vAuto - Is it worth the DOUGH?

[Alex Snyder]

ADP's webVehicle was the worst part of their entire "CRM Package" while we were on it. It was the worst thing I've ever seen for inventory management. We chose to do everything in excel and push inventory that way over using that garbage thing they called an inventory tool.

Sorry if you're reading this ADP, but you guys really need kill that thing and start over.

 

[joe.pistell]

Alex,

I read this post and thought it was another example of how the tool can be used. It may help your search: Velocity | DalePollak.com

 

[Alex Jefferson]

Thanks for the link Joe.

 

[joe.pistell]

Alex,

Just had my 1st real experience using the new merchandising module in vAuto. I wrote an email to Dale Pollak and he put it into his blog. It's an example of how I use vAuto.

A snip of the post is below:

...I’ve been exceptionally busy, (aren’t we all!?!) In the last few weeks, I’ve noticed my Cars.com lead count was way off (vs Autotrader.com). This problem forced me to finally take some time to look into the vAuto merchandising feature in greater depth. At the top of the Merchandising page is the “Site Summary†table. In the column titled “Missing Images†I noticed Cars.com had less pictures than Autotrader.com… a LOT less. Cars.com was off by 20%! Not good, but, what a discovery. This could be why my lead count was soft!


OK… now what?
Because both classified sites receive the same export, the number of vehicles with pictures should be nearly identical. I don’t care about ALL units missing pics on cars.com (because we all get behind in our picture taking), I just care about those that should be there. I needed a master list. After a quick check, the AutoTrader.com count looked right. So, if I use the AutoTrader.com list as the master pic list and compare it against the cars.com pic list that would do it! I vividly remember saying, “Naww… can’t happen… that would save me hours and hours of time.â€
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Full post is here: How Our Used Car Tool Made Another Happy Customer | Velocity | DalePollak.com

Hope this helps,

 

[jermaine926]

Is Vauto, First Look etc.. good for a used car dealer just starting out? I see a lot of dealerships who must have had some level of success using these tools to get better results or to correct mistakes they have been making in the past to be more efficient. Logic tells me why not start out with the best tools possible to avoid certain mistakes. But the cost of these tools may out way the pro's of having them in a small used car setting. Any thoughts?