As more and more of the car-buying process moves online, dealerships across the country are demanding more from the technology solutions that drive their business. According to a 2020 Cox Automotive COVID-19 Dealer Impact Study, more than 70% of consumers are completing part of the buying process online. With so much riding on how well your technology runs, one this clear: your DMS has big shoes to fill. So it’s a no brainer that a DMS that integrates solutions and speeds up efficiencies is helping dealers meet that demand.
“We used to have to custom report or hand- create reports. And now we can just click download and five minutes later we’re onto the next task. If I had to guess, we won back three to four labor days in a month.” – Bryan Baer, General Manager Budd Baer Auto Group
When Manual Processes Slow You Down
Every dealership deals with custom—and often complex—reporting. For Budd Baer Auto Group, some reports were taking up so much of his accounting team’s bandwidth that General Manager Bryan Baer would often step in and take on the complicated algorithms himself. But, in early 2020, Dealertrack DMS partnered with Netchex to deliver an advanced Payroll solution that integrated through the DMS software directly, and Budd Baer Auto Group was one of the first franchise groups to test it out. The results were pretty clear. By delivering process improvements across the entire human resources team and advanced, accurate reporting, the dealership was able to win back significant time. “We used to have to custom report or hand- create reports. And now we can just click download and five minutes later we’re onto the next task.” Bryan Baer explains. “If I had to guess, we won back three to four labor days in a month.”
Integrated Solutions Are the Key to Going Digital
Dealers looking to meet the needs of today’s challenging market know that reliance on technology is a given. But, tech-savvy dealers are demanding their vendors do more of the heavy lifting. If your technology doesn’t play well with others, you’re going to have a problem. That’s likely because the average automotive transaction now requires seven different software solutions just to complete a sale. It’s so significant, it’s one of the top reasons dealers are making the move. “What I like best (about Dealertrack DMS) is it integrates with all the other Cox Automotive products that we use.” explains Chad Kirchhoff, Director of Operations at Tom Wood Automotive Group. “We have Dealer.com, we have vin solutions, we have vAuto, and the other products that we have from them, they’ll now integrate seamlessly behind the scenes so we won’t have the ‘back and forth’ between the DMS and a third party system.”
The Stakes Have Never Been Higher
The move to a more digital and streamlined workflow for dealers has been spurred by recent events in 2020. With many dealers working with reduced or remote staff, the demand for technology that improved the sales process and built a better customer experience was paramount. As Mandi Fang, VP of Back Office and Fixed Ops for Dealertrack DMS recently stated, “Time is money and the stakes have never been higher for dealers to optimize their workflows.” By working with technology vendors to provide best-in-class integrated solutions, it appears that our partners in the automotive industry are fighting back against the challenges they are facing. Mandi Fang explains, “The new Dealertrack DMS integrations ensure dealers are getting the support they need to eliminate inefficiencies and navigate the uncertainty of the current environment.”
A DMS that does more—by offering integrated solutions that drive improved processes and efficiencies—is a DMS that delivers. Start demanding more from your technology. Read Budd Baer Auto Group’s full story and learn about Payroll powered by Netchex.
