vAuto announces next-generation functionality with the release of ProfitTime 2.0 at the Cox Automotive Experience and NADA 2021. Building upon ProfitTime’s industry-first introduction of investment value-based used vehicle management, ProfitTime 2.0 provides the real-time pricing guidance that dealerships need to ensure they maximize the investment return each vehicle offers. 

“Two years ago, we introduced ProfitTime to help dealers reverse the skid of net profit declines in used vehicles. For the first time, dealers could know the investment value of every used vehicle and use it to propel gross profits and sales volumes,” said Dale Pollak, vAuto founder and Cox Automotive executive vice president. “Today, we are excited to share the next evolution in investment value management — ProfitTime 2.0, which gives dealers recommended pricing guidance that makes it easier to implement an investment value-based strategy across their entire used vehicle inventories.” 

ProfitTime 2.0’s recommended pricing guidance marks an industry first. The pricing guidance flows from data science that predicts a vehicle’s investment quality and accounts for the vehicle’s regional market performance, a dealer’s past performance, current stocking levels and current pricing of similar vehicles. The system weighs these variables to offer a pricing range appropriate to each vehicle and its investment value. The guidance makes investment value-based pricing more accurate, consistent and faster for dealers and managers.  

“Before ProfitTime 2.0, you’d go to price a car and spend time looking at competitive sets, certified versus non-certified vehicles, and other factors. You really had to think your way through it,” said Tim Nelson, general manager of Beaverton (OR) Honda. “ProfitTime 2.0 takes all the things you used to have to think through and it’s already done for you. It tells you what you need to do with a vehicle’s price.” 

In addition to pricing guidance, ProfitTime 2.0 features all-new investment value summaries for individual vehicles and a dealer’s overall inventory. The summary views give dealers and managers a deeper understanding of their used vehicle department’s investment management performance — a significant time-saver for those who oversee used vehicle operations and teams across a dealership group. 

As Nelson notes, “ProfitTime 2.0 saves me time. I’m able to trust the software and have another person do the tasks. I have four stores to watch, and now I just watch and oversee.” 

With ProfitTime 2.0’s recommended pricing guidance, dealers can now be sure their used vehicles are consistently priced to reflect their investment value. The system’s new look and feel also makes investment value-based used vehicle pricing easier and more efficient. Key features include:  

• Recommended Pricing: Originally, ProfitTime gave dealers the ability to understand the investment value of their inventory. The system, which ranks vehicles by Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze investment values, helped dealers move away from the Velocity Method of Management, which encouraged the rapid retail sale of every used vehicle. ProfitTime 2.0 helps dealers properly price vehicles that need to be retailed quickly and others that can be retailed more slowly to achieve higher gross and net profit performance.  
• Data-driven Insights: Backed by expansive industry-leading data science, ProfitTime 2.0 employs profit-predictive machine learning and modeling to determine each vehicle’s intrinsic investment value and its optimal investment value-based price position in the market.  
• Improved user experience. ProfitTime 2.0 is built with efficient dealer workflows in mind. The at-a-glance pricing recommendations and investment summary pages help dealers price their used vehicles with greater accuracy and time-saving efficiency.  

“At vAuto, we remain committed to helping dealers by providing them with the live market insights they need to make data-driven decisions that will help their businesses,” added Randy Kobat, vice president, Inventory Management Solutions at Cox Automotive. “ProfitTime 2.0 does something no other system or individual can do. It accounts for all the factors that affect a vehicle’s investment value and optimal price position. The system falls squarely in this mission to help dealers use investment value-based management to improve their used vehicle department profitability and sales volume.” 

For more information on ProfitTime 2.0, visit www.vauto.com/profittimepricing.  For information on all Cox Automotive’s 2021 new offerings, visit www.coxautoinc.com/experience.