem from outside buyers, which typically include dealer or auction partners.
- Buying cars. TAL has partnerships with many dealerships and a handful of auctions, some of which only utilize TAL services to buy inventory.
- White label customers. Dealerships or dealer groups seeking to utilize the TAL platform to power their own internal trade network can license a solution from TAL.
It all started with an idea between friends. Jeff Risner, Andrew Iorgulescu, Chris Tomchay and Scott Gales all co-founded TAL. If you think those names sound familiar, you’re probably right.
Risner, TAL’s president, and Tomchay, TAL’s chief operations officer, are college buddies who have worked together for going on 30 years. Together they currently co-own the Georgia-Carolina Auto Auction. Risner was also a founding associate at CarMax.
Iorgulescu, a co-founder of OPENLANE, has worked with the other TAL co-founders over the years and maintained a friendship that sprouted the idea for The Auction Lane.
“While Jeff was on the dealer advisory council at OPENLANE, Jeff used to come to me a lot at night and say, ‘Andrew, what we need to build is a ‘send check’ button for a dealer,’” Iorgulescu said. “And I would say, ‘I don’t know, Jeff.’”
But over time, Risner remained adamant and insistent that the idea — of offering an easy-to-access and quick, solid offer on cars — would be a concrete platform for a business.
So two years ago, the four got together and began working on the technology the system would be built on. In February and March of this year, TAL began testing the waters by putting beta dealers on the system, which ran through the summer. At that point, they launched the finished product as it is today.
As of right now, TAL’s buying and selling services are available in the Southeast and Texas, where the company’s founders rolled out initially due to their significant dealer, auction and transportation connections in the area. Iorgulescu also says that within the last week the company has launched operations in the Northeast and aims at hitting the Midwestern states next.
TAL’s white label solutions are available nationwide.
But there’s no timeline in place, however, for the company’s physical expansion. The company’s president made it clear that although its system is designed for international application it will take as long as it takes to build solid relationships with other companies and individuals in the business who TAL feels shares the same business ideals that they do.
“We’re trying to build a select group of folks,” Iorgulescu said. “It’s a community.”
“The response has been very positive from the dealer community,” Iorgulescu later continued. “We could be a lot bigger today, we could be signing up dealers left and right and center, but we’re very methodical about how we’re going to build this business because we’ve all done it before.”
Like many forms of technology today, words can only get you so far to take you toward an understanding of a system’s applications. To check out the full details of The Appraisal Lane or to get in contact with their team to request a demonstration, visit the TAL site here.
For more information about the company and more insight from the company’s team of industry veterans, stay tuned for future editions of Auto Remarketing where we will delve further.
Digital marketing software-as-a-service company Outsell announced Tuesday the results of its second quarter, highlighted by the company’s announcement of its customer engagement platform’s support for dealers of virtually all OEMs.
Its engagement solution, Outsell Fuel, was previously only available to dealers that represented a select set of manufacturers. After its expansion, Outsell reports that 20 percent of its bookings for the second quarter came due to the new offering.
Mike Wethington, the company’s chief executive officer, commented on his view of Outsell’s Q2.
“We are excited by the initial market response to the availability of Outsell Fuel for all brands,” Wethington said. “In a very short period of time we’ve built a significant sales pipeline, and anticipate that pipeline translating into accelerated growth over the coming quarters. As always, we’ll continue to invest in the development of new products and capabilities that help dealers better connect with their customers and improve sales.
“I am grateful for the honors and accolades that we continue to be awarded,” Wethington continued. “They’re a testament to the innovative work that we and our partners do every day, and the value we bring to the dealers and brands we serve.”
For more information on Outsell’s offerings, visit its site here.
The Appraisal Lane (TAL), a trade network and communications platform for used-vehicle dealers, announced Tuesday it has hired TrueCar’s former vice president of dealer development.
Taking on the position of vice president of sales for TAL is Kenneth Potter, bringing experience from a variety of other well-known organizations, including positions such as the general manager of CarMax, the vice president of sales for Greenlight.com, the vice president and general manager of CarsDirect.com, and the chief revenue officer at SureSale.com.
Andrew Iorgulescu, TAL’s co-founder and president, as well as the former co-founder of OPENLANE, welcomes Potter to his team.
“Ken has built lasting relationships in the industry, with a proven track record of successfully growing sales and driving expansion efforts for businesses like ours,” Iorgulescu said. “He joins our team at a critical time, since we are actively rolling out our platform to targeted automotive markets offering significant growth opportunities. It’s an exciting time for the team.”
TAL’s real-time used-vehicle trade network gives dealers within its available markets the ability to post pre-owned inventory and receive cash offers within 10 minutes that remain good for seven days or 300 miles. At present time, the company’s services are available in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
“I’m excited to join The Appraisal Lane team and I look forward to the possibilities for growth in – and enhancements to – our industry,” Potter said. “Based on our analysis, over 36 million vehicles will be appraised this year, but until now, the wholesale used-car appraisal and acquisition process was inefficient. We’re transforming this process by sourcing wholesale experts to provide dealers with the most accurate offers quickly and easily through a fully mobile-optimized platform. The end result is improved business operations and, ultimately, more car sales for dealers.”
Stay tuned to further editions of Auto Remarketing as we delve further into the operations behind The Appraisal Lane.
Copart recently updated and released the newest version of Copart Mobile for Android. Officials highlighted the updated mobile app can give buyers the ability to search for vehicles and attend Copart’s patented live auctions wherever they are — a crucial feature for busy dealers, dismantlers and others who bid for vehicles daily while running their businesses.
With this new, more powerful version, Copart explained members can register, bid and add items to their Watchlist straight from their mobile device, saving valuable time. The company insisted the clean, new look of Copart Mobile combines an easy-to-use interface with full-screen vehicle images and an innovative live auction bidding experience.
“The adoption rates for Copart Mobile have exceeded our expectations and continue to improve with each new release. We’ve seen downloads come from 76 countries,” Copart chief executive officer Jay Adair said.
“Over 90 percent of users who download our Copart Mobile app for Android or iOS use it at least every three days, many using it daily,” Adair continued. “It’s important we continue to give members the advantage of buying anywhere, at any moment.”
With a growing demand for mobile access to auctions, Copart expects its large domestic and international member base to benefit from the updated Android app. Copart Mobile can allow members to bid and win from virtually anywhere in the world.
“The mobile interface is phenomenal,” Adair said. “It’s so intuitive and gives members the power of our online platform at their fingertips. This experience will be hard to beat.”
Copart Mobile is available for download in Android’s Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store.
To learn more about Copart’s mobile app, visit www.copart.com/mobile.
Dealer software provider ProMax Unlimited announced Friday it has integrated its customer relationship management system with GoMoto’s Digital HUB kiosks.
“As a company that has continually pioneered auto software for over 20 years, we recognize a great new platform when we see it,” said John Palmer, ProMax’s chief executive officer. “And GoMoto is exactly what today’s consumers are looking for.”
GoMoto, an in-dealership technology retailer, offers a suite of options that drive customer engagement to capture analytics via its kiosks.
Shane Born, ProMax’s chief operations officer, commented on the benefits of the two companies’ seamless integration of products.
“We’re excited to be partner with GoMoto,” Born said. “Dealerships spend so much money on advertising, but too often neglect to invest in the customer’s in-store experience beyond new sofas and coffee machines. The GoMoto HUB is a win-win, greatly improving customer engagement and satisfaction and giving dealers invaluable information and a streamlined process at the same time.”
For more information on ProMax Unlimited, visit its site here. More info on GoMoto’s offerings can be found here.
Very soon, TrueCar and AutoNation will no longer be partners.
The business relationship between the car-buying and selling platform and the nation’s largest publicly traded dealership group is ending July 31.
According to multiple news outlets, including Automotive News and the Wall Street Journal, AutoNation decided to part ways with TrueCar due to contract squabbles over how much consumer data to turn over.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, AutoNation CEO Mike Jackson was quoted as saying: “TrueCar generates about 3 percent of the 550,000 cars we sell annually, but they want all our customer information on every car we sell, and we just can’t agree to that. It is none of their business who our customers are.”
In a news released shared Thursday, TrueCar said that back in May, it “demanded that AutoNation comply fully with these core principles in order to have continued access to the TrueCar platform,” referring to the three “core principals” it listed below in the news release:
Provide negotiation-free, guaranteed savings off MSRP for all vehicles.
Provide prompt and accurate inventory and sales data.
Deliver a transparent, professional, and hassle-free customer experience.
TrueCar argued in its statement that the dealer group “chose not to comply,” so the partnership is ending at the end of July.
“We have an unwavering and long-term focus on a transparent car-buying experience," said Scott Painter, TrueCar’s chief executive officer and founder. “We’re grateful for the years of cooperation we’ve enjoyed with AutoNation, but could not make an exception for them.”
The Costco Auto Program announced Wednesday that it saw nearly double the demand for its parts, service and accessories benefit during the month of June.
That’s compared to the daily average recorded by the company from January through May of this year, a benefit Costco launched for its auto program members in the spring of 2011 to provide a solution for its members who want to maintain and accessorize their vehicles.
The number of dealerships offering the discount has doubled since the program’s inception, while the average daily usage in the first half of 2015 is more than 4 times larger than that recorded in 2011.
“The upward trend in demand for the parts, service and accessories benefit reflects our members’ desire for a cost-saving and effective resource to address their vehicle maintenance needs,” said John Conlon, the manager of Costco Services. “This benefit combined with the multiple savings opportunities available through (the) Costco Auto Program, as well as the savings members receive on a variety of items and tire services at the warehouse, address virtually all our members’ automotive needs.”
The discount is available nationwide for application to any vehicle in a Costco member’s household at participating dealership service departments.
For more information about the program, visit its site here.
