Auto Dealer Software Data Integration Experts Blog

These commly known benefits all sound nice in a sales pitch, but auto manufacturer integration can help an auto dealership increase revenue or reducing cost in ways you may not be aware of. I would like to share a personal experience where the installation of warranty integration resulted in Warranty Administrator labor savings for the Business Office.

The story begins where all warranty integration stories begin, with a large pile of warranty repair orders sitting on a Warranty Administrators desk and a frustrated Dealer Principle wanting to get paid for work that has been completed. Shortly after installation and training of the new warranty integration software, the Warranty Administrator eliminated the pile of warranty repair orders and everyone was happy. The Dealer Principle achieved the normal results of integration; a streamlined process that reduced errors and time. But that's not all, this is just where the story starts to get interesting.

Months later, while visiting the dealership, I stopped by to meet with the Warranty Administrator and to my surprise she was manually entering warranty claims. In response to my inquiry whether there were any issues with the integration software she stated; "No, I'm just entering the claims manually because submitting the claims using the integrated solution is to fast. The claims are all submitted and I have nothing else to do."

Knowing that she had some interest in working in the Business Office, from past discussions, we discussed the possibility of inquiring into working in other areas of the auto dealership. Diversifying herself into other departments would give her the ability to learn new processes and increase her value to the dealership and in the marketplace.

Upon my next visit I learned that the Warranty Administrator inquired into the possibility of working in the Business Office. It turned out that the Business Office was about to hire a new employee, but trained and utilized the Warranty Administrator instead. The Warranty Administrator's labor expense was now split between the Service Department and Business Office resulting in saving for both departments and thus the dealership.

This is just one example of how integration can lead to creative solutions to other problems inside an an auto dealer. I would love to hear how integration has lead to other cost saving or revenue generating solutions at your dealership.

Rich has over 19 years automotive solutions experience with auto dealer management software. Over his 15 years with Reynolds & Reynolds (then UCS), his responsibilities included dealer management software support, auto dealer software installation, auto manufacturer account management and dealership consulting.

Join The Blog! Subscribe & Comment and Contribute! (use the subscribe form on this page)