Many companies claim they have a lot management solution, but a closer inspection reveals that it is not a solution built for dealers to manage their lot.  The solutions being talked about are actually built for consumers and focused on consumer applications such as infotainment, safety, and tracking their cars after purchase.  OnStar, Ford Sync, Lojack, Spireon, and others can help consumers find their car when they leave the mall, but how does that help dealers manage their operations?

We have learned that consumers and dealers are both fatigued by the growing list of aftermarket F&I solutions. While sometimes profitable, there are just too many. They add too much time and they wear everybody out – contributing to the negative connotation about visiting your local car dealer to negotiate a sale.

Plus, all of these services fall down on lot management because they were not built for that purpose.

Here are the Top Three Reasons aftermarket and OEM location services fail at lot management:

1. Dealers eat the service cost and then wrestle to transfer it to the consumer at F&I.  If the take rate is low, dealers can spend 10s of thousands a month on an inferior ill-purposed solution
2. What about the keys?!?  Having simultaneous key and car location is a game changer!  Even if you can find the car, you can’t test drive it without the key!
3. These solutions can come with periodic vehicle location updates, but lack real operational insight that creates dealer value.

Pick a purpose-built Lot Management solution instead.

Lot Management 360 from TrueSpot was built from the ground up to map dealer inventory and operations in a real-time dashboard.  LM360 goes beyond mapping to produce insights that save hundreds of thousands of dollars in productivity and asset loss, save sales, and can even improve customer satisfaction with faster service.

Here are the Top 10 Ways LM360 goes beyond OEM car tracking solutions:

1. Seamless inventory sync – easy integration with your DMS & digital inventory management partners
2. Beyond cars – cars and keys are tracked for faster audits and rekey savings
3. Customization – dealer defined geofences and custom labeled recon stages
4. Days In Inventory – locate your oldest vehicles for priority selling
5. Sales Optimization – position new and pre-owned vehicles in sales hot zones
6. Last Seen Report – know the last known time and location of any asset
7. Test Drive Logging – log test drives by salesperson and vehicle
8. Missing Car Alerts – know if cars left the lot or were not seen at the opening
9. Expedited Recon – set profiles that automate critical steps like photography
10. Advanced Search and Display – Powerful search, filter, and sort capabilities to parse the information, report status, and pinpoint locations

Plus, maybe the most important difference between a purpose-built lot management solution and an OEM or 3rd party F&I car tracking service is COST. A purpose-built solution is tailored for dealers, so no undue cost.  It is not a square peg being hammered into a round hole.  So, it is not only less expensive but simply much better at delivering on the promise.  In fact, LM360 from TrueSpot can pay for itself within the first 30-days on key loss savings alone. Can any aftermarket or OEM solution do that?

Look, you can dress a dog up like a duck, but you can’t make it quack.  Please stop trying to do that with consumer-focused car tracking solutions.  Call us today for a free, no-hassle, and socially distanced online demo of Lot Management 360 from TrueSpot.

You have nothing to lose and everything to gain, literally.