Albany, N.Y. – March 22nd, 2016 – Auto/Mate Dealership Systems today introduced a completely redesigned payroll application for auto dealers, located within the Accounting Suite of its dealership management system (DMS). The new payroll application includes a host of new features that streamline and expedite the payroll process.

"We asked our customers and prospects what their biggest challenges were when they process payroll, then set about to build a brand new payroll application that would solve those challenges," said Mike Esposito, President and CEO of Auto/Mate Dealership Systems. "After two solid years in development, we are incredibly proud of how intuitive and fast this payroll app is. As always with our upgrades, our dealership clients will get the new payroll application for free."

Auto/Mate's new payroll application includes the following features:

Automated State and Federal Tax Tables

Auto/Mate's Automotive Management Productivity Suite (AMPS) maintains all state and federal tax tables automatically. At the beginning of every calendar year, AMPS automatically updates all rates so the correct amount is withheld from each paycheck, in accordance with local law.

Predefined Setups

Office personnel can predefine setups for various types of payroll that are commonly run; whether weekly, monthly, bonus checks and more. Deductions, exclusions, liabilities and tax rates can all be assigned on a per employee basis.

"Creating the setups requires a little time up front, but once the setups are established it make running the payroll a breeze," said Esposito. "The app is very flexible, giving prompts to help staff create setups for every possible scenario."

The ability to predefine setups expedites payroll processing by making it a simple one-step, one-screen process. Office personnel can view a list of employees in a left sidebar panel, and when they click on an employee's name the payroll details appear on the right side of the screen. New data can be entered on the same screen, and changes are reflected immediately in the details screen.

A print preview of each paycheck can also be viewed from within the screen, and a PDF version of every paycheck is archived into every employee's file.

On-the-Fly Deposit Changes

Auto/Mate's new payroll app makes it easy to make changes to deposits on the fly. Many direct deposit employees have several bank accounts and direct a percentage of each paycheck to be deposited into each account. The new payroll app supports direct deposit splits into 15 different bank accounts.

In addition, it's simple to create live checks with partial direct deposit, or direct deposit with partial live checks. Changes can be made on the fly based on last-minute employee requests, with little effort required for the accounting staff.

Increased Security

Auto/Mate's new payroll application includes built-in checks and balances for increased security. The accounting office often allows several employees and other departments to have access to the payroll system. Now functions within the system can be limited and defined on a per user basis.

For instance, the office manager may want to give only one or two specific people permission to add new employees to the system, access the general ledger, or approve the payroll.

Validation Tools

Occasionally errors are made when running payroll, such as when an earnings code is missing a GL account number, or an extra digit is added to a paycheck. Auto/Mate's payroll application allows parameters to be set up for each employee so the system will intuitively sense errors.

Once the payroll is ready to run, the user simply hits the "Validate" button, the system checks for errors, identifies the location and allows the user to make changes right in the screen, so they don't have to slog through multiple screens and steps to correct the error and repeat the entire process.

To see a demo of Auto/Mate's new payroll application, stop by Booth #1853C at the 2016 NADA Convention & Expo. Make an appointment here: http://www.automate.com/nada

For more information visit http://www.automate.com/DMS or call Auto/Mate at 518-371-4331.

About Auto/Mate

Auto/Mate Dealership Systems is a leading provider of dealership management system (DMS) software to retail automotive dealerships, typically saving dealers thousands of dollars per month from their current provider. Our Automotive Management Productivity Suite (AMPS) is a user-friendly, feature-rich DMS in use by more than 1,200 auto dealers nationwide. Auto/Mate has received DrivingSales Dealer Satisfaction Awards in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015.

Auto/Mate’s employees have more than 940 years of combined experience working in franchised auto dealerships, the foundation of its “Designed By Car People For Car PeopleTM” slogan. Auto/Mate is committed to winning its customers’ business each and every month with no long-term contracts and free software upgrades. For more information follow us on Twitter @AutoMateDMS and subscribe to our blog at www.automate.com/blog.

The future of the retail automotive industry has arrived. Going forward, only the most efficient dealerships will survive. What do I mean by efficient? Well, first cutting fat (unnecessary spending), and second becoming lean, and by that I mean making your dealership extremely efficient.

I know what you’re thinking. All analysts point to improving auto sales in 2012. Most dealers just spent the last several years cutting unnecessary expenses and streamlining operations. And therein lies the problem. Now that the good times are back, it’s easy to ease up on spending restrictions and let an old adage seep back into the lexicon: gross hides all problems.

But the difference in 2012 is this: gross can’t hide all problems anymore. Although sales volumes are increasing, margins are decreasing. Technology is making the sales process and pricing ever more transparent to the consumer. In order to survive, dealers must offer competitive pricing, driving overall prices down.

For dealerships with efficient processes, this is not a problem—or at least, not as much of a problem as it is for others. If a dealership has a relatively low overhead, it will still be profitable in a highly competitive environment. If overhead is relatively high, however, a dealership will reach a point where it can’t offer the lowest priced vehicle because it doesn’t have efficient processes in place.

Critical Performance Indicator #1: Trade-Ins

I’ve always said that if you can’t do something with pencil and paper, you can’t do it with a computer. When I was General Manager of a large multi-line dealership, one of the most difficult-to-track processes was getting a used car up to the front line.

Whether a dealer takes a vehicle in on trade or buys one at an auction, all the statistics say that the longer that car sits, the less gross you’re going to get for it. So one critical performance indicator for efficiency within a dealership is how quickly a car gets to the front line.

You would think that most dealers know exactly how this process happens and how long it takes; but if you ask dealers, many aren’t quite sure. They may think and say that it only takes a few days when in reality, it might be taking up to a week or more. Considering every day the car sits results in less gross, you would think there would be a very specific process and monitoring thereof to ensure that every vehicle gets out on the lot within the days specified by the dealer. Here’s where technologically may or may not help. Your dealership management system (DMS) software may offer a way to track this, but if nobody’s tracking it, what’s the point? The best solution might be to use a very non-technological marker and write in large letters on the windshield the date and time that car came onto the lot. Then while that car is sitting there in service, the date and time are a beacon, advertising to everyone how long it’s been there. The very last thing the service department does before putting the car out onto the lot is to wash the windshield. Afterwards, they mark it down on paper or enter the information into a spreadsheet, and voila! An easy and accurate way to track how long it takes to get a vehicle out on the lot. You can even get more detailed and start to track the gross per vehicle per number days it took to get to the front line.

This is just one example of many processes that are an indicator of how efficient a dealership is. This blog will be the first of several in a series that address various processes within a dealership and how they can be improved, whether by technology or other means. I hope that readers will pitch in with their suggestions and experiences.

How long does it take for your dealership to get a trade-in out on the lot? How do you track this? How do you ensure it happens?