Amazon is leading the way in convenience. Do you agree? Ujj Nath shares his perspective in his latest video blog.

As an industry, we’re witnessing the largest shift and money grab in history -- from the likes of Carvana, Blinker, and Fair, to the possible entrance of Amazon into car buying.

And now, another huge retail company has decided to jump in… but in a way that dealers may be overlooking.

Walmart recently launched a used-car buying service in partnership with CarSaver, which offers vehicle shoppers a one-price model. Consumers can test drive the vehicle and pick it up at a certified dealership. The test launch was so successful that it is now expanding  to 250 stores. On the surface, it sounds rather non-threatening, as dealerships ultimately still retain the sale as a certified dealer.

However, every used car purchased through Walmart/CarSaver comes with a lifetime warranty. Why is this an issue? Because Walmart is not only a huge retailer, but also operates as an independent repair facility.

There’ll probably be some sort of reciprocity between CarSaver and Walmart to encourage customers who purchased through this program to utilize Walmart’s service facilities. In addition, any large repairs may also be captured by Walmart. The customer isn’t going to think of the dealer as the business they bought the vehicle from – only as the place where they picked it up. They will view Walmart as the “dealership” – even if only in a digital manner.

Disruption will continue to increase as these retailers identify further revenue opportunities. Ally Financial has also joined forces with the Walmart/CarSaver program incentivizing customers with gift cards to finance through Ally. There goes even more potential revenue for dealers. Add in the flood of off lease vehicles coming into the used vehicle market over the next few years and you have a triple threat: lower used vehicle prices, lost financing, and lost sales.

Every bite and chunk of a consumer’s money taken by a disruptor means less money for your dealership. Deeply discounted vehicles sold through Walmart, potentially serviced through Walmart, with Ally capturing the financing, serves to do only one thing… position the dealership as nothing more than a used car storage facility.

And that’s not something dealerships should embrace.

Don’t lose your lease returns to an independent or some new retail giant. As a franchised dealer you have many advantages; highly trained technicians, factory parts, etc. Make sure your used car department is on top of the “end of lease” process, have your service department flag cars that are good for trade-ins, extend your service hours, add a pick-up and delivery service … there are many things you can do to be more competitive in today’s marketplace. Embrace the competition by upping YOUR game!

If you’ve been in the retail automotive industry for any length of time, you’ve seen how inaction is thought to be the best course of action. With today's evolving retail world where consumer’s can order oil and battery changes on Amazon, I’m sure there are many more changes that Amazon is hatching for the automotive industry. If your attitude is that you are making money right now, so why change, it could lead you down a path of no-return!

Consumers are changing -- these days they not only vote with their wallets, they use their new-found megaphones of social media and rating sites to hit back HARD when they are not satisfied. Industry disruptors know this and are entering the space with new technologies in communications, payments, marketing, sales processes, financing, and overall experience improvements that leave any dealerships which continue to do it “like they always have” in the dust.

I advise you to pay attention to the trends that are happening in the retail world because, inevitably, those trends migrate into the automotive space. Even Tesla stole their “showrooming” practice from the retail furniture industry. Consumers are all about using technology nowadays. How many people do you know that DON’T have a smartphone? And yes, they’re not afraid to use that smartphone to price shop your competition while standing on your lot – or in your parts or service department. And they’re certainly not afraid to leave if they are dissatisfied with the experience they are having.

So, by continuing to do “things like you always have,” all you’re doing is telling consumers to take their money elsewhere. A large American retail icon, Toys ‘R Us, just went down in blazing flames because it failed to adapt to retail industry changes. Instead, it counted on its brand name to carry the stores. But it didn’t. And it’s sad. They had an opportunity to make their stores a toy adventure place for kids and parents, making it a destination of experience, excitement and hands-on fun for their visitors. How many toys would kids have left with if they got to play with other kids and experience 20-30 toys while visiting? Instead, Toys ‘R Us remained a warehouse of boxed toys customers could look at but not touch, while competing with online toy stores that show detailed pictures instead of sterile boxes and provided hassle-free delivery.

Change is happening all around us. Businesses that have failed to adapt to consumer needs in experience, convenience, efficiency and transparency are going away, right before our eyes.

LONG BEACH, California –April 5, 2018-- --myKaarma, the leading communications and payments software provider for automotive dealer service departments, today announced it has received a $15 million investment led by Kayne Partners, the growth private equity group of Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, L.P., an alternative investment firm managing $26 billion in assets. The investment will be used to accelerate product development and further myKaarma’s goal of improving the overall customer experience, efficiency, and profitability in automotive dealer service departments.  

“We are impressed with the company’s rapid growth and success within the automotive industry, which is clearly driven by its unique technology that solves major pain points in dealer service departments. This investment will allow myKaarma to bring its innovative and highly effective technology to market faster and further extend its position as a market leader,” said Nate Locke, a Partner at Kayne Partners. 

myKaarma’s software runs on mobile phones, desktop and tablet computers, offering two main features: end-to-end customer communication, and payments. The communications tools are designed to blend seamlessly into a service advisor’s daily workflow and can be used across various mediums of communication, including voice, text, and email. Service advisors gain new capabilities, such as sending photos and videos of vehicles to customers to contextualize new repair recommendations and receiving real-time authorization from customers for additional work. Once the service process is complete, customers have multiple options for paying their bill, including online, which allows them to avoid waiting in line at the dealership when they pick up their vehicle.  

After implementing myKaarma’s cloud-based software tools, service departments enjoy an average lift in dollars per repair order of 37 percent, a 50 percent reduction in voicemails left with advisors, a 100 percent reduction in authorization disputes, a 33 percent decrease in loaner car days, and a boost in CSI scores. Dealers also gain access to a comprehensive real-time record of communication with their customers and a bird’s eye view of the service department that allows them to more efficiently manage their operations. 

“We are excited to team with Kayne Partners,” said Ujj Nath, myKaarma Chairman and CEO. “Today’s consumers’ view of service has been dramatically transformed. They have come to expect and demand a high quality user experience because of market leaders such as Nordstrom, Amazon and Uber. One bad service experience can result in a customer being lost as a future sales prospect. This partnership allows us to accelerate market growth and speed up technology development, so our dealer customers can keep up with the current level of service and technology consumers demand. myKaarma will continue to lead the industry with our technology platform and laser focus on the success of auto dealer service departments.”  

For more information, or to schedule a product demonstration, visit www.mykaarma.com,     

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About myKaarma: 
myKaarma is the communication and payments platform of choice for the nation’s top automotive manufacturers and groups alike, enabling a consistent high-quality service experience for their brand’s customers. myKaarma's platform is backed by its “crazy good” customer service and gives dealers the ability to offer their customers 21st Century technology through digital conversations and smart payment systems. myKaarma was named as an official communications and payments partner for Mercedes-Benz USA. 

About Kayne Partners 
Kayne Partners is the growth private equity group of Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, L.P. Kayne Partners is a leading provider of capital and connections to rapidly growing companies in North America. Since its inception more than a decade ago, it has invested over $600 million in platform investments and add-on acquisitions. Kayne Partners seeks to partner with driven entrepreneurs as a non-control minority investor and provide transformative capital to these high growth companies.   

For more information, visit www.kaynepartners.com 

About Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, L.P.: 
Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, L.P., founded in 1984, is a leading alternative investment management firm focused on niche investing in upstream oil and gas companies, energy and infrastructure, specialized real estate, growth equity and both private credit and diversified liquid credit. Kayne Anderson manages $26 billion in assets and employs over 300 professionals in eight offices across the U.S.  

Kayne Anderson is headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in Houston, New York City, Chicago, Denver, Dallas, Atlanta and Boca Raton. 

For more information, please visit www.kaynecapital.com

LONG BEACH, Calif.,-- April 2, 2018-- -- myKaarma, software that helps dealerships communicate better with their customers at every stage of the service process, right from check-in through to payment, today announced that Mercedes Benz of North Palm Beach stopped using their regular phone system in service and now puts every call, text and email through myKaarma. The system keeps a record of every customer interaction, is fully searchable for seven years, and records all incoming and outgoing calls. This has helped build trust with customers, improved customer satisfaction, loyalty and retention.

Two years ago, Service Manager Shawn Potsander heard about myKaarma at a National Parts & Service Managers’ Meeting.  Impressed with the results, he decided to try it at his dealership. Potsander runs a pretty busy shop, writes around 1,200 Repair Orders per month with 20 techs and 6 full time service advisors running 36 bays. At first, he was met with a lot of pushback, raised eyebrows from his employees and insecurity about recorded phone calls and the automatic tracking of every customer interaction. However, he could see a huge benefit as he was looking from another perspective -- not to spy on employees, but to document and check on what has been promised to the customer.

“As a manager there is no way to sit in and listen to 50-60 calls per day. At first, the staff was very reluctant. A couple embraced it more than others, but a couple were dead set against it,” said Potsander.

According to Potsander, there was one customer service incident that was a pivotal point. “An elderly gentleman came into the service department and I was standing right there. He apparently had some memory issues and said to the Service Advisor, ‘I know I spoke with you about the expected amount of my bill, and you told me that the call was recorded. I am not questioning you, please don’t take this the wrong way, but these days I tend to forget a lot. Can you please play back our call as I need to feel good about my decision, but don’t remember what we discussed?’ This was very interesting as we never expected this from a customer!” said Potsander. “We played it back and the amount he had in head was the original, but not the total with some required add-ons. As soon as he heard it he smiled and was literally ecstatic. He shook our hands and told us he was so happy as it reassured him that he had made the right decision.”

Seeing the impact this simple recording had on this customer, Potsander decided to have all service calls go through the myKaarma system every single time. He called the phone vendor and had them restrict all calls other than 911. Now, every direct dial number goes through the myKaarma application, so employees have no option but to use it.

“It is a great tool for customer satisfaction,” said Potsander. “Just yesterday a customer in urgent need of their vehicle came in upset as he said he had not received any notification from us that it was ready. However, we had spoken to someone in his office who told us they would relay the message to him but failed to do so. We were able to play back the conversation and he recognized the voice of his employee, it was like a mystery shop of his own office, as he knew exactly who it was. This saved us a CSI issue as the customer knew what really happened -- he was able to hear it with his own ears. This reaffirmed that this is where the value is. It is all about efficiency and trust between the customer and the dealership. Trust leads to profitability as it builds loyalty – this is a long-term loyalty build,” Potsander added.

Potsander has also seen an increase in efficiency, as advisors can spend more time focusing on multiple customers. He can also quickly refer back to any customer interaction, which helps on customer service issues, as the texts and calls are all easily searchable threads.

Service advisors can communicate from their desks via text, email or voice. “It simplifies and adds huge value as we can thread the communication. We recently added sales and parts functionality too. Technicians can upload photos and use RO search function right in the service bay. If a customer calls in to dealership anyone can pull up the RO, see the thread, including the picture the technician uploaded of a dirty oil filter and all the pieces that tied into that story or thread. They can then talk to the customer with some intelligence, without having to hand them off to someone else. It’s a fabulous tool as any manager can go in and see any part of the conversation thread and add data as needed. Now I almost always start any phone interaction in the myKaarma system,” said Potsander.

Potsander also likes the integrated online payment system, which automatically sends payment requests to customers once the vehicle is ready. “It’s a real time saver automating this part of the transaction. We advise each customer that when their vehicle is ready they will receive an email or text with an invoice. This eliminates calls about their vehicle status. The service advisor role has a lot of multi-tasking, a lot of interruptions. So, the more you can automate for them, the more efficient they are. And, you can follow up and say, ‘hey I sent your invoice, do you have a minute to review it?’ The customer is prepared and already has the invoice, so it minimizes any dispute,” Potsander continued.

According to Potsander it’s also a simple matter to issue any refunds or make changes, such as if the customer forgets a coupon or parts are charged for twice. “It is very simple as a manager to go and issue credit, which is another great CSI point as the customer does not have to bring in their card. It is simple and efficient,” said Potsander.

The process of capturing mobile phone numbers is vital to the success of the program and the dealership does a great job at this. “Once the service advisor sees the value there is no push back. In fact, one employee who did not want to use the system at first, now tells me he will quit if I ever get rid of myKaarma,” Potsander noted.

For more information, or to schedule a product demonstration visit: www.mykaarma.com.

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About myKaarma:

myKaarma is the communication and payments platform of choice for the nation’s top automotive manufacturers and groups alike—enabling a consistent high-quality service experience for their brand’s customers.

Service departments enjoy an average lift in dollars per repair order (RO) of 37%, a 50% reduction in voicemails left with advisors, a 100% reduction in authorization disputes, a 33% decrease in loaner car days, and an increase in CSI scores.

myKaarma's platform backed by its “crazy good” customer service gives dealers the ability to offer their customers 21st Century technology through digital conversations and smart payment systems. myKaarma was named as an official communications and payments partner for Mercedes-Benz U

According to a recent article in Automotive News, Motorcars Honda in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, believes that the future of franchise dealership profitability lies in efficient vehicle service, and as a result it’s service department is bustling.

So, what did they do? The dealership created an assembly line for quick-service that not only allows it to perform MPIs, but also an oil change in under 30-minutes. Every time. In fact, the dealership can service 71 vehicles in just two hours!

And they’ve put their money where their mouth is to the tune of $700,000. That may sound like a lot, but they forecast express servicing 30,000 cars per year. And, the innovative and efficient assembly line has the capacity to service 60,000. Not bad considering they aren’t limiting services to Honda customers, but to any vehicle owner.

The dealership feels the key elements to its service department’s success are speed, transparency and price. That’s what consumers want in today’s world.

But, speed and transparency apply to more than just how quickly you can service a vehicle. They also apply to how efficiently you communicate with a consumer, how detailed you are in the multi-point inspection, and how much trust is established with the consumer to enable them to agree to complete the transaction.

Efficiency drives revenue. Sure, most of you probably don’t have a cool $700,000 sitting around to establish such an operation. However, there are a lot of process improvements that CAN be done with software that makes a significant difference and doesn’t require a huge capital investment. Review your processes and find areas that can be improved. Perhaps it can be as simple as setting up shuttle service for your customers. Or improving your phone processes so the customer’s calls don’t always go to voicemail. Or adding a video inspection to ensure transparency for the customer. Using software to update any of these customer pain points can add efficiency and increase satisfaction with the service experience you provide.

Forward-thinking dealers such as Motorcars Honda understand what consumers want and are preparing themselves for a future filled with a service capacity that’s unheard of. Just as automotive manufacturing was transformed with assembly lines, this innovative initiative is sure to pay off as consumers in the local market start to realize that it doesn’t have to take long to get their vehicle serviced at a dealership. Once that perception changes, dealerships will have an incredible advantage over their competition. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.

New App speeds up check-in process, virtually eliminates damage claims & increases upsell opportunities

LONG BEACH, California -- March 19, 2018-- --myKaarma, a software company that helps

dealerships communicate better with their customers at every stage of the service process, from check-in through payment, today announced the release of a new app feature that enables simple video walkarounds for auto dealer service departments. The video walkaround app feature is the simplest way to record any damage to a vehicle, speed up the check-in process, virtually eliminate damage claims and increases upsell opportunities.

The app feature is very user-friendly and allows service departments to inspect vehicles in a more natural way. The service advisor opens the app, turns on the video, walks around the vehicle and, when any damage is found, it’s recorded on the spot. The advisor simply taps the screen, the app adds a photo of the damage and pops up a list of tags such as dent, damage, scratch, etc., so the advisor can quickly identify and tag the area of damage for future review. 

The videos and pictures are then uploaded to the cloud and chronologically stitched together, creating a free-flowing video that pauses for three seconds on each picture, allowing the customer to view as desired. Any area of interest is clearly marked with a circle, highlighting the area of damage so it can be clearly viewed.  

The app can also be used by technicians, customized on an individual basis to include labels such as oil leak, battery, alignment, tire damage, etc. According to Ujj Nath, myKaarma Chairman and CEO, dealers are seeing a lot of success in authorizations when these technician videos and sent to customers prior to calling for approval.

“The customer receives a text with a link that opens to a screen where they can view the pictures and videos from the walkaround. These videos help uncover additional revenue through damage inspections and the transparent process builds customer trust and confidence. Our dealers are also enjoying tremendous results by improving the vehicle check-in process with integrated video check-in reports that virtually eliminate damage claims,” said Nath.

For more information, or to schedule a product demonstration visit www.mykaarma.com,  stop by booth 1047 N at the 2018 NADA show in Las Vegas, NV, March 23-25, or click here to schedule an appointment at NADA

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About myKaarma:
myKaarma is the communication and payments platform of choice for the nation’s top automotive manufacturers and groups alike—enabling a consistent high-quality service experience for their brand’s customers. Service departments enjoy an average lift in dollars per repair order (RO) of 37%, a 50% reduction in voicemails left with advisors, a 100% reduction in authorization disputes, a 33% decrease in loaner car days, and an increase in CSI scores.

myKaarma's platform backed by its “crazy good” customer service gives dealers the ability to offer their customers 21st Century technology through digital conversations and smart payment systems. myKaarma was named as an official communications and payments partner for Mercedes-Benz USA.

Do you think retail is changing, or do you believe that continuing to do the same thing will allow you to prosper as you have for decades? Certainly, the auto industry disruptors must be a wake-up call, at the very least. But is it enough of a wake-up call? We’re watching entire industries pretty much go out of business or forced into radical change because of companies that come in and offer consumers better and more convenient experiences. Look at the entertainment industry: Amazon, Netflix, and YouTube are now major production companies that create original content.

This content is winning Oscars and have put all the “classic” content producers into radical change mode as their old business strengths have become weakness. Amazon is such a powerhouse that its foray into the grocery store industry has become a full-on attack, with the acquisition of Whole Foods. Now, it’s even dipping its toes into the banking industry. And we have already seen their experiments with the auto industry; is “Amazon Auto” going to become reality sooner rather than later?

Where does it end and why are they continuously able to accomplish these things? Well, some businesses, especially those that have been around a long-time, get a little too comfortable and complacent in their position - until it’s too late.

This is causing retail chains that were staples not so long ago to shed off some of their retail locations. Rite-Aid just transferred 1,651 stores to pharmaceutical and retail competitor Walgreens. Times are tough in retail and industry disruptors are finding customer experience holes and taking advantage of them with lots of funding.

In fact, it’s such a hot topic that Bloomberg recently came out with a retro video game challenging people to keep a retail shopping mall alive. Want to play it and see how you do? Go ahead right here.

While not impossible to win, it is certainly challenging by all reports. But that’s the point, isn’t it?

The retail industry is experiencing the most fundamental and dramatic change since the industrial revolution. Technology helps just about every area of our lives and consumers are voting with their wallets for convenience and efficiency.

Unless you evolve your dealership alongside these retail giants who are, at the moment, winning the game, you might find yourself obsolete. While the retail automotive industry – especially franchise dealers – has been relatively shielded by franchise laws, that may not always be the case.

It will inevitably be consumers who decide whether the rules stay the same or change. Uber and Lyft are already changing the rules, it won’t matter if franchise laws exist when personal ownership drops off a cliff because it’s cheaper to buy rides than own a vehicle in an urban area.

Check out the ongoing drop in teen driver licenses being issued in this article. From 1996 to 2015 the share of High School seniors with a driver’s license dropped from 85.3% to a record low of 71.5%, and those are statistics from before Uber and Lyft became household names. Lawmakers will listen to their constituents eventually, so even protection by franchise laws will eventually erode.

Listen and act on your customer demands as far as the customer experience, technology and efficiency… or wait until another company comes along that will. The money is flowing in the direction of the disrupters, not the dealers or retail businesses.

And that should be a pretty big red flag for any retail business. Including dealerships.

Does anyone remember when some car dealers didn’t think websites were valuable? It really wasn’t that long ago. Now, every car dealer from the largest to the smallest independent has one.

Even some manufacturers didn’t feel like they “needed” to own their own name on the Internet. Take the epic battle Nissan had with a gentleman who owned a computer company named Nissan Computers. That battle lasted a decade, but you know what happened? Nissan eventually lost and now what remains is an eternal testament to the story and, even after spending millions of dollars, Nissan doesn’t own its own domain. Don’t believe me? Go to Nissan.com, I’ll wait.

Technology has certainly changed consumer behavior. 15 years ago, buyers would physically visit 5.6 dealerships before they became an owner. Today they physically visit 1.2 dealership before buying. Virtual online shopping, vehicle selection, price comparison, dealership comparison, even financing is now the normal process. Customers only need physically visit the dealership to do a final test drive and sign the paperwork to legally complete the sale.

Want another story? A gentleman named Eric Weaver recently penned an article on LinkedIn sharing his frustration about trying to convince clients concerning the importance of the digital transformation. In that article, he shared a story about how in 1999 he spoke to the NADA audience trying to convince dealers about the importance of e-commerce. After many boos, debates and objections from dealers who did NOT want transparency, he ended up talking some of them into the first online test-driving scheduling system.

Some forward-thinking auto dealers are taking chances with new business models, technologies and processes in the early stages of development, such as video email, paperless documents

AI and chatbots and are doing really well with it. But, for the most part, industry experts place auto dealers at least 5 years behind every other retail business in existence in terms of adoption of technology and listening to consumer demands.

The problem is that this hesitation to adopt technology impedes progress and opens the door for industry disruptors. We have only ourselves to blame for disruptors such as TrueCar, Costco Automotive, even CarMax and the fixed price model. New disruptors like Blinker, Fair, and Carvana, are now looking to meet the new customer desires of today.

Had we earlier adopted technologies and processes that make car buying an easier process, there never would have been a pain point and those disruptive companies would not have seen a need. Meaning they probably never would have come into existence, much less raised the financial seeding that they have.

Want some interesting statistics? According to Weaver, 78% of businesses reported that digital transformation will become critical within 2 years, 74% are concerned about new disrupters entering their industry and 10 out of 13 industries believe that digital disruption will affect their industry in the next 12 months.

On the plus side, he shared a McKinsey study which reports that those companies who embrace digital transformation are expected to see increases of over 50% to their bottom line in the next 5 years!

For those dealers playing the “wait and see” game, time is getting short and the consequences of waiting are getting greater. It’s no longer a matter of “if,” but only a matter of “when.”

Embrace technology, recognize its value and you will increase efficiency and better satisfy consumer demand.

One of the most pressing technological and ethical questions across most industries – including automotive – is when Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robots will replace humans. Enter AI, and suddenly everyone thinks of Skynet, from the Terminator!

Certainly, humans are afraid of losing their jobs to robots, which are great at repetitive tasks based on a set of rules and code.  But AI and robots aren’t something we, as a society, haven’t already encountered. In automotive manufacturing robots dominate assembly lines. And, artificial intelligence is making decent inroads at integrating itself into our lives via in-vehicle navigation systems, not to mention voice assistants built into our smartphones and various in-home technology.

The truth is that, while AI and robots may replace some jobs, they will also create new opportunities and careers.

In the early 1900s, John Philip Sousa predicted that the invention of the phonograph would lead to the demise of music.  If we reflect on the impact of the phonograph, it has been wide ranging, such as preserving digital replicas of music that otherwise may have been lost forever. This has allowed music to be popularized beyond the concert halls it was originally played in, even leading to social revolution of the 70s and hip-hop in the 90s.

Ironically, all of this came from an invention created by Edison to get rid of stenography and to make business communications more accurate.  Also, as Clayton Christensen espouses in his book The Innovator's Dilemma , inventions initially target applications that are niche-based, but eventually, as the invention matures, and price-performance and reliability improves, they find large scale use. However, this is hard to predict.  

When AI matures it will be one of the biggest disruptive forces ever unleashed on mankind. And, like every other disruption, will have unpredictable consequences.  This disruption will surely affect the drivers for Uber and Lyft, and governments shall have to play a role in the resettlement.  

That being said, in the end, like the effect of the phonograph, the far-reaching consequences of such disruption will create new industries and new employment that will far outnumber the jobs it takes away.  Unfortunately, the transitory period will be painful, and governments and philanthropists will have to plan a way out for the displaced.  The capitalistic system that we work in will continue to develop this technology because all the incentives by which these companies are measured are enhanced by AI.

Just like “coding” is all the rage right now, in-demand skills will always shift with technology. Robots and AI aren’t the end of society. While they might cost some jobs, they will also create more by necessity.

The key to success isn’t standing around worried about losing a job, but rather determining which skill sets you should consider adapting to our ever-changing world. Just as society has done many times in the past.