Is Your Dealership Technology Helping You Achieve Financial Goals?

What to do when you see your technology costs start to rise

I’ve been in the automotive world for most of my life. In talking with dealers across the country, I’ve witnessed technology spending to be one of the biggest line items on the expense statement. Everywhere you look, it seems like another vendor is pitching the next must-have solution that’s supposed to help you sell more cars, improve CSI, increase service retention, or boost gross.

Some of those tools absolutely deliver value. Some are a waste of time and money.

Before you sign another agreement or add another monthly invoice to your office manager’s desk, I encourage you to take a hard look at your current tech stack and ask a simple question:

Are we getting everything we’re paying for today?

I’ve sat with dealer principals, GMs, controllers, and fixed ops directors who have invested in powerful systems but are only using about 50% of what those tools can do. The new technology requires changes to your workflow and adoption across your team, which is challenging. Most stores don’t need or use the bells and whistles they’re paying for to move inventory. Vendors seem to forget the dealer is the expert, not them.

Let’s talk about CRM’s for a moment. Many dealerships only use their CRM primarily to manage internet leads while overlooking equity mining opportunities, service-to-sales campaigns, orphan owner outreach, and customer retention tools. Many dealers pay for sophisticated inventory management platforms but only use them to upload photos and adjust pricing, while ignoring market-day supply data, aging reports, and acquisition recommendations that could help turn inventory faster.

The same thing happens in the DMS. You pay for 100% of a system and likely only use half of the functionality. You may still rely on sticky notes and manual processes for tasks the DMS can already do automatically. Whether it’s tracking service appointments, managing parts inventory, monitoring technician productivity, generating customer communications, or pulling operational reports, often system features are already available that will save time and improve accountability. You just may not know about them.

Most low-to-mid volume franchise dealers don’t have dedicated IT departments or teams of analysts digging through software every day. Your managers are desking deals, reviewing contracts, handling customer escalations, walking the service drive, and helping close month-end. Time is valuable. Revenue is crucial.

Take Time To Take Note

My starting recommendation: perform a simple technology audit.

Make a list of your major platforms:

• DMS
• CRM
• Inventory Management
• Website Provider
• Digital Retailing Tools
• Service Lane Tools
• Marketing Platforms

Then challenge each department manager with this question:

“What features are we actively using, and what are we paying for but ignoring?”

You may be surprised by the answers. But don’t be surprised if they don’t have an answer. That alone is an answer to your question.

I’ve witnessed dealers discover their CRM already includes texting capabilities but paying another vendor for the same service. Others find their inventory tool provides market pricing intelligence that makes a separate subscription unnecessary. For example: some dealers learn their website provider offers SEO, lead tracking, or merchandising tools that have never been activated.

Your goal isn’t to stack more technology on top of existing technology. The goal is to help sales, service, parts, and accounting teams operate more efficiently while improving customer experience and maximizing profitability.

A dealer selling 25-100 units monthly faces different challenges than a larger store. A rural franchise store often needs practical/logical solutions that deliver immediate value, not a platform built for a dealer group with dozens of rooftops and dedicated IT teams.

We’re Not Just Another Vendor

The best technology partners don’t just sell software. They understand dealership workflow and operations. They know what happens on the showroom floor, the service lane, F&I office, parts department, and month-end close. More importantly, they help you identify opportunities to improve performance without adding unnecessary complexity.

At Autosoft, we’ve spent nearly four decades working alongside low-to-mid volume franchise dealers. One lesson continues to prove true: the most successful dealerships aren’t always the ones with the most technology. They figure out how to get it done with the technology they have that fits their unique workflows.

My advice to you would be before you add another vendor to your stack, take inventory. You might discover untapped opportunities to improve efficiency, drive retention, and increase profitability using tools you already have. You might find your store is only using a fraction of what you’re paying for. And if that’s the case, we can help you get 100% out of a solution that likely costs half of what you’re paying now.

Author

Anthony Belcher

About Anthony Belcher