Hey wait a second a CRM solution suppose to make me money and keep my business organized and productive, how can it cost me money other than the monthly subscription fees. Plus I pay already a hefty amount per month to begin with for our system, it is suppose to be working well. If you are the general manager for your dealership, and what I just described above is something that just ran through your head then you should really, I mean really look into your current CRM solution and verify its usefulness.

CRM is acronyms for Customer Relationship Management, it is suppose to be a system that keeps your dealership running efficiently and help you organize your tasks, customers, appointments and inventory. But poorly designed or developed software can cost you business and money in real life. To design and develop an automotive CRM takes time and talent, with good understanding of the business. There are many providers out there claiming they are in business since the early 80s and they have the best system in the market (which is true back in the 80s, and their software has not progressed for almost 20 years). Don’t be sold into another useless solution again, you don’t have to pay $2000-$5000 per month to use some outdated, unintuitive, poorly designed and developed system, that in actuality can cause you money and business. You don’t get a better system because you are paying for a bigger price tag.  Read more...

So for the past 15 years you have been managing your inventory through paper and pen, and for the last 2 years you have moved to an Excel spread sheet to do the same job. Now you are ready for a full blown CRM solution that can update your inventory instantaneously to your website, and get instant traffic and sales calls. But you are not sure which CRM solution to go with? If you have thought about this transition, you have probably realized you have out grown your spread sheet. Now you are ready for more, more than just recording the year, make and model of your inventory, more than just selling price and how many days this car has been in stock. Generally speaking if you have more than 3 sales people employed for your company, you should have some kind of customer relationship management software specifically build for the automotive industry to help you run your business. Why? Because you can track their sales performances, inventory turn over ratio, tracking 1-800 phone calls, and above all effectively manage your inventory that is tightly integrated with your web site.  Read more...

It has only been recently, that GPS navigation systems had seen wide spread use in vehicles. Such systems are considered necessities now days and should you be convinced that there’s actually no need for them, then you should consider some reasons why it’s considered a must-have for anyone owning and driving a vehicle.

First off is the obvious advantage it brings when it comes to navigation. This is after all, the purpose that it primarily serves. An automotive GPS navigation system eliminates the predicament of actually getting lost. Cities and towns are getting bigger all the time and there are places that you simply have not been to which can make navigation a lot more complicated without the aid of such a system. These GPS automotive systems and automotive repair manuals provides point to point guidance even in areas that are unfamiliar to you which simply gives you the assurance that you know exactly where you are going.

Furthermore, GPS navigation systems and haynes repair manuals are also capable of providing you with alternate routes to your destination should you encounter issues with the specific route that you are currently taking. Such issues come in the form of road blocks or anything similar to that. You can also take advantage of this feature to plan the quickest and most efficient route to your destination.  Read more...

DMS system or “Dealer Management System” refers to the complete packaged software that can run your automotive business. From printing service invoices to manage internet sales, from inventory management all the way to accounting and payroll. It is suppose to be the comprehensive system that is able to run a dealership all in one. But the software vendors in the market place are often poorly developed and hopelessly outdated. Many of the DMS or even the CRM solutions out there can be unnecessarily over complicated and redudant. Trying to enforce certain processes in the automotive business often leads to overwhelming human errors, and counter productive system glitches.  If you can take some time out for a little research, you should ask your support staff just how many functions of your DMS system they are truly using on a daily basis. Or better yet, pick a random function in your DMS system and quiz your staff on it. If your dealership support staff are only using a small fraction of your current DMS system, don’t you think it is a complete waste of money and time to have these over complicated system that is never put into use? If your DMS system require intense user training on top of that, don’t you think you are using the wrong system all together? Perhaps you are creating unnecessary obstacles for your business that is separating the meaning of team work.  Read more...

In your vehicle, the automotive air conditioning compressor has the simple task of moving gas between the condenser and the evaporator. However, it is often considered to be the heart of the system and if this belt-driven piece of equipment fails to do its job, the entire system quits functioning as designed.

The automotive air conditioning compressor is typically attached to the engine of your vehicle and is belt driven. One of the primary causes of a failed automotive air conditioning compressor is a loose or broken belt as a loose belt may not operate the compressor properly causing lowered pressure in the system and the gas is not transferred to the system’s other components efficiently. Similar to the air conditioner in your home or office, the vehicle’s system has three main components, the automotive air conditioning compressor, a condenser and an evaporator.

The vehicles closed system contains Freon gas and the automotive air conditioning compressor pressurizes the gas, which converts it to hot, high-pressure gas and forces it into the condenser, which looks similar to the radiator in your car, to dissipate the heat condensing the hot, pressurized gas into a liquid. As it is forced through an expansion valve it evaporates into cold, low-pressure Freon gas.

Air Exchanged Inside The Vehicle

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