[June 13, 2013]

vAuto®, VinSolutions® Integrate Used Vehicle Appraising, Pricing Tools

vAuto and VinSolutions announce integrated used vehicle appraisal and pricing features for dealer customers who use both systems.

"This integration marks another step in our effort to provide software solutions that drive greater efficiencies, process improvements and profitability for dealers," says Keith Jezek, president of AutoTrader™ Group's (ATG (News - Alert)) Software Division. "In particular, this integration helps dealers deliver more customer-satisfying and seamless appraisals of vehicles, and makes it easier for dealers to align their used vehicle pricing to the current market."

The integration brings elements of vAuto's Appraising and Pricing tools into the VinSolutions customer relationship management (CRM) system's used vehicle inventory module.

"Typically dealers lose efficiency and productivity as they toggle between systems to appraise and price vehicles," says Brian Skutta, vice president and general manager for VinSolutions. "Now, for dealers who use vAuto and VinSolutions, our new two-way integration is a 'best of both worlds' scenario that allows dealership personnel to easily access the information and tools they need while working in a single system."

The 'single-system' integration offers three key benefits:

Customer-Centered Appraisals: The appraisal process in many dealerships is problematic for customers. Typically, salespeople must leave their customers to physically check on the status of the appraisal-an absence most customers don't appreciate.

With the integration, a dealership's used vehicle manager can complete a vAuto-powered appraisal in the VinSolutions system. When the appraisal is complete, the salesperson receives an automated alert and can instantly access and share the appraisal details with customers. Similarly, a salesperson can print an appraisal voucher for customers who want to consider the offer and come back to sell or trade their vehicle at the dealership.

"Salespeople don't like to leave their customers during appraisals-and now they don't have to," Skutta says. "Likewise, the integration eliminates double-entry of appraisal information, which minimizes errors and saves time."

Productive, Market-Smart Pricing: In the VinSolutions system, dealers can now access vAuto's Pricing tool "Gauge Page" with a single click. The "Gauge Page" is a robust interface that lets dealers base their used vehicle pricing decisions on real-time market comparisons and data, as well as the profitability potential of each car.

"A growing number of dealers understand that their used vehicles must always be competitively priced to appeal to today's price-smart buyers," says Jim Menard, vice president and general manager for vAuto. "The integration's single-click Gauge Page access saves dealers significant time by instantly giving them the real-time insights they need to make market-smart pricing decisions."

Efficient, "Workflow-Smart" User Access: With the integration, the VinSolutions and vAuto systems "remember" individual dealership users and their workflows-instantly taking them to the screens and tools they need. This efficiency-focused enhancement effectively lets users "pick up where they leave off," Menard say.

Integration Reflects Auto Trader Group Investment In Dealers' Success

In the past three years, Auto Trader Group (ATG) has acquired Homenet®, vAuto and VinSolutions. Each company is now a business unit within ATG's Software Division. Across the division, the business units are collaborating to enhance existing solutions and develop new shared solutions and tools that provide greater value for dealers.

"The vAuto/VinSolutions integration is only the beginning of key initiatives underway across ATG's software division business units to help our dealers gain a competitive advantage and achieve higher levels of success," Jezek says.

About vAuto (www.vauto.com)

vAuto provides innovative technology, tools and business intelligence to help dealers improve their used vehicle department sales and profits. vAuto's Provision® Suite offers premium products that guide used vehicle acquisition, appraisals, pricing, merchandising and transparent sales processes for dealers based on real-time supply-and-demand data in their markets. vAuto Genius (News - Alert) Labs provides smart, simple and stand-alone solutions that address everyday used vehicle management challenges. Today, thousands of dealerships across the United States and Canada rely on vAuto's industry-leading solutions. vAuto's visionary founder Dale Pollak's latest book is Velocity Overdrive: The Road to Reinvention. The book is the third in his Velocity series, which guides dealers to greater success through the Velocity Method of Management™. Headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook, IL., vAuto maintains a research and development center in Austin, TX, and vAuto Genius Labs office in Longmont, CO. vAuto is a wholly owned subsidiary of AutoTrader™ Group. Additional information about vAuto is available at www.vauto.com.

About VinSolutions (www.vinsolutions.com)

VinSolutions helps auto dealers attract, serve and retain customers through desktop and mobile-based software solutions that improve the performance and profitability of each dealership department. The "Complete Dealership Solution" offers an all-in-one platform that helps dealers of any size position their new/used vehicles for maximum appeal, engage and track customers as they seek vehicles and service, maximize the profitability of each showroom or service visit, increase customer satisfaction with each online and in-store experience and enable long-term customer relationships. Individual VinSolutions systems help dealers improve inventory management and distribution, market pricing, marketing, websites, ILM (Internet Lead Management), CRM (Customer Relationship Management), desking and finance and service. VinSolutions supports its dealer customers through best-practice based retail consultation, process training and responsive customer care. The company's software solutions are certified by leading OEMs and DMS providers, and have received industry awards including the Automotive Website Award for Best Integrated Website Platform and the Driving Sales Innovation Cup. The company, which has been named to the Inc. 500 for three consecutive years, became a subsidiary of the AutoTrader™ Group in 2011. VinSolutions headquarters are located in Overland Park, KS. More information is available at www.vinsolutions.com.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20130613005369/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]