Some dealers remain unsure about the value of this product to their used car profitability. This quick read addresses those questions.

Congratulations! You’ve decided to advance your used car business by improving its reconditioning efficiencies through automation.

Now what? 

Few people like change, and a shift in daily habits the least, so include your team in your planning:

• Staff will appreciate how their engagement with this software will make their work more predictable and profitable for themselves and their dealership.

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• Managers will manage their people, processes, and outcomes using precise, real-time communications and performance tracking and accountability features.

As a dealership software system, reconditioning workflow makes conditioning used cars for resale more streamlined, orderly, measurable, and precisely more profitable.

By working together to build advanced reconditioning, your team will increase inventory turn, reduce costs, and get cars ready to sell faster so you can extend a better buying experience to your customers.

Build Your Team

Dedicated recon teams always win the reconditioning production and performance race. And centralized recon centers almost consistently outperform recon operations having to operate out of the service department.

A dedicated recon staff entails technicians, detailers, an advisor, one or more porter, and a reconditioning manager, all who are focused on this task. A process-oriented advisor will work better in this environment than a customer-focused advisor taken from the service lane.

If creating a dedicated team and location is out of the question, then at a minimum, assign within the main service shop one or more service bays and internal technicians for recon mechanical inspection and repair.

The critical takeaway is you want recon to create its processes specifically to what recon does, instead of adapting the service lane process for internal work.

Related: How to boost your automotive recon process and capitalize on used-car popularity

Furthermore:

1. * Give recon autonomy – reporting to fixed ops, but a distinct operating unit not answering to service, the body shop, or the used car manager.

1. * Appoint one individual to be accountable for recon operations, someone who will make the decisions, interprets the data, and sinks or swims by recon performance metrics.

1. * Hire ASE-certified internal techs able to inspect and diagnose vehicle issues. New-car certifications are not necessary. Set up your own parts department sourced by a local supplier and hire porters, so you’re not asking sales to run cars around; they lose selling time doing so.

Earn the Team’s Buy-In

As with any software you use, before you use it, you’ll investigate its value to your business, and you’ll involve input from managers and future users in your exploratory meetings. 

Advancing a recon operation from a paper- or spreadsheet-based management style to reconditioning software will present its fleeting trials. Managers will expect quick results, and system users may be slow to catch – or they might adapt seemingly overnight — depending on their comfort and experience using computer systems. 

Include here the GM and managers of your service, used car, and recon departments. You will also want to include your internal technicians, detailers, vehicle photographers, and parts personnel.  An increasing number of dealerships are also involving their sales teams and BDC.

Benchmark Your Performance

With data compiled from more than 13 million cars having been processed through dealership recon workflow software, our data tells us some interesting information:

1. Most dealerships using recon automation for the first time discover their recon cycle time is 10 to 21 or more days – whereas management’s “gut” feel has been telling them their recon cycle is “about three days.” 

1. Your current actual recon cycle rate in days will become apparent after one month’s operation on recon software. It will decrease after that, reducing your time to line (T2L) to a best-practices benchmark of three to five days.

1. Automated workflow tracking will pinpoint bottlenecks, individuals who may need additional training or reassignment, and challenges with vendors, parts suppliers, and repair approvals that may be delaying your T2L.

By using the performance reports reconditioning automation software makes accessible by mobile or desktop, managers can home in on the people, processes, and performance challenges that may be costing your dealership turn rate, retail margin, and lost opportunities. 

Leverage the Advantage

With reconditioning automation in place, you will:

• Stimulate productivity and job satisfaction

• Understand the math behind faster time to line

• Build a rapid recon culture

• Dedicate a recon team
• Manage the critical metrics - T2L, ADR, Speed-to-Sale and Keys-to-Keys - to increased dealership performance

If you’re considering reconditioning automation, here are five best practices to understand:

1. How to create trackability
2. How to set up and manage accountability throughout your recon operation
3. How to continually reduce your time to line
4. How to leverage best practices to increase inventory turn
5. How to set up your systems to know where all your cars are all the time

As you explore this automated solution to personnel communications and accountability, vehicle and key tracking, and performance, visit us for more helpful articles and whitepaper downloads. 

PALO ALTO, CA, November 3, 2020 — The Next Rapid Recon, the time-to-line efficiency standard in dealership reconditioning software, has announced a robust new feature upgrade: Vendor Advantage.

Vendor Advantage is a no-charge enhancement to Rapid Recon time-to-line (T2L®) reconditioning workflow software for current and new Rapid Recon users, as part of the Next Rapid Recon user interface upgrade. Both are available now.

Vendor Advantage connects dealers with all their vendors with a vendor-only portal into their Rapid Recon workflow system. Vendors see and manage only the vehicles and assignments assigned to them by the dealer.

Vendor Advantage:

• Completes the accountability circle — All events affecting T2L have 360-degree accountability. Dealers control sublet performance, ensuring proactive management that supports the dealership’s speed-to-sale objectives.

• Clarifies and expedites communications — Immediate workflow update and communication tools are put into the vendors' hands. Vendors access their dealers’ Rapid Recon workflow to synch work-in-progress status, communicate vehicle prioritization, send estimates and enable two-way messaging about a specific vehicle, via mobile or desktop.

• Improves progress tracking — Integrated T2L enables both parties to track and manage workflows to enhance cost control and vendor productivity.

• Verifies vendor value — Integrated T2L provides the used car manager with the data needed to confirm vendor contribution to the dealership’s time to line objectives.

“Dealers agree with our internal recon experts — improving vendor management is high on the list of their efficiency goals,” said Dennis McGinn, Rapid Recon founder and chief executive officer.

“As a unique car dealership software solution, Vendor Advantage meets the needs of dealers and vendors to manage recon performance more tightly, so that vendors mutually support their dealers’ time-to-line efficiency goals,” McGinn said.

With Vendor Advantage, Rapid Recon users can:

• Add vendors with restricted access to Rapid Recon on desktop and mobile — Vendors are able to manage, track and report work in progress — through completion — like the process used by internal reconditioning.
• Explicitly assign and notify vendors when work is available, even outside of steps — With one click, a dealer can communicate to the recon team and vendors a vehicle’s priority in the vendor’s workflow and eliminate the back-and-forth frustration of missed phone calls, texts, or emails — and other miscommunications.
• Receive notifications on pending approvals — Vendors know immediately when repair needs are approved, preventing false starts, delays and frustration.
• Receive updates when work is completed — The transfer of vehicles back into the internal recon flow is enabled without the delays that otherwise erode time-to-line efficiency
• Request and manage work estimates — Paperwork and estimate-tracking complications are eliminated, and vendor payments are expedited.
• Hold the vendor accountable to the agreed price — Dealer approvals will lock in the

approved repair price, eliminating unexpected invoices or additional charges. If other costs are requested, Vendor Advantage automatically moves the vehicle status to “Needs Approval” and immediately notifies the decision maker.

• Message back and forth with vendors directly outside of notes — Assignments and directions are executed instantly – and communications are improved.

For dealers’ vendors, Vendor Advantage provides:

• Access to only the vehicles and work items assigned to that vendor — This focus spotlights their workflow, including vehicle categories, completion priorities, quality control recheck and needs estimate communications and notes.
• Vendor and dealer accountability for obtaining estimate approvals — Vendor Advantage automatically updates both systems when estimate are received, eliminating guesswork and down time
• Precise data, but not too much — This data includes the vehicle image, stock number, VIN, vehicle description and Work Step, eliminating clutter, distraction and details not of immediate need or attention, keeping vendors working on priority units.
• Immediate and direct time and data stamp — With this accountability and verification, guesswork and miscommunications are eliminated.

With more than 20,000 monthly users, Rapid Recon has the data and dealership experts necessary to deliver benchmarking and best practices for continuous improvement of vehicle reconditioning by design. Rapid Recon performance team managers know your business because they’ve lived it.  

To learn more, contact your Rapid Recon support team or visit www.rapidrecon.com.

Contact

Jim Leman

847-840-0784

jim@rapidrecon.com

PALO ALTO, CA, October 23, 2020 – The Next Rapid Recon, the efficiency standard in reconditioning time-to-line workflow software,  announced today several efficiency and usability advances enhancing the user experience. 

This User Interface (UI) advancement makes the Next Rapid Recon the most robust and advanced dealership software system for improving reconditioning time to line (T2L®), speed to sale and used car profitability.

The Next Rapid Recon’s advanced UI expertly organizes team communications and simplifies approvals, speeding up how fast dealer users will move cars through reconditioning.

“Faster reconditioning speed to sale originates in nimble and intuitive software interface tools,” said Rapid Recon Product Manager Josh Coutts, a former dealership preowned service and reconditioning manager. “This new, advanced Rapid Recon UI helps users accelerate task assignment, management, and reporting, so they save steps and time to cars frontline ready.”

New efficiency steps built into this new Rapid Recon UI help dealers:

• Access information and bring it forward with less scrolling and fewer clicks, so data is immediately available for decision-making. 
• Filter search results, so only the looked-for vehicles and information populate the UI. 
• Command critical decision-making fast, as color-coded tabs and data fields help direct the eyes to items needing immediate attention. Furthermore, exact-vehicle photographs embedded in items assure that data are connected with the right vehicles. These critical decisioning items ensure task completion, build user confidence, and ensure the right vehicles needing attention and approvals get them quickly.
• Bring searched for vehicles up front and center on screen using a new Priority cue that when clicked yields VIN and image content for fast and precise visual confirmation.
• Filter out unwanted details, so the UI screen populates only the essential detail and information they want.
• Simplify and speed up Approvals, providing decisioning on an even more precise level.
• Dispatch Status updates fast, using a new bulk update feature, so relevant information moves quickly to the service department.

The Next Rapid Recon UI – less scrolling, fewer clicks, and more – developed to improve speed dealers’ speed to sale, increase inventory turn, and improve per-vehicle retail revenue.

With more than 20,000 monthly users, Rapid Recon has the data and dealership experts to deliver benchmarking and best practices for vehicle reconditioning continuous improvement by design. Rapid Recon performance team managers know your business because they’ve lived it. 

To learn more, contact your Rapid Recon support team or visit www.rapidrecon.com.

Contact
Jim Leman
847-840-0784
jim@rapidrecon.com

PALO ALTO, CA – March 16, 2020 – Rapid Recon, the nation’s most extensive vehicle reconditioning technology company, announced today the temporary suspension of onsite training and the expansion of its online training program. Both decisions help address health concerns for dealership customer personnel and Rapid Recon employees, due to COVID-19 pandemic travel concerns.

To maintain the highest levels of customer performance and support, Rapid Recon expanded its team of process performance management experts by 50%.

“The safety and well-being of our customers’ personnel and of the Rapid Recon team is our top priority, as it has always been,” said Dennis McGinn, Rapid Recon chief executive officer. “We will continue to monitor the circumstances surrounding the coronavirus, and we will be taking necessary precautions to ensure our continued service and support to the automotive industry.”

In addition to the increase in the Rapid Recon online support team, the company also retained the services of several companies specializing in video online training to assist in this expansion.

Over the past 10 years, Rapid Recon has developed a comprehensive online training protocol, which more than 2,000 dealers nationwide and in three countries.

February was a record-breaking sales month for the company, with more than 70 new dealer partners joining Rapid Recon to improve their inventory turn, per-vehicle revenue, and unique sales advantages. At NADA, the company announced two new products, Vendor Advantage and Live Locate, and added six new teammates to meet market demands for its leading vehicle reconditioning software solution.

For more information about Rapid Recon, visit www.rapidrecon.com.

New Integrated Vendor and Sublet Functionality adds Mutually Advantageous Dealer-Vendor Recon Workflow Accountability with new Cost Controls

PALO ALTO, Calif., Feb. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Rapid Recon, the creator of time-to-line (T2L) reconditioning solutions for used car departments, will unveil Vendor Advantage at NADA'20 in Las Vegas this month. This new offering gives dealers exceptional oversight of their sublets and vendors to expedite the return of vehicles to reconditioning and for improved cost control.

"For years, we've worked with dealers to integrate their sublet partners and vendors directly into Rapid Recon workflow software. Those who have selectively accommodated their vendors have reaped the benefits to their overall T2L," said Dennis McGinn, Rapid Recon founder and chief executive officer.

With Vendor Advantage, Rapid Recon takes vendor management to the next level, giving fixed and recon operations managers control and simplicity to:

• Add vendor users with restricted access to Rapid Recon on desktop and mobile – Vendors manage, track and report work in progress through completion like the process used by internal reconditioning
• Explicitly assign and notify vendors when work is available, even outside of steps – Eliminate the back-and-forth frustration of missed phone calls and miscommunications
• Receive notifications on pending approvals – Vendors know immediately when repair needs are approved, preventing false starts, delays, and frustration
• Receive updates when work is completed – Enables transfer of vehicles back into the internal recon flow without delays that otherwise erode time to line efficiency
• Request and manage work estimates – Eliminate paperwork, estimate-tracking complications, and expedites vendor payments
• Message directly with vendors in real-time.

Visit Rapid Recon at NADA '20, Booth 2693C, Central Hall. www.rapidrecon.com

Wards Dealer Business - Town Center Nissan of suburban Atlanta sells a dealer-branded prepaid maintenance program that excites its service advisers and customers alike. 

An incentive built into the program can put up to $400 in additional compensation a month in an adviser’s pocket, so they’re eager to discuss prepaid maintenance plan advantages with service customers.

The plans on average result in a $70 increase per repair order upsell per service visit, and consumers who participate typically stay loyal to the dealership service department, data indicates.

“Customers love the plan,” says Rick Mathis, Town Center Nissan’s parts and service director. “About 90% of plan holders renew at expiration. Advisers don’t embrace a lot, but they truly enjoy selling this program.”

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA, June 5, 2017 – Fidelis PPM, a CU Direct company, reported today that the Lester Glenn Auto Group is generating $200,000 a month in incremental customer-pay revenue and long-term customer retention since including its prepaid maintenance (PPM) program in each vehicle sale. 

This multi-step PPM features free, two-year oil changes for all customers plus the option to upgrade to two- and five-year discounted maintenance services that include full synthetic LOF services, tire rotations, key replacement, and various discounts.

The Group sells 13,000 vehicles a year, of which 60 percent are leased. At its one-year mark, plan penetration is at 10 percent, and on its way toward a goal of 20 to 25 percent. 

“Not bad in a substantial lease market as ours is,” notes John Perillo, Group Director of Variable Operations. 

“It’s a proven fact that where people service their cars is where they buy or lease their next one, so we want to be sure that is at a Lester Glenn dealership,” Perillo adds. 

With just a year’s use of this program, the auto group reports it is helping attract and retain: 

• Lease customers’ routine maintenance services for at least two years.
• Finance customers’ routine maintenance services for up to five years.

• $75.00 per repair order upsell or $200,000 a month in additional customer-pay service revenue across the Group.  

The New Jersey-based Group founded in 1956 today includes eight dealerships, representing 11 brands, including Hyundai, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Subaru, Ford, Buick, GMC, and Mazda.  Each store prides itself on providing an unparalleled car-buying experience focused on customer satisfaction.  

For several years, part of this commitment has included lifetime free oil changes for customers who purchased a new or pre-owned vehicle at any Lester Glenn location. That lifetime free oil change strategy did not, however, generate the long-term repeat service traffic and customer retention management had hoped. 

So, instead, to accomplish that objective, Perillo and Monica dismantled that lifetime program and in its place rolled out a more structured and measurable program driven by Fidelis PPM. 

“Even at this early stage, 3,000 of the 7,000 customer-pay repair orders we are doing a month are customers who’ve come in for an oil change, whether due to the two-year free or upgraded PPM programs,” notes Monica.  

“Moreover, we are upgrading 30 percent of those free LOF customers to our full synthetic service. Without this PPM program in place, those customers might have come in regardless, but we would not have had these upsell opportunities,” Monica adds. 

Fidelis PPM administers and manages all three program levels for the dealerships. The company is the authority in helping dealers retain customers through process-driven prepaid preventive maintenance retention programs.

Ryan Williams, Fidelis President, notes that dealers evaluating any retention-promotion plan should make sure they have a track record of: 

• Driving consumers to the dealership, especially the service department
• Delivers a positive experience, so customers continue to come back
• Has baked-in accountability tools to measure the lift in customer-pay dollars for each visit, so program ROI is measurable. 

To promote plan transparency and ease of program use for both plan holders and service advisors, Fidelis custom-built a plan tracking and reporting website for the Group, which it markets as part of its LG Advantage program. 

At this early date, PPM plan renewal and upgrade data are not available, but Perillo and Monica expect continued program redemption will continue to show an increase in both service RO dollars and customer retention. 

“Increasing repair order volume, higher customer retention, and the sale of additional services and vehicle – these are the reasons we put in place this Fidelis PPM plan,” Perillo says, “not to make money on their sale in finance, but to get customers back in the door. It works.” 

About Fidelis PPM

Fidelis PPM, a CU Direct company, turns prepaid maintenance into a brand-building, revenue-generating retention machine. Developed by dealers, Fidelis PPM knows the importance of substantiating ROI from its products. Powered by Driv Customer Retention Software, Fidelis PPM provides an easy-to-use interface for at-a-glance tracking of the dealers’ ROI on their PPM program. For more information, visit www.getfidelis.com  or email Williams at ryan@getfidelis.com

CAMPOBELLO, SOUTH CAROLINA, January 16, 2017 – Auto dealers could add tens of thousands of dollars a year to their bottom line by asking their OEMs to increase their parts and labor reimbursement rates, says OEM warranty reimbursement expert Mike Volkman, founder and CEO of Service Department Solutions. 

Most OEMs will not voluntarily increase their standard rates, though, he noted. 

At NADA, Booth 5847, Volkman will reveal for dealers secrets for appealing to OEMs for obtaining higher warranty claim reimbursements. See Volkman at the convention for show specials. 

Most dealers fear retribution by doing that, said Volkman, a former dealership technician who then spent 34 years with General Motors and FCA in positions of dealer placement, parts and service operations before opening Service Department Solutions. 

“In our history of providing warranty parts and labor reimbursement services for dealers, that fear is unwarranted,” he said. 

Most OEMs extend their dealers a 40 percent markup, the standard reimbursement rate, less than OEMs should pay, Volkman stressed. Petitioning OEMs for a scaled up parts reimbursement rate to 50 to 60 percent is why dealerships employ his services. A dealer that uses matrix pricing for parts can expect a 100% increase in markup; a dealer using list pricing can expect to increase gross profit by about 50 percent. 

Currently, 38 out of 50 states have some variation of the law which requires auto manufacturers to reimburse the dealership for warranty repairs at the average rate of what the service department would charge the retail consumer. 

“That is a huge amount of money we generate for dealers, and our success is founded in knowing the right way to approach and appeal to OEMs on this matter,” Volkman said. 

Service Department Solutions is a full-service fixed operations audit and consultancy, specializing in helping franchise automobile dealerships drive cost out and profitability into their service, parts, and warranty departments. Company experts have experience interacting with all domestic and foreign automotive manufacturers. For more information, contact Volkman at info@ServiceDepartmentSolutions.com or telephone 412-651-2356 or www.servicedepartmentsolutions.com.

TORONTO and ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich., Jan. 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Dealer-FX, the leading customer experience management platform for dealers and OEMs, said dealers using ONE Platform, its mobile service technology suite, report more engaged customers who spend more dollars with them across their entire ownership experience.

ONE Platform is comprised of seven hardware and software components which together manage the entire service experience, from initial Connection through Scheduling, curbside Check-In, Inspection, mobile Check-Out and Retention marketing. An intuitive set of dealer-facing tools, Total Service Management gives dealership employees real-time visibility into the whole process, so they can easily plan, adjust and communicate both internally and externally to ensure expectations are properly set and met. ONE Platform optimizes dealership workflow and efficiency by improving capacity management and cycle time. By benchmarking dealer operations, ONE Platform enables dealership employees and management to continuously improve customer satisfaction and dealer profitability.

Dealers report ONE Platform helps them drive meaningful improvements in key metrics, including:

• 24% increase in parts and service
• 21% increase in number of repair orders
• $75 increase in dollars per VIN
• $295 increase from appointment to final RO
• 3x improvement in retention

"Dealers using ONE Platform deliver a demonstrably better experience to their service customers and simultaneously drive improvements in all the metrics dealers care about. Our mobile applications help create an enduring bond with customers, starting at the sales-to-service handoff, and nurtures those relationships well into the highly profitable post-warranty ownership years," said Dealer-FX President and CEO, Gary Kalk.

"OEMs and their dealers using Dealer-FX report the kind of performance results that leave no doubt about ONE Platform's ability to increase service lane volume, repair order dollars and customer retention," Kalk said. "In a world of heightened consumer expectations, churning ROs doesn't lead to long-term business success. Instead you need tools and processes that build consumer trust, which translates into highly profitable long-term relationships," he said.

A preferred vendor of Fiat Chrysler, Nissan, Audi and other global automakers, Dealer-FX will demonstrate ONE Platform and its relevance to modern dealer service trends at booth #2360 at the NADA convention in New Orleans, January 27-29th.

About Dealer-FX
Dealer-FX is transforming how millions of consumers interact with automotive brands and their retailers. Our customer experience management platform uses advanced data analysis and mobile applications to deliver convenience, transparency and trust to consumers, and increased efficiency, profitability, retention and brand loyalty to OEMs and dealers.

The ONE Solution Platform comprises seven components which together manage the entire service experience from initial contact through drive-off and to next visit. It delivers the best dealer service experience available.

Dealer-FX is the exclusive or preferred service technology provider for several OEMs in the US and Canada, and has more than 2,000 dealership customers. Dealer-FX is based in Toronto and maintains an office in Rochester Hills, MI. For more information please visit dealer-fx.com, or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Media Contact:
Maurice Benatar
Director, Marketing
416.493.0039 x206
MOBILE: 416.788.9239
maurice_benatar@dealer-fx.com