LeasePlan Canada and AlertDriving have teamed up to address global fleet risk management.
The two companies have entered into a strategic partnership, and LeasePlan has added AlertDriving to its driver support programs.
Now, as an AlertDriving partner, LeasePlan has the ability to consolidate training requirements and key risk data in a single-source, centrally managed platform: FleetDefense.
“FleetDefense introduces an empirical approach to monitoring — and ultimately changing — driver behavior over the long term,” explained Rob Martin, vice president of sales at AlertDriving. “Driver test scores add a behavioral dimension to identifying liability exposures, and FleetDefense trains by collision and violation type so fleets can compare scores in targeted areas across markets and languages.”
AlertDriving’s long-term driver training allow fleets to benchmark through baseline test scores how risky employees’ decisions are on the road, the companies explained.
The partnership will work to expand LeasePlan’s strategic modeling and analytical research to include behavioral risk levels, allowing for a total-cost reduction solution that covers driver exposures, too.
The companies noted that global fleet risk management is a “complex, sprawling effort” and requires coordination among its many moving parts.
LeasePlan works to coordinate fleet management tasks with a group of products that are designed to control fleet spend, optimize fleet processes and manage risk.
And International FleetReporting, LeasePlan’s new online reporting tool, consolidates key aspects of global fleet management into a tool that is easy to navigate and requires no app or download to use.
Kia Canada is utilizing the world’s most popular and accessible sport, soccer, to help support underserved youth.
The company began its fifth annual Drive Change initiative on Friday, joining three Canadian Major League Soccer teams in Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto to put on free soccer camps while also leveraging its 188 Canadian dealers and business partners to collect new and gently used soccer equipment for its National Equipment Drive.
All of this is to help underserved youth in their respective areas by helping them develop their soccer skills, gain confidence, have fun and gear up for the sport.
“Kia Canada is proud to continue supporting youth through the sport of soccer, providing the ability to participate in free clinics along with our partners while making a difference," said M.K. Kim, Kia Canada’s president and chief executive officer. "Kia dealers, including our employees and business partners, will also support underserved youth through our second annual national equipment drive providing them access to soccer in communities across Canada."
Donations can be made at Kia’s dealerships across Canada from now until Wednesday, September 30.
Kia, the Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club and the Vancouver Police Department hosted a free, four-day Pee Wee Soccer School earlier in July, providing over 300 of the area’s local youth with access to the sport to develop their skills with the Whitecaps’ professionals as well as the volunteers from the VPD. Kia Canada also supported the VPD’s Soccer Cleat Program, which gives new soccer cleats to inner-city youth in the early fall to prepare for the upcoming season.
Kia also began its fourth KickStart event, along with the MLSE Foundation, at the Kia Training Ground last Thursday, opening up its eight-week soccer program in 15 Toronto Community Housing communities. More than 300 youth participated, ranging from ages 6 to 12.
Kia’s free clinic at the Saputo Stadium, in partnership with the Montreal Impact, was hosted on Monday, where Impact coaches and staff introduced the attendees to basic soccer drills.
For more information on Kia’s Drive Change endeavors, visit its site here.
Two high-powered industry names — TRADER and Canadian Black Book — have decided to part ways in light of a failure to agree on contract renewal details related to online vehicles listings.
When the time came to negotiate a new contract renewal, the deal was halted as the new agreement would require CBB to be charged a fee per month for every dealer that listed TRADER inventory on CanadianBlackBook.com, and TRADER would also require exclusivity on the listings.
As of July 7, approximately 180,000 TRADER used-vehicle dealer listings dropped off the Canadian Black Book website.
Larry Shred, executive vice president of operations at CBB, told Auto Remarketing Canada that when the TRADER listings came off, CanadianBlackBook.com’s used listings dropped to around 100,000. But currently, that number is back up to 154,000 listings and climbing.
“Other than fewer vehicles to view, there has been no impact to the site,” Shred said.
CBB management explained it could not come to terms on the renewal in part because of the company’s relationship with its dealer partners, and the fact that a variety of syndicators list inventory on CanadianBlackBook.com.
TRADER was looking to bring the CBB agreement in line with the agreements they have with other syndicators or websites, which include listing fees as well as exclusivity arrangements.
“The terms of our syndication agreement is actually standardized across all of our syndication partners and has been in place for quite some time now,” David Carriere, senior manager of dealer marketing at TRADER told Auto Remarketing Canada. “However, the standard agreement was only issued to CBB recently as a result of their previous contract coming up for renewal.”
As for why the need to standardize TRADER processes, Carriere explained this is mainly due to data security and making sure the company is protecting that data.
In the past, as syndication agreements developed on an ad hoc basis, one of the consequences, Carriere said, was the control of where data was ending up was varied and difficult to track.
“Moreover, with regulations over data controls becoming more stringent we felt it was a best practice to do our due diligence,” he added.
TRADER management explained the company believes there is inherent commercial value to our listings data, and therefore, it is reasonable to assign a cost model to provide the service; as is outlined in our standard syndication agreement.
“It would not be fair to these parties if we allow individual partners to benefit from the content without following the same model. Collectively, all our syndication partners deliver a combined value to our dealers and therefore, collectively, we need to treat every partner equally,” Carriere explained.
The cost structure is part of the standard agreement for all syndication partners, TRADER shared, and all other partners approached with the new agreement from TRADER have agreed to the terms.
At CBB, the company’s listing policies made agreeing to the terms difficult, Shred explained.
“The trouble for us is the fact we do not charge anything for dealers to list their inventory on CanadianBlackBook.com, therefore it doesn’t make financial sense for us to pay to have their listings on the site,” Shred said. “We have quite a few syndication partners that provide us with dealer listings for free, because we post them for free.”
As far as the exclusivity agreement goes, Carriere cited cost and data protection as factors behind the requirement.
“There is a cost to manage and control such large volumes of data on behalf of our dealers. Controlling digital and publically accessible information is challenging as legislation continually changes and tightens. It is a business priority at TRADER that we provide as much protection of our data as possible, and this means controlling redistribution rights,” Carriere said.
Looking forward, CBB intends to continue to provide a free forum for dealers to list their new or used vehicles, either through their dealer management system or via other syndicators, such as Auto123, Boost, Carpages.ca, and more.
Shred said, “Dealers are in the business of selling cars, and CBB has an audience that wishes to buy cars .If we can facilitate those two coming together, then everyone is happy."
He explained that allowing industry partners and customers to take advantage of the traffic generated by CBB.com seemed like a good way for the company to give back to the industry and provide more site content for consumers coming to get trade-in valuations or future values on new vehicles.
“Our site was never developed with the idea of displaying dealer listings, but when we started announcing that we were launching a new site, there were many requests from the industry to have us include dealer inventory that we quickly realized it could be a benefit all around,” Shred said.
CanadianBlackBook.com sees at least three quarters of a million visits each month, approximately 500,000 of which are unique. And of those visitors that use the site’s pricing tools, over 50 percent say they are going to buy a vehicle in the next 30 days.
“Canadian Black Book is a well established, respected brand that consumers view as a neutral party. They come to us for independent, non-partisan feedback on the value of a used vehicle,” Shred concluded. “This year will bring several significant product developments to the market that will further impact how the industry and consumer, does business together.”
And though TRADER and Canadian Black Book will not be working together in terms of vehicle listing capabilities for the time being, the two companies remain close.
“We do not consider this to be a lost relationship. We continue to have ongoing discussions with CBB regarding partnership and business opportunities,” Carriere said. “We continue to have a great partnership with CBB despite this one business activity regarding syndication. We look forward to our regularly ongoing discussions and working with them well into the future.”
Vehicle shopping website Carpages.ca announced this afternoon it has partnered with Carfax Canada in an effort to create a better online shopping experience for used cars.
Now, buyers on the site will be privy to complementary Carfax Vehicle History Reports from subscribing dealers included with their inventory on Carpages.ca — the only car-shopping website in Canada endorsed by the Used Car Dealer Association of Ontario.
“We are excited to work with Carfax Canada and believe that the integration of Carfax Reports helps enhance the shopping experience on Carpages.ca,” said Ben Mirecki, president of Carpages.ca. “It’s another big step forward in our commitment to providing a safer car shopping destination for Canadian consumers. This partnership speaks volumes about our equal desire to build buyer trust through transparency in the universe of online car shopping.”
The Carfax Reports are available at no cost to shoppers from subscribing dealers, and shoppers will now be privy to information about accidents and damage claim amounts, as well as service records, damage repair details, and more.
The reports will also alert buyers to open recalls — an increasingly important bit of information in light of recalls coming through in record droves.
Direct links to the Carfax Reports are included on both the search results and vehicle details pages of Carpages.ca.
“Carpages.ca is the place many Canadians go to shop for used cars online,” said Jon Arnett, general manager of Carfax Canada, and one of Auto Remarketing Canada’s 40 under 40 honorees, “We’re impressed by their continued efforts to make it easier for used-car shoppers to buy online. Consumers and dealers agree that including a Carfax Report with vehicles for sale is just as important as price and photos, and helps foster quicker, more informed buying decisions.”
You might have the right vehicles in stock. And you might be offering the best deals. You might even be in the prime location. But these days, it isn’t enough unless consumers find your business trustworthy — and that starts online.
To address this reality in the digital age of online referrals and reviews, Mobials has partnered with autoTRADER, SiriusXM and AutoCapital to help dealers secure their online reputations.
Mobials announced it is launching a national “Dealership of the Year” award program to honor the country’s top-reviewed dealer, as well as a Consumer Trust Certified program, designed to help shoppers pick out the best dealerships and give dealers another advertising tool in reaching out to potential customers.
Through the Consumer Trust Certified program, dealer consumer ratings and reviews will be posted where dealers syndicate their vehicles.
For dealers not enrolled in the Mobials Reviewsii product, no need to worry. On top of rolling out additional tiers of its Reviewsii product in an effort to fit all dealers’ needs, the company will be offering the basic $85 package at no charge, thanks to the program’s sponsorship by autoTRADER, SiriusXM and AutoCapital.
James Hayes, co-founder and chief executive officer of Mobials, told Auto Remarketing Canada, “In working on these new developments, we wanted to make sure to do our best to create a program that would capture dealer reviews and put them everywhere their shoppers are researching them online. And the Dealer of the Year award will finally give the market a program that honors and recognizes top dealers for impressive consume ratings.”
A New Dealership of the Year Program
For dealers interested in competing for the new award, the competition begins this month and will run until the end of the year.
To qualify for the award come the end of the year, stores will need at least 25 customer reviews, and the star rating for the store — one to five — in the Reviewsii system will impact the dealership’s ultimate score.
And the companies explained the winners will be chosen based on a variety of criteria using an algorithm designed to “level the playing field” between large metro stores and most rural dealerships.
And that’s not all the companies did the ensure fairness.
To make sure that all dealerships, not just the stores that use Mobials products, can enter the running, sponsors — autoTRADER, SiriusXM and AutoCapital — will cover the basic $85 per month Reviewsii plan for 12 months.
Dealers can visit www.mobials.com and register for free with the following promo code: TRADERREVIEWS.
In early 2016, a Dealership of the Year will be announced, as well as top stores on a provincial basis for both franchised and independent dealers.
Consumer Trust Certified Program
The new Consumer Trust Certified program — available in French and English, depending on the website — gives dealers another way to stand out from the pack and advertise their standing to potential new customers.
Once a dealer receives a review, the new program captures it. Then, when dealers go to list vehicles on third-party sites, the dealership’s star rating and the number of reviews will show up below the dealership name in individual vehicle lists.
Shoppers have the option to sort reviews by employee, sales or service, or newest to oldest.
Hayes said, “This new program is an ongoing mission and will help to identify the dealerships most-trusted by consumers through tracking reviews and referrals.
“It also gives dealers an impressive tool to advertise to consumers. As the program gains traction, shoppers will become familiar with what this certification means and the trust factor that comes with it.”
Here is the criteria for qualifying for the new certification banner:
- Qualifying dealerships must use vehicle history reports that conform with provincial regulations.
- They must have received at least 25 reviews over the last 12 months.
- Dealers need to have a minimum of a four-star Reviewsii rating.
The program also requires all qualifying dealers list vehicles on third-party online listing sites with “honesty and integrity.”
Upon certification, each dealership will be sent marketing materials and will be able to run the certification banner on their website.
There are a variety of packages available for the Consumer Trust Certified Program, Hayes shared, which can range from $85 to $1,285. But once again, Mobials is offering the basic $85 package for free thanks to program sponsorship.
Mobials hit the market just a year-and-a-half ago, as a new company looking to change the “dealership review eco-system.” Since then, the company has scored publishing agreements with a variety of the biggest third-party sites vehicle listing sites in the country, including TRADER, Carpages.ca Monsterauto.ca, CanadianBlackBook.com, Auto123.com, AutoandTruck.ca and more.
Dealers can visit www.mobials.com and register for free with the following promo code: TRADERREVIEWS.
TRADER Corp. recently announced it is renewing its partnership with U.S.-based solutions company, vAuto, extending their relationship for another five years in an effort to help dealers address their used-vehicle inventory management challenges.
Through the agreement, TRADER will continue being the exclusive Canadian reseller of the vAuto product suite, and vAuto will maintain their ongoing integration with TRADER’s proprietary consumer and marketplace data.
And with the announcement came news that TRADER and vAuto are in discussions to introduce new initiatives in the coming months — the first being a new vAuto Subprime Booking tool.
The tool — which is expected to become available for the Canadian market Aug. 10, though consumers will be able to register for the module in late June — will assist dealers in sourcing subprime inventory to meet the demands of credit-challenged customers.
Canada’s consumer debt is growing at a rapid pace, and soon, the need for tools such as this will be even bigger as dealers look to service these credit-challenged vehicle shoppers.
Robert Rath, vice president of dealership products and business development at TRADER, said, “Subprime is an area of business that tends to be overlooked, but in the grand scheme of things dealers could be losing significant sales and F&I profit every month on subprime vehicle sales.”
Auto Remarketing Canada reached out to TRADER to get the lowdown on the new subprime offering. Rath explained the impending launch of the tool shows the company’s growing commitment to be provide innovation solutions with a focus on dealer services.
“We are always investigating ways to evolve TRADER offerings and continually show our commitment to our Canadian dealers,” said Rath. “The fact is that the subprime market is growing, and our research indicates that dealers have a gap in process, tools and resources to maximize this opportunity; so the decision to bring this tool to the market simply makes sense for everybody.”
As for what problems and hurdles this tool will help dealers solve, the new offering works to help dealers easily locate subprime inventory, appraise vehicles and determine a profitable exit strategy.
Easily locating subprime inventory with direct relevant to lender criteria, said Rath, will allow dealers to more quickly match inventory to credit-challenged consumers’ needs and payment constraints.
The important element here is that this process happens before entering the sales process.
“The key is being able to match buyers with cars prior to the sales process, and alleviating any frustration for these buyers will be key as the dealers will be able to show vehicles that they know the buyer can purchase prior to showcasing,” said Rath.
The tool will then help dealers to appraise vehicles and determine what makes the most sense from a retail, wholesale and subprime perspective on that individual vehicles.
Lastly, Rath said the tool will “provide insights as to where process improvements need to be made during the consumer sales cycle.”
And the pool for dealers to pull potential customers from in the subprime space is expanding daily.
In a recent article, the Financial Post concluded the Canadian subprime market has been growing as a compounded rate of 20 percent year-over-year.
And Rath pointed out subprime loans make up 25 percent of all Canadian car loans.
“A growth in this area coupled with higher front/back-end profitability and a low delinquency rate makes this segment very attractive,” Rath said.
He also explained that recent advancements in terms of payment automation and vehicle repossession have cut down on the risk for dealers in regards to delinquencies.
Though this market is growing, is the credit there to serve this marketplace, or will it be hard for dealers to find lenders?
Credit tightened considerably from traditional banking sources after the 2008 economic downturn, but Rath said that won’t hinder dealers looking to serve these customers today.
“Increased tightening of lending from traditional banking sources during the 2008 credit crisis caused consumers to look for alternatives,” said Rath. “Dealers always have had choice when it comes to how they want to deal with consumer financing. It’s a matter of picking a good lender as well as doing the proper due diligence with the consumer to make sure that the vehicle and payment terms make sense to them.”
Dealers who use PBS Systems’ dealer management system software now have a new tool to reach customers in the service department.
PBS Systems Inc. recently announced a partnership with Xtime, a customer retention solution for dealerships.
Now, dealers using the PBS DMS will have access to a “bidirectional data exchange” with the Xtime Retention System, designed to improve and retain customer relationships in their service departments.
“PBS is an important partner for Xtime as we both aim to transform dealer service departments throughout North America with new and more efficient processes,” said Xtime president Neal East. “Xtime integration with PBS delivers a more user-friendly experience, enabling service departments to be more productive and profitable.”
Through the partnership, Xtime will be able to pull appointment, contact and vehicle information from the PBS Service Appointments module, as well as push any appointments created from Xtime’s Scheduling 7 into PBS, the company explained.
The Xtime partnership also provides the following features:
- Vehicle owners can schedule service anytime, anywhere through multiple channels, and Xtime will take appointment information and roll it into a repair order (RO)
- Consumers can view prior service history
- Dealers are able to manage shop capacity in real time and view shop activity from any location
- Service advisers are able to initiate the repair order directly from a tablet via Xtime’s Check-In 7
In January, TRADER Corp. announced an agreement with Mobials, which allows dealership websites using the Mobials ReviewMii platform to include their customer reviews within the autoTRADER.ca marketplace.
And ReviewMii officially launched on autoTRADER.ca this past Wednesday.
The ReviewMii tool that Mobials offers allows dealers to display consumer reviews on the vehicle listings on autoTRADER.ca and its dealership website, much like its integration Auto Remarketing Canada highlighted with MonsterAuto.ca. TRADER believes the addition will help to “provide a competitive edge to dealers by showcasing their customers’ satisfaction and dealership service quality.”
In an effort to help its users learn more about how the Reviewmii tool will be integrated into autoTRADER.ca, TRADER is hosting a complimentary webinar, scheduled for Wednesday, March 25.
The free webinar will feature guest speaker James Hayes, co-founder and chief executive officer of Mobials, as well as Cheryl-Lyn Milani, vice president of sales at Mobials.
The webinar will feature content on the following topics:
- How consumer recommendations change the shopping experience
- How a dealer can utilize the ReviewMii platform in their dealership to drive a competitive edge
- What dealers can do differently to increase customer satisfaction and grow sales
To register for the upcoming webinar, see here.
Carfax Canada and the Used Car Dealers Association of Ontario announced this week they are expanding their partnership to give used-car buyers and sellers UCDA claims reports.
The latest development means every Carfax Vehicle History Report purchased by UCDA member dealers now comes with UCDA accident claims report at no additional cost.
This is the latest in a series of enhancements by Carfax Canada, including adding damage claim amounts from Canadian insurers to the Carfax database and access to a cross-Canada lien search.
"Canadian car buyers expect dealers to provide as much vehicle information as possible," said Warren Barnard, executive director of the UCDA. "One-click access to the Carfax and UCDA reports enables our members to use both reports to help them meet provincial compliance regulations when buying and selling vehicles. Strengthening our already successful relationship with Carfax Canada is another step in safeguarding UCDA member dealers and their customers throughout Canada."
According to the news release, any dealers in Canada may apply for UCDA members and obtain a UCDA claims report with every Carfax Report they run.
This includes the new bilingual Carfax Report. The expanded partnership between UCDA and Carfax Canada is especially beneficial for UCDA members who are also Carfax Canada customers.
"We're excited to add this valuable member benefit as we continue growing our relationship with the UCDA," said Jon Arnett, managing director for Carfax Canada. "Access to trusted information is crucial in building buyer confidence and selling more used cars. We look forward to finding more ways our organizations can work together to benefit both dealers and consumers."
TRADER Corp. announced this week that it has put pen to paper to complete a publishing agreement with Mobials. The arrangement will allow for the integration of Mobials’ Reviewmii along with TRADER’s marketplace and website solutions.
James Hayes, the chief executive officer and co-founder of Mobials, says the partnership is a first of its kind within the Canadian automotive marketplace.
“The traditional review ecosystem works against dealers,” Hayes said. “We provide a solution to dealers that enables them to leverage verified consumer reviews where potential car buyers are searching today.”
The Reviewmii tool that Mobials offers allows dealers to display consumer reviews on the vehicle listings on autoTRADER.ca and its dealership website, much like its integration Auto Remarketing Canada highlighted with MonsterAuto.ca. TRADER believes the addition will help to “provide a competitive edge to dealers by showcasing their customers’ satisfaction and dealership service quality.”
“Poor consumer experience is a stigma that has plagued the car dealership business for decades,” says Robert Rath, vice president of dealership products and business development at TRADER. “But by giving the dealer the ability to highlight happy customer reviews, it can give potential buyers that extra sense of ease to select that dealership over another one that lists the same vehicle, for the same price.
“We are very excited to be working with such an innovative Canadian company like Mobials,” Rath added. “We believe that we are taking the necessary steps to provide value-added, and competitive driven solutions to our dealers, while at the same time working to improve the car buying experience for consumers.”
