Technology driving franchise dealerships is more connected, more powerful, and faster than ever. As you strive to meet the needs of your customers (two out of three buyers surveyed by Cox Automotive want to complete 100% of the car buying process online¹), digital retailing has likely become your new go-to strategy. And with that new digital strategy, you’re likely rolling out new tools and tech. So, what do you do when your Dealer Management System (DMS) doesn’t work well with your new technology suite? When it comes to working well with others—having a DMS that is compatible by design is paramount. That’s what our dealer partners are saying.
Come Together, Right Now
“We are finally gonna go mobile!” For Tom Wood Auto Group, going mobile was the next logical step to delivering better service options, even before the events of 2020 struck. “With the new Dealertrack DMS system and the integration of xtime, our appointments, our walkarounds—all those systems—are right here,” explains Bill Demaree, Director of Fixed Operations for the auto group. Since the average dealer uses around seven different technology systems each time they make a sale², driving up the hidden cost of integration fees, Dealertrack’s open-source technology is uniquely designed to reduce fees and hidden costs that third parties tack on. And, since it’s backed by Cox Automotive, Dealertrack DMS already works with the family of Cox products that Tom Wood Auto Group uses. As Chad Kirchhoff, Director of Operations for the auto group explained, “What I like best is, it integrates with all the other Cox Automotive products that we use. We have Dealer.com, we have VinSolutions, we have vAuto…now they integrate seamlessly behind the scenes so we won’t have the ‘back and forth’ between the DMS and a third party system.” As the demand for more digital technology increases, a DMS that works well with others is highly suited for the job.
New Technology, Familiar Challenges
The process for selling and servicing cars may look different than a year ago, but your operation still faces the same challenges like hiring hard-to-fill roles and managing month-end. Dealertrack DMS now partners with best-in-class technology leaders to deliver integrated solutions. By seamlessly unlocking the data within your dealership, these offerings are able to provide powerful insights and address real challenges like turnover. For one dealer, Budd Baer Auto Group, connecting their DMS to Integrated Payroll, turned a mostly manual month-end payroll process into a point-and-click operation. “If I had to guess, we won back three to four labor days in a month,” explains Bryan Baer, General Manager.
A DMS, by design, simply must get along with your dealership. As the primary technology that fuels your operations, business ledger, service department, and more, a DMS touches multiple teams and departments creating either roadblocks or efficient workflows that result in accountable time- and cost-savings. Don’t just take our word for it, though…
The technology at the center of your business can deliver the unexpected. See what people are saying.
Sources:
¹2020 Cox Automotive Dealer Sentiment Survey
²2017 Cox Automotive Community Poll (small base)
A version of this article originally appeared on Wards Auto here.
