I recently sat down and chatted with AutoLeadStar CEO Aharon Horwitz and discussed how technology is improving the speed in which dealers can make marketing decisions.

How are you working to improve the marketing speed in your dealership?

In the year since impound fees cost the used car industry $1.1B, new data shows maturing technology has made a positive impact

 IRVINE, Calif., October 10, 2019 — In its latest findings, Spireon, the vehicle intelligence company, has reported that in 2019, significantly more used vehicles have been recovered expeditiously from impound lots than in 2018. This faster recovery time has resulted in an estimated average savings of $107 per vehicle impounded.

Spireon data indicates that in 2019, 27.8 percent more vehicles were recovered from impound lots in less than a day. Meanwhile, vehicles accruing mounting fees in excess of one week to more than a month has improved by 27 percent since its 2018 findings.

“Last year’s data was pulled during a period when impound lot recovery technology powered by GPS was still in its early stages and did not yet have a strong foothold among dealers,” said Brian Deeley, Sr. Director, Product Management at Spireon. “However, since then, through gradual adoption and education, we are seeing the fruits of our labor pay off in the form of significant savings for both independent and BHPH dealers.”

Spireon’s latest findings, recently published in the latest annual NIADA Used Car Industry Report, are the second iteration of data analysis gathered from dealer surveys and Spireon’s NSpire IoT platform data tracked from nearly 4 million GPS-equipped vehicles. In its original 2018 report, the company identified the critical need for impounded vehicles to be recovered as early as possible before fees rise to disproportionate levels. In 2018, there were an estimated 76,000 impounds per day nationwide, nearly half of which stayed on an impound lot for four days or more — 22 percent at 15 days or more. In all, dealers, lenders, and consumers were left responsible for an astonishing $3.04 million in impound fees each day, or $1.1 billion per year. This year’s data depicts promising trends.

Other datapoints of interest in the 2019 report show Alaska (7.37 percent), Rhode Island (6.16 percent), and Ohio (4.86 percent) as having the highest impound rates in the nation. South Carolina, Oregon, and North Carolina lead the pack with the highest average time in impound, topping out at 20 days.

To learn more, download the full report here.

About Spireon

Spireon, the vehicle intelligence company, is the leading provider of aftermarket telematics solutions in North America. By equipping cars, trucks, trailers and other mobile assets with GPS devices and sensors, Spireon turns any vehicle into a connected vehicle. Award-winning products GoldStar, Kahu and FleetLocate deliver 24×7 asset visibility and actionable insights to auto dealers, lenders, transportation companies, service fleet managers, rental car companies and consumers to increase safety and productivity, boost profits and protect assets. Spireon’s NSpire IoT platform powers all Spireon solutions, supporting nearly 4 million active subscribers and processing more than 1 billion data events each month. Learn more at www.spireon.com.

About CDK Global, Inc.

 With $2 billion in revenues, CDK Global (Nasdaq:CDK) is a leading global provider of integrated information technology solutions to the automotive retail and adjacent industries. Focused on enabling end-to-end automotive commerce, CDK Global provides solutions to dealers in more than 100 countries around the world, serving approximately 30,000 retail locations and most automotive manufacturers. CDK solutions automate and integrate all parts of the dealership and buying process, including the acquisition, sale, financing, insuring, parts supply, repair and maintenance of vehicles. Visit cdkglobal.com. 

About WheelsTV 

WheelsTV is the creator and distributor of the industry-leading WheelsTV Showroom. This multi-award-winning interactive video test drive platform with over 5,800 personalizable videos is
helping millions of car buyers across America to quickly, easily and enjoyably select the best
vehicles for their needs while helping dealers and OEMs speed their sales process. WheelsTV is best known for its highly rated television series on Discovery Network, PBS, Speedvision,
Family Channel and Outdoor Life Network. WheelsTV is a program service of Automotive
Networks Corporation, headquartered in Acton, Massachusetts. Visit http://wheelstvnetwork.com/.

RevenueRadar’s new Strategic Growth Managers help dealerships re-engage and retain customers

DALLAS, September 26, 2019 – DealerSocket, Inc. is announcing a significant offering for its RevenueRadar tool with the launch of a team of Strategic Growth Managers dedicated to supporting and servicing dealers utilizing RevenueRadar. RevenueRadar is integrated into the company's Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software and is a predictive marketing tool that enables and promotes customer retention.

"Acquiring new customers is significantly more expensive than retaining existing ones," said Darren Harris, general manager of DealerSocket's CRM product suite. "We realize most dealers are not using their customer data to its full potential. RevenueRadar now offers a team of dedicated Strategic Growth Managers who will partner with our dealerships to help drive more cost-effective retention strategies."

DealerSocket's team of Strategic Growth Managers are experts in the auto industry. With an average of more than 21 years of automotive and in-house experience, including an average tenure of eight years at DealerSocket, many hold multiple OEM certifications and will offer consulting recommendations to the RevenueRadar opportunities generated by the software. The Strategic Growth Managers will consult with dealers on best practices to utilize within RevenueRadar, and they will share ideas on how to best approach customers. They will work with dealers to develop and implement processes, train staff, and create marketing strategies with campaign tracking, as well as provide analysis for retention opportunities. The Strategic Growth Managers are an additional consultative service DealerSocket is now offering. The new offering is in addition to DealerSocket's award-winning service the company's Customer Success Manager provides.

DealerSocket's new Strategic Growth Managers are available now. For more information on how to access the new consultative feature, or to get a demo, visit www.dealersocket.com/revenueradar.

About DealerSocket

DealerSocket is a leading provider of software for the automotive industry, offering a suite of seamlessly integrated products to help dealers sell and service vehicles more profitably, all while improving their customers' experience. DealerSocket's suite of products includes advanced Customer Relationship Management (CRM), innovative Digital Retail, Marketing and Websites, robust Vehicle Inventory Management, insightful Analytics Reporting, and solutions to streamline dealer operations such as Desking, Credit Reporting, Compliance, and an independent-geared Dealer Management System (DMS) for dealers of all sizes. DealerSocket's software has helped customers sell more than 100 million vehicles throughout its 18-year history. For more information, visit DealerSocket.com, or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Integration helps auto dealers manage expenses and efficiently prequalify potential buyers via soft credit pull

CoreLogic® (NYSE: CLGX), a leading global provider of property information, insight, analytics and data-enabled solutions, today announced that CoreLogic® Credco® integrated its Three-Bureau PreQual credit report and score solution on eLEND Solutions, an automotive technology company specializing in online and in-store credit and finance solutions. The integration of the prequalification solution gives CoreLogic Credco customers who use eLEND instant, single-source access to a consumer’s credit report and FICO® score from all three national credit bureaus – Experian®, TransUnion® or Equifax®.

The Three-Bureau PreQual solution from CoreLogic Credco is a soft inquiry credit report and score that provides dealers with an efficient, inexpensive and convenient way to prequalify potential buyers earlier in the sales cycle. The solution leverages a soft inquiry as opposed to a traditional credit report’s hard-pull, so a consumer’s credit score is not negatively impacted.

“We are excited to make our new Three-Bureau PreQual solution seamlessly available to all of the auto dealers currently using eLEND,” said Colby Park, senior leader, Automotive Credit Solutions for CoreLogic. “We have found that dealers like the solution because it allows them to effectively manage their credit reporting costs while efficiently pre-qualifying prospective car buyers earlier in the process. Consumers benefit because, unlike a traditional hard-pull credit report and score, it doesn’t negatively impact their credit score when it matters most – like when they are shopping for a car and trying to understand their eligibility for financing. It’s a win-win.”

“We’re dedicated to providing tools that help auto dealers sell cars faster to improve their profitability and the consumer experience,” said Pete MacInnis, CEO at eLEND Solutions. “Adding access to soft inquiry credit pulls through Three-Bureau PreQual will help set our auto dealer network up for future success by increasing speed and transparency within the sales cycle. Quickly providing access to additional insights into consumers’ credit standing, without impacting their credit score, will benefit consumers and auto salespeople alike.”

The Three-Bureau PreQual credit report and score is currently available by contacting CoreLogic Credco Specialists at (800) 694-1414 or via email at autocredco@corelogic.com. For more information on the Three-Bureau PreQual credit report and score from CoreLogic Credco, please visit https://credcoservices.com/credit-services/three-bureau-prequal-solution.

About CoreLogic

CoreLogic (NYSE: CLGX), the leading provider of property insights and solutions, promotes a healthy housing market and thriving communities. Through its enhanced property data solutions, services and technologies, CoreLogic enables real estate professionals, financial institutions, insurance carriers, government agencies and other housing market participants to help millions of people find, acquire and protect their homes. For more information, please visit www.corelogic.com.

CORELOGIC and the CoreLogic logo are trademarks of CoreLogic, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Agencies and Media Buyers Can Now Leverage Comscore’s IHS Markit Automotive Audience Segments in Local Broadcast TV at Scale

New York, NY and Atlanta, GA – August 28, 2019 – Hudson MX, a cloud-based modern software company solving the problems of local media, and Comscore, a trusted currency for planning, transacting and evaluating media across platforms, announced today a strategic partnership that will enable buyers of local TV to buy inventory against IHS Markit (formerly Polk) automotive audiences at scale.

Through Hudson MX’s AgencyCloud™ open APIs, Comscore’s IHS Markit automotive data will be seamlessly integrated into Hudson MX’s flagship product, BuyerAssist™. Now an agency’s local buying team can support agency customized audience estimates at scale, a development that will ultimately enhance the marketing effectiveness of local broadcast TV inventory.  

Advanced behavioral data for each individual program’s audience – such as ownership and purchase intention insights, in this case – has now become as readily available to buyers as traditional age/gender demographics.

“Behavior predicts behavior, demography does not,” said Steven Walsh, Executive Vice President, Local Markets with Comscore. “The bar has been raised and clients are looking more at value and relevance of audience and focusing less on age and gender. The Comscore IHS Markit Data being integrated into the Hudson MX platform isn’t derived from one-off, self reported surveys. It is data based on a privacy-conscious match of a home’s viewing against their automotive purchase history and proclivity for future vehicle purchases and service preferences. Automotive drives local advertising, but the demographic of ‘Men 25 to 54’ Is no longer a relevant surrogate even for that sector. Hudson MX is teeing up local television to evolve by making it easier for the buy-side to digest a great deal of information, use the insights to make more effective ad buys for this crucial sector, and move more cars off the lots.”

“Explicit data empowers the buyer with program-level targeting capability and advances the art of the buy,” said Will Batson, Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer of Hudson MX. “We learned from digital that targeted audience data makes inventory more valuable, but until now, activating this data at scale has been far too cumbersome due to the extensive labor and time required by the legacy systems. Through our software, we are empowering automotive clients, agencies, and local broadcasters to benefit from unprecedented behavioral intelligence and functionality. We are very excited to be partnering with Comscore and we look forward to further collaboration.”

About Hudson MX 

By creating modern software that empowers the local buyer of the future, Hudson MX is leveling the playing field between local TV buyers and their digital media peers.  In 2019 its BuyerAssist™ platform was used to process $2 billion of local media buys for 30 leading agencies in 210 markets, servicing 294 national advertisers. The world’s most respected media agencies and sellers are partnering with the Company to bring the process of local TV buying into the 21st Century for the benefit of today’s advertisers. Hudson MX is looking to build on its initial success and expand its offerings by recruiting the best and brightest for its New York and Atlanta dual headquarters.  

About Comscore

Comscore (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a trusted partner for planning, transacting and evaluating media across platforms. With a data footprint that combines digital, linear TV, over-the-top and theatrical viewership intelligence with advanced audience insights, Comscore allows media buyers and sellers to quantify their multiscreen behavior and make business decisions with confidence. A proven leader in measuring digital and TV audiences and advertising at scale, Comscore is the industry’s emerging, third-party source for reliable and comprehensive cross-platform measurement.

Carfax and Gubagoo Deliver Free Vehicle History Reports for Online Car Shoppers at Participating Dealerships

CENTREVILLE, Va. (August 26, 2019) – Carfax and Gubagoo, the leading provider of conversational commerce solutions for Automotive Dealerships and OEMs, have announced a partnership that enables car shoppers to seamlessly research vehicles online before buying. Consumers utilizing Gubagoo’s chat and digital retailing solutions on dealer websites will now have access to a free Carfax Vehicle History Report.

Gubagoo’s conversational commerce platform, which includes ChatSmart advanced live chat, Text+ for inbound/outbound texting, Publisher for behavior-based offers and incentives, and Gubagoo Virtual Retailing’s guided shopping experience, will now provide consumers with one-click access to Carfax Vehicle History Reports. Car shoppers can make confident decisions with access to information like prior accidents and damage, number of owners, service records and mileage.

“We are excited about this innovative partnership with Gubagoo to give car shoppers another avenue to research a vehicle before purchasing,” said Scott Fredericks, Carfax Vice President of Marketing. “We know consumer knowledge of the vehicle history improves trust with dealerships, leads to better informed buying decisions and increases sales conversion on used vehicle inventory.”

Dealerships partnered with both Carfax and Gubagoo can maximize their utility with this integration that enables them to provide greater transparency to car shoppers with easier access to Carfax reports.

“Gubagoo is excited to partner with Carfax,” said Brad Title, Gubagoo CEO. “We are constantly working to bring consumers and dealerships closer through omnichannel communication and transparency. We firmly believe that building trust with online shoppers in both online and offline channels is paramount to helping consumers make more informed buying decisions that meet individual needs.”

About Gubagoo
Gubagoo is the leading provider of conversational commerce solutions for Automotive Dealerships and OEMs. Used by more than 5,000 Dealerships, Gubagoo’s fully managed omni-channel messaging and digital retailing platforms instantly connect consumers to Dealerships anytime and anywhere through live chat, text, video, Facebook Messenger, and other digital messaging channels, converting high quality leads and appointments for Dealerships 24/7/365. For more information, visit www.gubagoo.com, e-mail hello@gubagoo.com or call 855-359-2573.

About Carfax

Carfax, a unit of IHS Markit (NYSE: INFO), helps millions of people every day confidently shop, buy, own and sell used cars with innovative solutions powered by Carfax vehicle history information. The expert in vehicle history since 1984, Carfax provides exclusive services like Carfax Used Car Listings, myCarfax, Carfax History-Based Value and the flagship Carfax® Vehicle History Report™ to consumers and the automotive industry. Carfax owns the world’s largest vehicle history database and is a nationally recognized top workplace by The Washington Post and Glassdoor.com. Shop, Buy, Own, Sell – Show me the Carfax™. Based in London, IHS Markit is a world leader in critical information, analytics and solutions.

Dealerships today operate in an environment where the consumer experience is a driving factor in dealership selection.  Ecommerce and other third-party disruptors are impacting customer expectations.  Additionally, margins have compressed.  There isn’t much room left for dealers to go.

With this as a reality today, efficiency becomes one way to maintain profitability and meet customer demands.

Dealerships have a distinct advantage over online-only retailers.   You have inventory for customers to view and staff on hand to answer any customer questions.  This has immense value.  The key is refining your process, maintaining these differentiators while streamlining the transaction.

How can you leverage efficiency to accomplish this? Here are some simple questions you can push your process through to gauge its efficiency.

Can you reduce the time it takes to complete your process?  We’ve all seen studies on the impact time has on your profitability and customer satisfaction.  Where can you eliminate areas in your process that add time and reduce trust? 

In my dealership experience, getting a deal approved and waiting for finance were two areas that took a lot of time.  There was typically a bottleneck in front of the finance office.  Obviously, dealers need that finance gross today.  But how can you speed up the process without sacrificing that back-end?

Can you reduce duplication?  What do I mean?  Customers are doing a lot of research online.  Can you move some of the offline steps that take time and let customers complete them in the comfort of their own homes?  In your process, can you identify and acknowledge those completed steps and pick up where they’ve left off?

This is one thing that drives me crazy about the doctor’s office.  I don’t visit often, but do I have to fill out that clipboard every time?  Don’t they have my information?

Also, few things frustrate a customer more than providing redundant information.  If a customer completes steps online, asking them to repeat them when they get to the store doesn’t help build trust.  And it’s very inefficient.

This requires a responsive sales process and salespeople who can identify customer needs and expectations.  You’ll need salespeople that aren’t robots.

Training can improve your efficiencies.  Too often, strategies that are engineered into the sales process aren’t communicated and trained with the team.  Salespeople don’t know what to do or why the change is being made.

Can your sales process reduce the steps salespeople need to do?  Are there steps that you’ve always done that you can remove and still provide a good experience while maintaining your margins? 

I think this is always a good question to ask.  You may find there are steps that have no impact on the final outcome.  Or maybe you can automate tasks to increase speed.  Is it possible that steps can be completed simultaneously to reduce the amount of time customers take?

I’m not saying that customers should be in and out in an hour.  I’m saying that your process makes it possible that they could be out that fast.  Customers should be the ones that direct the amount of time necessary, not the salesperson or the dealership.

I challenge you to audit your process and ask yourself how you can make it more efficient.  Efficiency is going to become more and more important as the retail evolves, and it puts you in a better position to improve your profitability.

Dealers can add value to vehicles by showcasing repair items

CHICAGO — August 15, 2019 — MAX Digital, the dealer-first digital retail software provider for the automotive industry, has released new functionality to its platform allowing dealers to highlight service upgrades completed in vehicle merchandising easily.

Dealerships using the MAX data platform, including MAX Digital Showroom and MAX Ad products are able to feature the work the dealership has done to get a used-car frontline ready. Repair items such as new wiper blades, oil changes, or new tires are displayed with simple icons in all vehicle ads.

 “Online shoppers and your sales staff are able to see the full value put into the vehicle they are considering purchasing,” said MAX Digital Executive Vice President, Mike Cavanaugh. “These items show the attention to maintenance the dealership is providing, driving up the value of the vehicle and supporting fair and transparent pricing.”

The service completed area can be fully customized by account, including naming conventions for any dealership. MAX Digital allows the ability to preset standard service bundles or items to automatically display, as well as custom vehicle detail. A specific dollar value can also be associated to individual items or service bundles.

For more information visit maxdigital.com or contact your MAX Digital representative.

About MAX Digital

Founded in 2011, MAX Digital was born from a rich history of innovation and continues the pioneering spirit of FirstLook by delivering the professional tools needed to help dealerships thrive into the future. MAX Digital empowers thousands of dealerships to transform their retail processes to sell more cars more profitably through award-winning inventory management and people-friendly digital retail solutions. MAX Digital was named Dealers’ Choice top inventory management system for 2019 in Auto Dealer Today, for more information visit maxdigital.com.

Auto dealers can now extend their in-store tools to the messaging channels customers prefer

ATLANTA, Aug. 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- LivePerson Automotive, a division of global conversational commerce solutions provider LivePerson, Inc. (NASDAQ: LPSN), announced today that TradePending's trade valuation tool will be integrated into LivePerson's conversational platform for auto dealers.

For consumers and dealers, trade is one of the most important elements of the car-buying and selling processes, as consumers rely on the trade-in value of their existing vehicle to fund their new one, while dealers use trade-ins as a source of profit in the certified and used car markets. According to National Automobile Dealers Association data, 60% of car sales in the United States involve trade-in.

Dealers who are mutual LivePerson Automotive and TradePending customers will be able to provide an omnichannel experience for consumers by extending the same trade-in valuation tool they use across digital properties and in-store processes to LivePerson's industry-leading conversational commerce platform. LivePerson Automotive's platform enables the trade-in experience to be delivered through preferred messaging channels — including SMS, Facebook Messenger, Android Messaging, WhatsApp, and Apple Business Chat — to increase lead volume and engage consumers in asynchronous messaging conversations that take place on the consumer's time.

The new integration, which launches on August 16, 2019, will provide access to TradePending features that produce high conversion rates, like predictive search and a simple user experience. TradePending works with around 8,000 dealers and websites, and their predictive search technology shows 26% form completion rates compared with 5% on traditional trade tools.

"What we're seeing here is a huge methodology shift for dealers," said Joe Dallas, chief business officer at TradePending. "Over the course of a natural messaging conversation, dealers are getting more connection points with their consumers, more detailed info about these new leads, and ultimately getting closer to a deal."

Dealers who are mutual TradePending and LivePerson Automotive customers will be able to activate TradePending in their LivePerson portal with the click of a button.

"From the simple user experience to the provisioning of local, market-centric data, dealers will see huge benefits through this integration," said Brian Abrams, senior director, product at LivePerson Automotive. "Combining that with omnichannel trade-in valuation across in-store and messaging, it's clear that together we're putting dealers in a better position — not only in terms of increased profit but also in the customer experience we're providing through engaging, multi-channel conversations."

For more information, start messaging with LivePerson Automotive at 678-648-6961.

About LivePerson Automotive
LivePerson Automotive (formerly known as Contact At Once! and AdvantageTec), a LivePerson Company, works with over 17,000 businesses powering them to build relationships with their customers throughout the full life cycle of the car from sales to service by offering the first product in the market to power the conversational dealership (and automaker) from browsing to buying, through servicing to trade-in. For more information about LivePerson Automotive, please visit www.livepersonautomotive.com.

About LivePerson, Inc. 
LivePerson makes life easier by transforming how people communicate with brands. Our 18,000 customers, including leading brands like HSBC, Orange, and The Home Depot, use our conversational commerce solutions to orchestrate humans and AI, at scale, and create a convenient, deeply personal relationship — a conversational relationship — with their millions of consumers. For more information about LivePerson (NASDAQ: LPSN), please visit www.liveperson.com.

Media Contact
Mike Tague
415-408-5607
mtague@liveperson.com