Cox Automotive brand vAuto made two enhancements to its solutions ProfitTime GPS and Provision: Centralized Inventory Management to support dealer group oversight and a new appraisal experience. The additions are intended to help dealers win more trade-ins in a supply-constrained used vehicle market. 

Designed to streamline operations, enhance transparency, and deliver actionable insights, Centralized Inventory Management and the new appraisal experience can give dealers a competitive edge in today’s dynamic market.

“vAuto has remained a long-trusted partner for dealers,” said Derek Hansen, vice president of inventory solutions management at Cox Automotive. “However, with 80% of clients having multiple rooftops, we saw an opportunity to improve our enterprise dealer solutions. By leveraging Cox Automotive’s data and expertise, these tools are designed to improve operational efficiency while empowering our clients with actionable insights.”  

Centralized Inventory Management

vAuto’s Centralized Inventory Management solution unlocks greater efficiency, consistency and visibility across all dealership locations. The new tool optimizes vehicle management, enabling dealers to align decisions with enterprisewide strategies and maximize vehicle return on investment across locations.

Key features include:

• Enterprise Transfer Portal: Optimizes every car across a dealer’s locations with centralized actions. Dealers can quickly identify inventory issues, transfer vehicles where they’re needed, and optimize retail potential across locations.

• C-Suite Reporting and Actionable Insights: Delivers a real-time view of performance at both the individual location and group level.

• Dashboards: Dealers can track performance and drive accountability across their groups, keeping everyone aligned on goals and outcomes while improving consistency and transparency across locations.

New Appraisal Experience

It’s estimated that there is more than a $1,000 gap between estimated and actual reconditioning costs on 39% of vehicle identification numbers, according to 2022–2023 vAuto and Dealertrack data. vAuto’s new appraisal tool is intended to address this challenge by minimizing costly mistakes, ensuring consistent and transparent offers that build consumer trust, and helping dealers acquire vehicles aligned with their inventory strategies.

Notable features include:

• Mobile Capture Application: The feature enables dealers to capture high-resolution, 360-degree vehicle images and document damage for seamless hand-offs to appraisers.

• More Precise Reconditioning Estimation Tools: Calculate each vehicle’s unique reconditioning costs using tools that integrate with On-Board Diagnostics II to improve accuracy and reduce errors.

• Kelley Blue Book Instant Cash Offer: Dealers can now access Kelley Blue Book Instant Cash Offer-branded offer reports within their appraisal screens detailing the offer amount and how it was generated. Customers have access to appraisals backed by trusted Kelley Blue Book data to connect the online valuation experience with the on-the-lot valuation process to enhance trust and confidence in every transaction.  

“Vehicle appraisals are critical to profitability. By integrating these advanced tools that minimize inconsistencies, dealerships can increase profitability, ensure more accurate pricing, streamline inventory management, and enhance the overall customer experience,” Hansen said.