Austin, TX – The Appraisal Lane™, a mobile app connecting dealers with a larger community of appraisers and buyers to receive real time cash offers on inventory, recently announced it has expanded to the Midwest. The Appraisal Lane’s footprint now includes the entire Eastern Seaboard, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
Executives of The Appraisal Lane say they are taking a very methodical and selective approach when it comes to expanding the company’s reach – an approach they say is critical to the success of their community.
“There are no shortcuts to growing a community,” said Jeff Risner, Co-Founder and CEO of The Appraisal Lane. “Our community depends on the quality of the dealers who comprise it so we’re very strategic about the way we approach and expand in new markets. We are adding the right dealers who value The Appraisal Lane process, embrace it fully, and make it a part of their everyday business operations.”
Even with this methodical approach, The Appraisal Lane has seen notable year-over-year growth with vehicle submissions up 53% over this same time frame in 2016. Risner says the reason for this growth is due to the value the platform brings to dealers who have fully integrated it into their current processes.
One such dealer is Bob McCullen, Senior Team Leader of Grappone Automotive Group in the Concord, New Hampshire area, whose group has been using The Appraisal Lane for close to a year.
“I could not imagine doing business in today’s environment without The Appraisal Lane,” said McCullen. “Anyone who does not take a hard look at this platform and hold it against critical areas of their business – even incremental areas that need improvement – is missing out. This platform is versatile and was easily integrated into our processes.”
McCullen says The Appraisal Lane also plays a key role in enhancing customer service.
“With The Appraisal Lane, we enable our guests to be part of the valuation process and they love it,” he said. “Our customers are present and watch the entire process in The Appraisal Lane app. We’re at 60% look-to-book, year-to-date because The Appraisal Lane community has made engagement easy. We don’t upload any information into the app that our guests don’t see or agree with. This is HUGE for our guests, and for us.”
Risner says that while there are many benefits to using The Appraisal Lane, several key factors have contributed to full adoption among dealers.
“Being connected to a larger community during the valuation process gives our appraisers and buyers instant access to the information necessary to make a cash offer,” said Risner. “It also lets our customers know there is someone in the trenches with them, working on valuations while they are focused on the consumer. With 2,111 different make and model combinations in 2016 alone, it’s unrealistic to expect a manager to know the value of every vehicle they process, much less non-core brands. Our experts are there to help.”
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