For many people, when you discuss the benefits of an inventory tracking solution, their mind immediately goes to dealership sales. In the dealer world, though, there’s more to it than just sales. Inventory solutions can be used to improve everything from audits with banks to rental car facilities to auction houses.
Using inventory tracking tools, an audit that might take an entire day can be performed in an hour. When you have a car audit and your car is floored with a banking company, it takes up your accounting time. People have to go out and try to find vehicles that the auditor might have missed, walked by or can’t find. In most cases, the auditor will make the dealership pay off the vehicle if they can’t find it in a certain amount of time. Inventory tracking allows the auditor to go right to the vehicle. The accounting team doesn’t have to spend time looking through files, because it’s either on the lot or it’s not, and the system will tell staff exactly where to find it.
Dealerships can also use it to find missing vehicles. Exception reports help dealers and managers keep their flooring checks in good shape. They can determine if inventory was loaned out, sold and not paid off, or home with a staff member. Ultimately, they save dealerships and auditors a lot of time and a lot of money.
When evaluating inventory products, make sure to purchase a system that actually reads the VIN number. By reading the individual VINs, the system can’t be spooked and may even reduce audits once the auditor realizes the dealership tracking is iron clad and can’t be manipulated. With VIN-specific tracking, dealers can reuse and move it from one vehicle to another. This type of system makes it simple during an audit to know if something has been missed and, if so, where to find it.
Rent-a-car facilities can use this type of system as a way to help track their inventory. And perhaps one of the strongest uses for tracking is at auction houses. Imagine being able to individually track each vehicle and its position on the auction lot. The solution could save auction houses hours upon hours each day of chasing vehicles.
We’ve just started to scratch the surface of how inventory tracking solutions can help not only dealers, but other vehicle inventory channels, like auditors and auction houses, as well. It’s an exciting time for the technology.
Mark Sargeant is the Sales and Marketing Manager for AutoMap, and can be reached at [email protected].
