Software review eliminates costs, redundancy

When service-lane volume dramatically decreased in April at Lehigh Valley Honda — one of four Pennsylvania-based dealerships owned by Vinart Auto Group — Dan Carcione put the downtime to good use.

Acting on a senior-management directive to review all software subscriptions and capabilities, the service manager took time to better familiarize himself with a DealerBuilt DMS system purchased several years ago.

As he explored its capabilities, something interesting emerged: It performed the same functions as a third-party add-on system that carried a $20,000-a-month subscription fee. As such, eliminating this redundant technology will save the company nearly $250,000 annually, Carcione says.

"All we needed was some extra time to find that out," he says.

Carcione believes his experience mirrors that of service managers nationwide that rarely have time to immerse themselves in new DMS or customer relationship management software.

"Any time you change a DMS or CRM system, there's either resistance to using it or half-hearted acceptance," he says. "Or you only have time to learn how to perform just your basic daily tasks."

Carcione says he has seen this happen at three dealerships.

"In the day-to-day whirlwind, no one has time to look at all the things you can get out of a system," he says. "Then the subscriptions start stacking up, and people tend to forget about them."

The technology review revealed other inefficiencies. For example, service advisers were occasionally closing repair orders without documenting the "three C's" required for warranty-work reimbursements: cause, concern and correction. Carcione fixed that by making such documentation mandatory.

Within the next couple months, Carcione expects to add a DealerBuilt multipoint inspection software component to the DMS toolkit, which will enable service advisers to use tablets and provide a more touchless and efficient service-lane process. That will replace two other subscription-based software systems — and save the company $15,000 annually, he estimates.

"But it will also make our advisers and technicians much more efficient," he says, "which is worth far more than the $15,000."