Learn More About Recon Advisor Automotive Solutions

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Learn how reconditioning software helps your dealership save money by providing a streamlined, collaborative and informed process.

To get trade-ins and auction purchases front-line ready dealers will make use of dry-erase boards, clipboards, google docs, spreadsheets, post-it notes or even pass file folders in an attempt to keep track of these vehicles and get them through the reconditioning process in some sort of manageable order.

We hear the response all the time that "I keep everything right here on this clipboard and it has all I need to know". Well, wouldn't it be nice if that clipboard also timed every step, sent notifications when a vehicle was updated, allowed for RO's to get approved from a touch of a button, included all of the DMS information for the vehicle, could be managed through your smart phone, and logged all of this for weekly and monthly email reports to all departments?

Why Use Reconditioning Software

Still want to use the clipboard? Well, what if I also told you that by reducing your average reconditioning time it can mean thousands of dollars saved each month and increase your bottom line which you get paid a percentage? It's like bringing a knife to a gun fight when there is money on the table and we want to be the ones who arm you in the ongoing battle to protect your bottom line. There is now a better way to track every vehicle through every department and it only requires a few touches of a button from each department.

Using reconditioning software to manage your workflow will provide transparency and accountability to a process that traditionally has had none. You will find when taking a closer look that money is being left on the table in the form of wasted time or inefficiencies that just would never of been caught using something like a google doc.

Your inventory is also your greatest depreciating asset and the clock is ticking, problem is that most don't even know they are in a race. Using reconditioning software pulls out the stopwatch and asks everyone to step up to the line and give the best they got. What we have found is when the timer is on departments will rise to the challenge to show how efficient they can be and be able to prove it with the software's reports. If someone decides to not race it is exposed and that bottleneck in the process can be addressed with facts to back it up.

What it comes down to is embracing technology to streamline processes that can get your inventory frontline ready and increase the chance of sale earlier in a vehicle's lifespan.

Custom Dealership Software Success

There are many benefits to having a piece of software designed to fit a dealership's process versus expecting a dealership to conform to a one size fits all software program.

How many programs does your dealership only use a portion of because so much of the software simply doesn't apply to how you would of liked to use it or what you wish it could do for you?

The solution is to have your software fitted to your dealership so it makes sense on all levels and you aren't left dodging unnecessary features and missing the ones you needed most.

Recon Advisor has a 98% retention level with cancel at anytime contracts.

The success of our software is directly related to how well we can capture your particular process and give you the means to manage that process in a way that works for all levels of your users.

Custom dealership software is successful because our staff of Recon Advisors all have years of retail experience and will work hand in hand with the dealer and our programers to translate what is exactly needed to replicate the dealership's process in their install and give them a platform that they are familiar with and makes sense to all levels of users from the GM down to the Detail department.

Don't Leave Money on the Table

The dealerships that survive the ups and downs of the economy do so by tightening up and being efficient on all areas of business. The reconditioning process is often overlooked as a source of where there is money being left on the table.

A dealers holding cost refers to the average daily cost of having a vehicle in their inventory.

Let's say that average is $40 a day and it is currently taking 7 days to get a vehicle through the reconditioning process.

That's $280 of time cost spent on the reconditioning process. So if you are reconditioning 60 cars a month your time costs would run you about $16,800 a month.

Just shaving one day off this process would save $2,400 a month- not bad right? Well take a moment and use our Recon Calculator to see what your dealership could save by shaving just one day off of your process.

Opening the Lines of Communication in Your Dealership

Trying to keep all of the departments in a dealership such as Sales, Service, Parts, Detail, and Body all in sync with each other can be quite a task to overcome.

Dealerships are unique in the way that each department are basically separate businesses all operating under the same rooftop, each with their own sets of goals and standards for success. The reconditioning process has to be able to coexist and be held to a standard amongst each of these departments.

Trying to keep all of the departments in a dealership such as Sales, Service, Parts, Detail, and Body all in sync with each other can be quite a task to overcome. Dealerships are unique in the way that each department are basically separate businesses all operating under the same rooftop, each with their own sets of goals and standards for success. The reconditioning process has to be able to coexist and be held to a standard amongst each of these departments.

First thing that has to happen to accomplish this is to make sure that this process is being properly communicated from one department to the next. Phone calls, emails, and footing the information can be time consuming and bothersome and can get in the way of everyday business so things tend to not get communicated.

Recon Advisor provides an easy way to allow all departments to communicate to each other and hold each other to a standard of how that information should be delivered. By pushing a vehicle into a new department's queue they are instantly notified that the ball is now in their court and any notes for the vehicle are attached and follows through all departments so nothing is ever left off or lost from one step to the next.

Communication is vital to a streamlined efficient process so by making it easy to communicate vital vehicle information and notes you will be on your way to avoiding miscommunications that are costly and can set your reconditioning process back.

Decreasing your time to market

Inventory turn times are getting shorter and shorter as dealers are using technology to predict their likely-hood of selling beyond those times, necessity of dumping old age inventory, floor plans, and keeping fresh vehicles on the lot.

Let's say we have a target turn time of 45 days and of that 45 days it takes 7 days for that vehicle from the point of acquiring it to get it to the front-line fully reconditioned and pictured. You are already reducing that vehicle's chance of sale by 16% (7/45 days) before having to drastically reduce the price or send it to the auction. Let's not forget about the opportunities lost when the customer drives by and sees it sitting on the back lot but they can't take a look at it because it probably still has McDonald's wrappers on the floor or can't be test driven because you don't know if it is safe to drive yet.

There can be natural friction between the sales and service departments because the service may not necessarily care so much about the sales department's vehicles when they have their own customers to worry about. So getting that back lot cleared out and frontline ready may be taking the back seat to higher paying customer pay vehicles.

Setting a standard process for the sales department to communicate to the service department what vehicles need to go through the reconditioning process is the first step in ensuring the reconditioning vehicles are making it front-line ready in an expected time. The service department will welcome this organized approach to output these vehicles in a predictable manner and everyone comes out a winner.