All-New, Enhanced Tools Provide Transparency and Efficiency Across Inventory Acquisition to Fixed Operations 

Kelley Blue Book, the No. 1 most trusted third-party automotive resource, is leaning into the first-ever virtual NADA with enhanced digital solutions that offer consumers a more seamless trade-in, car-buying, and owning experience while helping to ensure dealerships achieve greater efficiencies without sacrificing profitability. Kelley Blue Book's newest offerings featured at NADA 2021 include Kelley Blue Book® Instant Cash Offer Buying Signals and Featured Auto Repair Center. 

"Last year was full of unexpected challenges and, ultimately, accelerated innovation. We are eager to maintain that momentum through our latest digital solutions," said Randy Kobat, vice president of operations for Inventory Management Solutions at Cox Automotive. "And while some of 2020's problems are rolling into 2021, acquiring profitable inventory and understanding consumers' intent to purchase shouldn't be negatively impacting your business by not knowing more about the consumers coming to your store." 

Kelley Blue Book® Instant Cash Offer Buying Signals Kelley Blue Book builds on its existing Instant Cash Offer tool to tap into data-driven insights to help unlock the full potential of dealerships' Instant Cash Offers to customers. The industry-leading tool analyzes customer shopping behavior data from across Cox Automotive data sources to provide a more complete picture of the consumer, allowing for a more targeted approach to offers, and an understanding of their vehicle shopping preferences and purchase timeline without having to manually dig through data. In fact, Kelley Blue Book Instant Cash Offer leads with Buying Signals had a transaction completion rate nearly 24% better than leads without Buying Signals, whether the vehicle was sold through Instant Cash Offer or elsewhere, from July through October 2020.1 

"When a dealership starts the conversation knowing where customers are in their buying journey, they are taking a targeted approach to leads while providing a personalized customer experience," said Kobat. "These actionable insights enable better engagement with consumers and a data-driven way to acquire profitable inventory." 

Kelley Blue Book Instant Cash Offer Buying Signals appear alongside the Instant Cash Offer within the Dealer Admin Tool and shoppers are tagged according to their purchase timeline, including "Casually Browsing," "Actively Shopping," and "Ready to Buy." Plus, dealerships see shopping preferences like the year, make, model, mileage, and more. 

"As an Instant Cash Offer client for many years, this tool has become a vital piece of our inventory acquisition process. Leveraging the data and information from one of the most trusted brands in the automotive market has helped us own more cars for less," said Jonathan Hakes, used vehicle inventory director at Dorschel VW. "With new functionality from Kelley Blue Book's Instant Cash Offer Buying Signals, we are eager to take our data-driven approach to the next level. The more we know about a customer, the better the experience we can deliver and make the most of that opportunity." 

Kelley Blue Book® Featured Auto Repair Center allows franchise dealers to turn KBB.com's millions of service-ready consumer visits per month into new business. In fact, 63% of service customers coming from KBB.com are new to participating dealerships.2 Consumers are increasingly looking for guidance on key maintenance, repair, and recall questions, including pricing. The Service and Repair Guide on KBB.com provides consumers with the trusted information they need to make confident decisions about their vehicles and connects them with Featured Auto Repair Center dealerships that can do the work. Also, Kelley Blue Book's Fair Repair Range guides owners on service and repair price ranges based on regionalized service pricing. 

If dealerships are looking to protect their market share and beat out local competition, as a Premium Featured Auto Repair Center dealer, dealerships can claim brand-exclusive placement on KBB.com's Service and Repair Guide for their area, making it the first listing consumers see when searching for dealerships to service their vehicles. 

The 2021 NADA Show will be held via a virtual experience February 9-11, 2021. To learn more about Kelley Blue Book Instant Cash Offer Buying Signals, visit https://b2b.kbb.com/ico/buying-signals/. To learn more about Featured Auto Repair Center, visit https://b2b.kbb.com/featured-auto-repair-center/. 

About Kelley Blue Book (www.kbb.com)  

Founded in 1926, Kelley Blue Book, The Trusted Resource®, is the vehicle valuation and information source trusted and relied upon by both consumers and the automotive industry. Each week the company provides market-reflective values on its top-rated website KBB.com, including its famous Blue Book® Trade-In Values and Kelley Blue Book® Price Advisor tool, which provides a range for what consumers can reasonably expect to pay for a vehicle in their area. Car owners looking to sell immediately can also get a redeemable, transaction-ready offer with Kelley Blue BookSM Instant Cash Offer. The company also provides vehicle pricing and values through various products and services available to car dealers, auto manufacturers, finance and insurance companies, and governmental agencies. Kelley Blue Book is a Cox Automotive brand.  

About Cox Automotive 

Cox Automotive Inc. makes buying, selling, owning and using vehicles easier for everyone. The global company's more than 27,000 team members and family of brands, including Autotrader®, Clutch Technologies, Dealer.com®, Dealertrack®, Kelley Blue Book®, Manheim®, NextGear Capital®, VinSolutions®, vAuto® and Xtime®, are passionate about helping millions of car shoppers, 40,000 auto dealer clients across five continents and many others throughout the automotive industry thrive for generations to come. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises Inc., a privately-owned, Atlanta-based company with annual revenues of nearly $20 billion. www.coxautoinc.com 

1 Cox Automotive Data Analysis, July-October 2020 

2 Xtime Product Analytics Data Average 9/16/19-11/30/20 

SOURCE Kelley Blue Book 

For further information: Brenna Buehler, 949-473-6595, Brenna.Buehler@coxautoinc.com 

Automotive Marketing Platform Powered by VinSolutions Uses Automation and AI to Help Optimize Marketing Efforts Across Dealership Departments

MISSION, Kansas, January 26, 2021 – Dealers share a common goal to engage customers and maximize profits but doing so efficiently while minimizing marketing spend can prove challenging. With the new Automotive Marketing Platform powered by VinSolutions, dealers can elevate their marketing without increasing their workload. Automotive Marketing Platform is a marketing tool that integrates with the CRM providing an end-to-end view across marketing and sales. This enables dealers to leverage data insights and automate workflows to deliver personalized experiences across the ownership lifecycle. Ultimately, Automotive Marketing Platform is the complete package for driving consumer engagement and helping to maximize ROI.

“Until now, dealerships had to manage campaigns across different departments, vendors and marketing channels, which inevitably created inconsistencies, depleted resources and compressed ROI,” said Tracy Fred, vice president of operations for Cox Automotive brands VinSolutions, Xtime and Dealertrack DMS. “With centralization and automation, Automotive Marketing Platform addresses the reality that two-thirds of a salesperson’s time is typically spent on non-revenue-generating activities like managing different tools across departments and duplicate data entry.[1]”

Automotive Marketing Platform helps protect dealership revenue with improved customer engagement, greater efficiency in marketing spend, increased marketing reach across departments, time-saving automation and centralization, and superior campaign performance. Key features include:

• CRM Integration: Marketing activity is stored directly in the customer record in VinSolutions’ Connect dealership CRM instead of another tool, making it easier to guide personalized conversations, determine next steps and avoid duplicated efforts that frustrate customers and team members alike.
• Automated Marketing Workflows: Marketing outreach is informed by data science and real customer behaviors, creating a series of “if, then” scenarios throughout the process that allows communication to be both automated and personalized.
• Data Insights: Cox Automotive proprietary data identifies the types of customers who are most likely to be ready to buy based on their online behavior, maximizing sales opportunities, and proactively converting leads before they are even submitted.
• Automated Offers Engine: With access to customer data from Kelley Blue Book and Autotrader, Automotive Marketing Platform sends customers personalized offers, matching them with current inventory and including personalized payment recommendations based on their equity position and applicable incentives data.
• Marketing Account Manager: All campaigns built in Automotive Marketing Platform are backed by the support of a dedicated Marketing Account Manager, an automotive marketing specialist who guides and executes the dealership’s strategic marketing direction.
• Dashboard/Reporting: A robust reporting dashboard enables dealerships to quickly understand the performance of campaigns and channels so impactful adjustments can be made effectively, helping to maximize ROI on marketing spend.
• Marketing Channels: Recommendations and automated CRM tasks ensure customers are reached on the right channels, including email, phone calls, and Facebook/Instagram ads.

“One of the greatest strengths of Automotive Marketing Platform is being able to target customers with the right message, at the right time—at the right moment when the customer is most likely to act and create opportunities for our stores,” added Justin Harmon, Marketing Director, Eide Automotive Group.

The Automated Marketing Platform joins VinSolutions’ portfolio of products that leverage data science and artificial intelligence, including Connect Automotive Intelligence. In addition to providing salespeople with insights to better understand their customers, dealers will now be able to use Connect AI Buying Signals as a lead source with the new automated lead creation functionality. Connect AI and Automotive Marketing Platform can be purchased separately as well as integrate seamlessly to create even more powerful and accurate customer engagement.

To learn more about Automotive Marketing Platform powered by VinSolutions, visit www.vinsolutions.com.

About VinSolutions
As the provider of Connect CRM, Connect Automotive Intelligence, and the supporting suite of Connect solutions, VinSolutions helps more than 6,000 dealers make every connection count. VinSolutions’ industry-leading tools—including customizable customer relationship management, artificial intelligence, and desking—help dealerships drive more leads, increase profits, and accelerate the path to purchase. Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Mission, Kansas, VinSolutions fosters dealership success by providing a fully customizable suite of solutions, including equity mining, market pricing and desking tools, combined with the continuous, personal support of a designated Performance Manager. VinSolutions is OEM certified by every major manufacturer and is Autosoft, CDK, Reynolds & Reynolds and Dealertrack DMS certified. www.vinsolutions.com

About Cox Automotive
Cox Automotive Inc. makes buying, selling, owning and using vehicles easier for everyone. The global company’s more than 27,000 team members and family of brands, including Autotrader®, Clutch Technologies, Dealer.com®, Dealertrack®, Kelley Blue Book®, Manheim®, NextGear Capital®, VinSolutions®, vAuto® and Xtime®, are passionate about helping millions of car shoppers, 40,000 auto dealer clients across five continents and many others throughout the automotive industry thrive for generations to come. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises Inc., a privately-owned, Atlanta-based company with annual revenues of nearly $20 billion. www.coxautoinc.com

Media Contact:
Lisa Aloisio
Lisa.Aloisio@coxautoinc.com
c. 404.725.0651

Vinessa Allows Salespeople to Lean on Tech to Maximize Sales Opportunities Without Maxing Out Dealership Resources

MISSION, Kansas, January 26, 2021 – As dealerships look for new ways to connect with customers outside of the showroom and pursue leads in today’s digital world, technology is becoming an increasingly useful addition to sales teams. Vinessa™, VinSolutions’ AI-powered, CRM-integrated virtual assistant, allows salespeople to prioritize their time more efficiently thanks to the ability to vet leads by providing human-like customer engagement at the early stages of the sales process. With Vinessa’s help, salespeople can guide more customers through their unique paths to purchase, increase conversion rates and ultimately boost profits for the entire business.

“Dealership staff are tasked with filtering through massive volumes of online leads–-and dedicating the necessary resources to vetting and communicating with every customer can get in the way of salespeople doing what they do best—selling vehicles and closing deals,” said Tracy Fred, vice president of operations for Cox Automotive brands VinSolutions, Xtime and Dealertrack DMS. “As the consumer path to purchase continues to evolve and default to digital, it also means a 24/7 sales cycle. Dealerships need to be ready to engage with prospects around the clock in a scalable and cost-effective way.”

Using CRM artificial intelligence, machine learning and data provided by the dealership, Vinessa can answer questions from online and showroom sales leads about inventory availability, vehicle features and more, as well as schedule follow-up tasks for staff. Vinessa provides more qualified leads and ensures that no sales opportunity falls through the cracks whether an early-stage lead or one submitted after hours. With data provided by the dealership, Vinessa is also supported by VinSolutions Performance Managers who will help ensure the dealer gets the most out of the tool so partners can be confident that Vinessa is effectively guiding customers through their unique paths to purchase and delivering sales conversions.

Vinessa’s key features include:

• CRM Integration that captures all customer communication from Vinessa directly within the customer record, with in-CRM alerts to ensure preparedness when meeting the customer where they are in the car buying process.
• Appointment Setting that enables salespeople to stay focused on advanced selling tasks with Vinessa's ability to schedule showroom appointments with customers on a salesperson's behalf.
• Lead Nurturing to engage customers 24/7, Vinessa can respond to leads after hours and follow up on conversations when salespeople are unavailable.
• Smart Conversations using powerful artificial intelligence and natural language processing Vinessa can understand customer questions and provide real-time answers about inventory and schedule follow-up appointments to keep customers moving through the journey to purchase.
• Reporting Features record and detail all of Vinessa’s customer interactions in a dashboard to help dealership staff better understand and measure Vinessa’s contribution to sales.  
• Customizable Engagement Settings allow dealers to control how and when Vinessa responds to leads, including who to assign appointments to and if Vinessa should automatically turn off when a salesperson takes over customer communication directly.
• Connect Automotive Intelligence Integration enables Sentiment Analysis on customer interactions with Vinessa when the products are combined, which allows dealers to identify trends in customer communication and quickly resolve issues in the event of dissatisfaction.

“Vinessa is not only a backstop for missed communications; it’s also a strong driver for two-way communications. I strongly believe our two-way connections, appointment set rate, and customer satisfaction will all continue to improve,” said Chad Humm, Digital Performance Manager at D-Patrick Auto Group in Evansville, Indiana. “We chose Vinessa over other virtual assistant tools based on its integrations with all of our Cox Automotive tools especially with Connect CRM. Vinessa’s conversations live in the CRM.”

To learn more about Vinessa, the VinSolutions Virtual Assistant, visit www.VinSolutions.com.

About VinSolutions
As the provider of Connect CRM, Connect Automotive Intelligence, and the supporting suite of Connect solutions, VinSolutions helps more than 6,000 dealers make every connection count. VinSolutions’ industry-leading tools—including customizable customer relationship management, artificial intelligence, and desking—help dealerships drive more leads, increase profits, and accelerate the path to purchase.  Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Mission, Kansas, VinSolutions fosters dealership success by providing a fully customizable suite of solutions, including equity mining, market pricing and desking tools, combined with the continuous, personal support of a designated Performance Manager. VinSolutions is OEM certified by every major manufacturer and is Autosoft, CDK, Reynolds & Reynolds and Dealertrack DMS certified. www.vinsolutions.com

About Cox Automotive
Cox Automotive Inc. makes buying, selling, owning and using vehicles easier for everyone. The global company’s more than 27,000 team members and family of brands, including Autotrader®, Clutch Technologies, Dealer.com®, Dealertrack®, Kelley Blue Book®, Manheim®, NextGear Capital®, VinSolutions®, vAuto® and Xtime®, are passionate about helping millions of car shoppers, 40,000 auto dealer clients across five continents and many others throughout the automotive industry thrive for generations to come. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises Inc., a privately-owned, Atlanta-based company with annual revenues of nearly $20 billion. www.coxautoinc.com

Media Contact:
Lisa Aloisio
Lisa.Aloisio@coxautoinc.com
c. 404.725.0651

New integration of Ford Accelerate and vAuto’s Stockwave boosts buying power for Ford dealer base through personalized local market insights and stocking recommendations

OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill., Dec. 17, 2020 – Ford Credit’s dealer-direct purchasing site, Accelerate, is now integrated with vAuto’s Stockwave used vehicle platform, vAuto announced today. Helping save time and energy, the new integration helps eliminate the guesswork of what will sell and for how much for Ford and Lincoln dealerships through real-time local market data and pricing insights that match upstream off-lease inventory to the right market faster.

“As new vehicle inventory remains tight in today’s environment, a strong and efficient used car operation grounded in data has become a key pillar of success for OEMs and their dealer bases,” said Patrick Janes, business development director for vAuto’s Stockwave. “By integrating Ford Accelerate and Stockwave, dealerships can let the local market data drive their purchase decisions to help ensure that when they bring an off-lease vehicle to the lot, it will always make a profit.”

In addition to automatically factoring in aspects of vAuto’s Live Market View for more informed, investment-minded decisions, the integration provides Ford and Lincoln dealerships with personalized buying and stocking level recommendations based on their sales velocity and target days’ supply. This allows them to communicate more seamlessly with their OEM to analyze and buy inventory more effectively and efficiently than ever before.

“Today's car shoppers are very clear about their vehicle preferences so we can’t afford to fly blind when it comes to stocking decisions,” said Mark Rodgers, general sales manager for Koons Ford in Baltimore.  “Having vAuto Stockwave’s insights and recommendations directly inside Ford Accelerate puts our finger right on the pulse of local market demand as we manage inventory.”

For more information on Stockwave, visit www.vauto.com/products/stockwave/.  

About vAuto
vAuto® provides innovative technology, tools and business intelligence to thousands of dealerships across the United States and Canada, helping them compete more effectively and increase new/used vehicle sales volumes and profits. Founded in 2005, vAuto revolutionized dealers’ used vehicle operations with the groundbreaking Provision® suite of tools. Leveraging The Velocity Method of Management®, pioneered by vAuto founder, Dale Pollak, Provision helped dealers adopt a more transparent- and turn-focused approach to used vehicle acquisition, appraising, pricing and merchandising based on real-time, local market supply-and-demand data. vAuto’s solutions also include Conquest, a new vehicle inventory management and pricing system, and Stockwave, which enables dealers to efficiently find and purchase vehicles from leading wholesale sources via a single platform. In 2018, vAuto released the Provision ProfitTime metric and methodology to help dealers maximize inventory turn and gross profit based on the investment value or profit potential of each vehicle. In 2020, the company debuted an all new iRecon solution, integrated with Provision, to help dealers recondition vehicles and get them retail ready faster.

Headquartered near Chicago, Illinois, vAuto is a Cox Automotive™ brand.

About Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company is a global company based in Dearborn, Michigan. The company designs, manufactures, markets and services a full line of Ford cars, trucks, SUVs, electrified vehicles and Lincoln luxury vehicles, provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company and is pursuing leadership positions in electrification; mobility solutions, including self-driving services; and connected services. Ford employs approximately 188,000 people worldwide. For more information regarding Ford, its products and Ford Motor Credit Company, please visit www.corporate.ford.com.

Media Contact

Lisa Aloisio

Lisa.aloisio@coxautoinc.com

c. 404.725.0651

###

A simple, personal, and comprehensive approach to customer reviews
 

Burlington, Vt., November 10, 2020 – As the car shopping journey moves increasingly online, more consumers are turning to each other for guidance on products and services. Today, customer reviews have emerged as one of the top factors that people consider when selecting a business, but dealerships often lack an efficient, easy way to solicit reviews while the experience is still top of mind. To help dealerships bolster their reputation management and get the most volume and frequency of customer reviews, Dealer.com is launching a new Review Generation solution that makes managing a constant stream of personalized reviews simple for dealership staff and straightforward for the customer. Dealer.com is making it easier for dealerships to attract and promote customer reviews which ultimately strengthen a dealer’s local SEO, proactively attracting shoppers while earning customer loyalty.

“An overwhelming majority of consumers say that positive reviews are a primary consideration when deciding to use a business,” said Erica Danford, head of Managed Services at Dealer.com. “Ratings and reviews are the second-most influential contributor to a solid local SEO strategy, which makes Dealer.com’s Review Generation enhancements an essential component for success and searchability. Ultimately, the constant stream of customer review content can contribute to a stronger local SEO impact, reinforce dealership reputation, and can work to attract new shoppers.”

Review Generation offers dealerships a personalized way to request and collect consumer reviews, elevating the voice-of-the-customer using an always-on SMS-based review growth strategy, which includes:

• - Sending personalized automated or manual SMS text review invitations from your salesperson to the customer as soon as the transaction is complete, so their experience is still top of mind.
• - Reaching customers via text, a familiar communication tool that has a 98%[1] average open rate and doesn’t require apps, accounts, or passwords making the process painless for the reviewer.
• Distributing reviews for both sales and service to Google My Business locations for no additional cost which creates a holistic customer review portfolio across channels that helps boost local SEO to attract new shoppers.
• -Giving dealers the control to select what review sites its solicited reviews will appear on and the order in which they are listed.
• -Identifying performance opportunities across the dealership and to get more reviews with analytics and reporting while preventing spam messages from being sent.

For more information on Review Generation, visit https://www.dealer.com/products/managed-services/social/#reviewgeneration.

About Dealer.com

Backed by unmatched expertise and unrivaled consumer behavior data, Dealer.com is the premier digital marketing solution for the automotive industry. Providing an integrated platform of Websites, Advertising, Digital Retailing and Managed Services, Dealer.com allows OEMs, dealer groups, retailers and agencies to leverage advanced digital technology, data and insights to deliver the shortest, fastest and most personalized path to customer engagement, delivering over 43M unique visitors monthly across 15,000 plus Dealer.com websites. The company practices a deep commitment to its culture of progress, with a focus on community, health, and wellness. Based in Burlington, Vermont, Dealer.com is a Cox Automotive brand. For more information, visit www.dealer.com.

About Cox Automotive

Cox Automotive Inc. makes buying, selling, owning and using cars easier for everyone. The global company’s 27,000-plus team members and family of brands, including Autotrader®, Clutch Technologies, Dealer.com®, Dealertrack®, Kelley Blue Book®, Manheim®, NextGear Capital®, VinSolutions®, vAuto® and Xtime®, are passionate about helping millions of car shoppers, 40,000 auto dealer clients across five continents and many others throughout the automotive industry thrive for generations to come. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises Inc., a privately-owned, Atlanta-based company with annual revenues of $21 billion. www.coxautoinc.com

New process enhancements help enable dealership staff to spend more time optimizing the customer experience

Draper, UT – August 13, 2020 – As dealerships across the country look to regain momentum, many are also seeking higher efficiency and productivity as they re-board, re-hire, and rethink staffing needs for today’s more virtual world. To help optimize operations and ease dealers’ daily workloads, Dealertrack DMS is introducing a series of new integrations geared toward helping dealership staff – regardless of whether they are working in-store or remotely – root out time-intensive, manual processes slowing down workflows and hampering the customer experience.   

Spurred by less foot traffic and a shift from in-person to online sales and digital services, the auto retail industry, like many others, will have to work through an all-new set of staffing challenges as well as the process retooling that comes with them.

“Time is money and the stakes have never been higher for dealers to optimize their workflows,” said Mandi Fang, vice president of operations, Dealertrack DMS. “Whether working with a reduced or remote staff or bringing employees back on board, the new Dealertrack DMS integrations ensure dealers are getting the support they need to eliminate inefficiencies and navigate the uncertainty of the current environment.”

Committed to giving dealers the flexibility necessary to keep business operations moving forward, Dealertrack DMS is introducing the following integrations spanning marketing, sales, and fixed operations:

- Enhanced Integration with VinSolutions: Focused on providing solutions that work better together, the enhanced integration between Dealertrack DMS and VinSolutions helps enable dealers to more seamlessly share customer and deal data between two of the most critical dealer technology platforms – the DMS and CRM. Helping to consolidate data entry, the enhanced integration ensures only active and applicable tax groups are displayed in the dropdown of selectable tax settings from the DMS – creating more accurate payments. Additionally, physical damage insurance information, equity allocation, dealer cash, One Pay lease information, and negative trade equity data all now automatically sync between platforms.

- Scan Solutions Pick-It Integration: Dealertrack DMS and Scan Solutions came together to help increase efficiency in the parts department with Pick-It, an integrated and user-friendly inventory control and processing solution. Using printers and mobile scanners, Pick-It automates the historically manual workflow of processing orders and picking, pulling, and staging parts inventory, helping dealers save time and eliminate errors.

- Dealertrack DMS Managed Network Services Powered by Proton: Providing dealers with a more fully outsourced and comprehensive IT service solution tailored to Dealertrack DMS, Managed Network Services Powered by Proton addresses the unique needs and complexities of each dealership and dealer group to help keep in-store and remote systems optimized for today’s digital-first environment. Offering 24/7 expert-level remote support, the managed services solution delivers all the capabilities of an in-house IT department at a fraction of the cost.

“Sharing information between VinSolutions and Dealertrack DMS has never been so seamless,” said Dustin Marriott, internet sales manager at Nate Wade Subaru. “With a more streamlined approach to data entry, my managers can feel confident in the numbers they see.”

For more information about Dealertrack DMS, visit DMSDealertrack.com/DTDMS.

About Dealertrack

Dealertrack provides industry-leading software solutions that give dealerships, lenders, and partners the confidence to thrive in an ever-changing automotive market. The company’s integrated suite of powerful easy-to-use products and services helps dealerships and their lending partners grow by increasing efficiency and improving decision-making. Dealertrack is part of the Cox Automotive family, a company that is transforming the way the world buys, sells, owns and uses cars. Dealertrack—along with its unmatched network of dealership and lending partners—is improving the car buying experience by embracing the technologies that will shape the future of automotive retail. For more information about Dealertrack, visit www.dealertrack.com.

About Cox Automotive

Cox Automotive Inc. makes buying, selling, owning and using cars easier for everyone. The global company’s 34,000-plus team members and family of brands, including Autotrader®, Clutch Technologies, Dealer.com®, Dealertrack®, Kelley Blue Book®, Manheim®, NextGear Capital®, VinSolutions®, vAuto® and Xtime®, are passionate about helping millions of car shoppers, 40,000 auto dealer clients across five continents and many others throughout the automotive industry thrive for generations to come. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises Inc., a privately-owned, Atlanta-based company with revenues of $21 billion. www.coxautoinc.com

Introducing a new and more user-friendly look, feel and functionality to help dealers get used inventory front-line ready faster

Oakbrook Terrace, IL. – June 2, 2020 – iRecon announces a fully revamped reconditioning platform to help dealers gain transparency and eliminate bottlenecks keeping inventory from reaching the front line. Equipped with a new and intuitive user interface, dealer-vendor mobile application and location tracking, iRecon’s enhanced solution was developed through client feedback and market research, taking into consideration what dealers want and need to further optimize the reconditioning workflow in today’s environment.

As the auto retail industry continues to adapt to a new way of working and shopping in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, time and cost efficiency have never been more important. This is particularly pertinent to the reconditioning process – every day a used vehicle sits in service or waits on a vendor for reconditioning, dealers lose valuable sales opportunities. By enabling more informed and calculated decisions, the iRecon platform helps dealers spend the right money on the right vehicle for the right reason to take reconditioning from an expense to an advantage.

“Amid today’s uncertain economy, dealers may only have one shot to win a sale. Spending money wisely to better streamline reconditioning and get quality vehicles in front of customers faster will be vital to finding success and getting stores back to profitability,” said Mike Boyd, senior director of business enablement and founder of iRecon. “At iRecon, we are focused on providing dealers with the tools they need to help turn pennies into dollars by enhancing communications with vendors, boosting productivity and ensuring transparent time to front-line ready.”

The revamped iRecon platform features five major tool and capability enhancements for dealers:

- Recon Dashboard: View the status of any vehicle and take action based on valuable reconditioning metrics that can be tailored to a dealership’s unique workflow.

- iRecon Mobile: Communicate with reconditioning vendors in real time on the go through push, workflow and comment notifications from any iOS or Android device. Introducing more transparency into the reconditioning process, dealers can also send and receive photos and use VIN scanning to maintain efficiency.

- Location Tracking: Save time and quickly pinpoint where physical vehicles are on the lot through GPS technology.

- Recon Templates: Build custom plan templates to get the reconditioning process started in only two clicks.

- Provision Integration: Make more informed used car decisions by leveraging industry-leading vAuto data throughout the reconditioning process. With appraisal notes and reconditioning estimates automatically flowing from Provision into iRecon, dealers also gain early insight to help improve each vehicle’s time to front line.

“Greater visibility into the reconditioning workflow, costs and how long it will take to get a vehicle front-line ready is crucial to making sure every dollar counts right now,” said Jim Farkas, General Manager, Germain Honda of Ann Arbor and MINI of Ann Arbor in Michigan. “The refreshed iRecon platform makes communicating with internal team members and vendors simple and provides our team with the strategic insight and easy navigation necessary to ensure accountability and seamlessly track and complete reconditioning work.”

For more information on iRecon, visit https://www.vauto.com/products/irecon/.

About vAuto

vAuto® provides innovative technology, tools and business intelligence to thousands of dealerships across the United States and Canada, helping them compete more effectively and increase new/used vehicle sales volumes and profits. Founded in 2005, vAuto revolutionized dealers’ used vehicle operations with the groundbreaking Provision® suite of tools. Leveraging The Velocity Method of Management®, pioneered by vAuto founder, Dale Pollak, Provision helped dealers adopt a more transparent- and turn-focused approach to used vehicle acquisition, appraising, pricing and merchandising based on real-time, local market supply-and-demand data. vAuto’s solutions also include Conquest, a new vehicle inventory management and pricing system, and Stockwave, which enables dealers to efficiently find and purchase vehicles from leading wholesale sources via a single platform. In 2018, vAuto released the Provision ProfitTime metric and methodology to help dealers maximize inventory turn and gross profit based on the investment value or profit potential of each vehicle. The same year, the company expanded its integrations with Cox Automotive’s HomeNet unit and acquired iRecon, an online reconditioning workflow platform. The moves extend vAuto’s efficiency-focused used vehicle management solutions into vehicle merchandising and reconditioning.

Headquartered near Chicago, Illinois, vAuto is a Cox Automotive™ brand.

About Cox Automotive

Cox Automotive Inc. makes buying, selling, owning and using cars easier for everyone. The global company’s 34,000-plus team members and family of brands, including Autotrader®, Clutch Technologies, Dealer.com®, Dealertrack®, Kelley Blue Book®, Manheim®, NextGear Capital®, VinSolutions®, vAuto® and Xtime®, are passionate about helping millions of car shoppers, 40,000 auto dealer clients across five continents and many others throughout the automotive industry thrive for generations to come. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises Inc., a privately-owned, Atlanta-based company with revenues of $21 billion. www.coxautoinc.com

Westlake Village, CA: CallSource, the leader in call management and digital attribution, and VinSolutions, a leading automotive CRM, are excited to announce their enhanced integration to help dealers better understand their phone leads, streamline their processes, and provide more powerful analytics and reporting.  

With this new integration dealers can view the marketing source of the phone call providing the dealer context about the call and allowing them to prioritize which calls to answer first.  “Phone calls are a valuable source of leads coming into a dealership and dealers have asked for an easier way to monitor these calls-- this integration was the perfect time to help make that happen,” says Chase Abbott, VP of Sales at VinSolutions. “Not only has the classification changed but dealers can now see their CallSource reporting inside their Connect CRM.” 

“The enhanced integration has been a priority for CallSource for a while now,” states Pogo Parr, President of Automotive at CallSource. “Our mission is to help automotive brands and dealers improve performance on the phone, and we know the only leads that matter are those inside a dealer’s CRM. This deep integration will help dealers set more appointments and ultimately drive more sales to their business. We win when our clients win. We are really excited to see this partnership come together.”

CallSource’s inbound and outbound call tracking and analytics, missed opportunity notifications, result scoring, as well as enhanced reporting inside Connect CRM will drastically improve dealers’ internal workflow by reducing multiple dashboards. Easy-to-use additions such as click-to-call, email notifications, and more will enable dealerships to improve their call-to-appointment ratio and increase their ROI while making it easier on employees.

“CallSource and VinSolutions have been great partners for years, and we are so happy to finally have even more amazing features available now for clients to use to help increase their sales and have better procedures for improving their phone calls,” says Kelley Koliopulos, Director of Retail Sales in Automotive at CallSource. 

CallSource and VinSolutions are excited about this upgraded integration and are continuously working on making the best possible solutions to enable dealers to perform their best on the phone and increase their sales. Customers interested in upgrading the CallSource integration with VinSolutions should contact their CallSource rep for detailed instructions.

About CallSource—Own Every Lead

CallSource exists to help automotive brands and dealers improve performance on the phone. We help dealers by providing visibility into what is driving customers to call, text, chat, or click on your website. CallSource provides transparency into employee phone performance and tools to help dealerships improve and recapture missed opportunities. Our tracking numbers are text-enabled, and our digital attribution system tracks a customer’s complete online journey. 

CallSource is the most reliable call tracking and phone performance company in the market. Our insights, tools, and integrations help dealerships perform better on the phone to convert more leads to appointments and ultimately sell more cars. 

About VinSolutions

As the provider of Connect CRM, a leading dealership customer relationship management system, VinSolutions helps more than 5,000 dealers make every connection count. VinSolutions products integrate dealership systems, processes and tools to deliver a single view of the customer across the business – so dealers can focus on building relationships throughout the sales cycle. Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Mission, Kansas, VinSolutions fosters dealership success by providing a fully customizable suite of solutions, including equity mining, market pricing and desking tools, combined with the continuous, personal support of a designated Performance Manager. VinSolutions is OEM certified by every major manufacturer and is Autosoft, CDK, Reynolds & Reynolds and Dealertrack DMS certified. VinSolutions is a Cox Automotive™ brand. www.vinsolutions.com

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Today, April 9, 2020, Cox Automotive’s Dealer Software Solutions brands, Dealer.com, Dealertrack DMS, VinSolutions and Xtime, will launch a new Business Continuity Resource Hub for dealerships looking to resolve some of the unprecedented challenges brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic and economic crisis and reimagine their business for the future.

WHAT: A continuously updated series of no cost webinars delivered by Cox Automotive experts and focused on building dealership resilience related to the Covid-19 pandemic and the industry’s inevitable recovery. These digital educational assets concentrate on maintaining business continuity across three key areas of auto retail: marketing to the evolving consumer, achieving peak dealership performance and capturing the opportunity presented by fixed ops.

A cross-section of industry subject matter experts and dealership leaders will provide real-world, right now tactical and applicable advice and insight via Essential Webinars addressing how to adjust dealership practices and processes to the new environment and to prepare for the future. Webinar topics, which will be updated frequently to keep pace with evolving economic and market conditions, currently include:

- Digital Retailing: End-to-End Basics

- Connecting with Remote Shoppers

- Deal Making in Today’s Digital World

- Fixed Ops/Service Best Practices for Business Continuity in Any Environment

WHY:   The process of buying and owning a car is changing because of COVID-19. Cox Automotive research indicates that more than 50% of consumers are less likely to visit a dealership at this time, because of COVID-19 concerns. The resulting signal from dealers is clear- help us go digital. Dealer adoption of Cox Automotive’s digital retailing solutions has as increased 189% month over month. (February 2020 vs. March 2020)

We believe the current drop in auto sales is 100% COVID-19 related. As the pandemic concerns recess, sales will rebound. With that in mind, the Cox Automotive Dealer Software Solutions team is responding to dealers who want to start building their resiliency now to prepare for the inevitable recovery.

The aim of this webinar series resource hub is to provide dealers with foundational Cox Automotive partnership and support today, and into our industry’s future. 

WHEN:             Launching Thursday, April 9, 2020.  Content will be updated frequently.

WHERE:           Find Cox Automotive’s Dealer Software Solutions Business Continuity Resources at www.coxautowebinars.com or on Cox Automotive’s COVID-19 resource page at: www.coxautoinc.com/covid-19.

WHO:               Cox Automotive’s Dealer Software Solutions Senior Vice President, Lori Wittman and a team of experts from across Cox Automotive with input from a panel of leaders from dealerships across the country grappling with pandemic and the evolution to the new normal.

Offers Virtual Vehicle Tours, Test Drives at Home and Local Vehicle Delivery

ATLANTA, GA, March 24, 2020 – As consumers continue to social distance and shelter in place, Autotrader is helping dealers stay connected to shoppers with the rollout of Dealer Home Services. This suite of solutions assists with “no contact” interactions by offering consumers virtual vehicle tours, test drives at home and local vehicle delivery at no additional cost to dealers.

Today’s car shopper spends 61% of their time online, according to the 2019 Cox Automotive Car Buyer Journey Study, and recent Cox Automotive consumer research shows that 37% of six-month intenders are less likely to visit a dealership in person due to COVID-19 concerns. Extraordinary times demand extraordinary service where online merchandising and digital retailing are more important than ever before. Autotrader is helping provide dealers with tools to reach customers in a way that is both safe and convenient by delivering an easy, informational and virtual shopping and buying experience.

“Just like other small businesses in cities and towns across the United States, automobile dealerships are rapidly mobilizing and adapting to a changing consumer landscape. Autotrader’s new Dealer Home Services tools aren’t a radical departure for most dealerships but rather an expediting of products, services and ways of doing business that were already on the way,” said Jessica Stafford, senior vice president and general manager, Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book. “This new form of communication can help consumers get needed, reliable transportation without leaving home and risking excessive in-person contact while promoting business as usual for dealers amid this unique situation.”

Dealer Home Solutions include the following:

- Virtual Walk-Around: Starting the virtual sale with a personalized video chat allowing consumers to ask questions and get a feel for the vehicle.

- Test Drives From Home: Bringing the car to the customer with a no-obligation test drive at their location.

- Local Vehicle Delivery: Providing the option to start a local shopper’s purchase online and have the car delivered directly to their location to complete their purchase.  

If consumers are looking for a vehicle at this time, many dealers can accommodate their buying needs through at-home services. Whether researching from the couch or scheduling a car to be delivered to their front door, Autotrader is giving local dealers the tools to promote these services to in-market shoppers.  Additionally, as online media consumption increases, shoppers can start the car-buying process in the comfort of their own home using digital tools from Autotrader like Accelerate. While no one can predict the future, staying informed is important and Autotrader is offering ongoing updates and answers to your potential questions like, “How to clean your car,” “Is it a good time to finance,” and “Is it better to lease or buy?” Check out Coronavirus News and Advice for Car Owners and Shoppers from Autotrader editors at https://www.autotrader.com/car-news/coronavirus-news-and-advice-car-owners-and-shoppers-281474980000716.

For more information on Autotrader Home Services for dealers visit https://b2b.autotrader.com/dealer-home-services.

For more information and news from Autotrader, visit press.autotrader.com, follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Autotrader_com (or @Autotrader_com), Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/autotrader_com/ (or @autotrader_com), like our page on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/autotrader/, add us on Snapchat (@Autotrader_com),

at https://www.linkedin.com/company/autotrader-com, and follow us on LinkedIn.

About Autotrader
Autotrader is the most recognized third-party car listings brand, with the most engaged audience of in-market car shoppers. As the foremost authority on automotive consumer insights and expert in online and mobile marketing, Autotrader makes the car shopping experience easy and fun for today's empowered car shopper looking to find or sell the perfect new, used or Certified Pre-Owned car. Using technology, shopper insights and local market guidance, Autotrader's comprehensive marketing and retailing solutions allow consumers to build their deal online, and guide dealers to personalized digital marketing strategies that grow brand, drive traffic and connect the online and in-store shopping experience. Autotrader is a Cox Automotive™ brand. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises. For more information, please visit http://press.autotrader.com. 

About Cox Automotive

Cox Automotive Inc. makes buying, selling, owning and using cars easier for everyone. The global company’s 34,000-plus team members and family of brands, including Autotrader®, Clutch Technologies, Dealer.com®, Dealertrack®, Kelley Blue Book®, Manheim®, NextGear Capital®, VinSolutions®, vAuto® and Xtime®, are passionate about helping millions of car shoppers, 40,000 auto dealer clients across five continents and many others throughout the automotive industry thrive for generations to come. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises Inc., a privately-owned, Atlanta-based company with revenues exceeding $20 billion. coxautoinc.com

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