For the 2024 National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Convention in Las Vegas (February 2-4), the Reynolds and Reynolds Company announced its latest suite of solutions and tools to help automotive retailers enhance their business and customer service.

In an exclusive interview with Autosphere, Reynolds and Reynolds President Chris Walsh explained that over the last three years, the company has continued to see very significant momentum as it continues to build on providing value to the automotive retail ecosystem.

Customer needs

“Our core focus essentially, is about how we can help our customers,” explains Walsh. “If you can focus on the needs of your customers, then a lot of the other things tend to take care of themselves.” Walsh highlighted, that this approach has paid significant dividends over the last few years. “Today, we are seeing customer acquisition and customer retention at levels we’ve never witnessed before.” And he should know, Walsh has been with Reynolds for more than 35 years, holding various leadership roles in everything from business development to marketing and support, to quality control and sales.

He says that the focus on utilization and value for customers has seen a number of initiatives take hold. For NADA 2024, a key one has been the rollout of AutoVision. This is designed to revolutionize how dealerships handle used vehicle inventory from beginning to end.

“For years” says Walsh, “dealers have been telling us there has to be a better way to manage used vehicles, from acquisition to reconditioning to merchandising and sale.” He notes that often, dealers face major obstacles in refining accurate, competitive vehicle data sets and gaining proper visibility into recon pricing, which impacts the profitability of their used car operations.

Efficient sourcing

With AutoVision, this no longer need be a problem, since the platform’s customizable adaptive market pricing algorithms allow accurate and efficient sourcing of vehicle data sets from dealer websites to ensure competitive vehicle information is accurate. Additionally, it also helps avoid the issue of “Ghost Vehicles”—those that have already been sold. This happens because of the lag between the sale at the dealership and the listing on third party websites. Another issue that’s long been facing dealers on the used vehicle side is the time and cost associated with reconditioning work.

By having AutoVision and ReconTRAC working together, a lot of these issues can be minimized. Dealers can now make decisions based on accurate information that enables them to know how much money was allocated in the appraisal of the vehicle for recon work, how long that recon work is going to take and how much it will cost. As a result, it allows them to mitigate wasteful spending of time and money and as result, protect their margins.

Another big topic of discussion will be desking and digital retailing solutions. In 2023, Reynolds acquired DealerCorp Solutions, a Canadian cutting-edge software company that focused on developing high quality cloud applications for the automotive industry.

Versatile platform

DealerCorp’s flagship product, deskit, is an agnostic digital retailing application that includes elements of digital retailing, desking, F&I and inventory solutions, enabling dealers to desk a deal and present sales and F&I options on any screen, such as kiosks, tablets, and personal computers. It has been well received by dealers across Canada and provides online shoppers with penny-accurate quotes that match online and in-store pricing every time. Additionally, because deskit is already integrated with Gubagoo chat and is able to leverage the capabilities of the Reynolds Retail Management System, the result allows dealers to connect with partners and lenders more effortlessly than ever before.

On the Fixed Ops side, another new product within the Reynolds and Reynolds suite of solutions that’s designed to drive efficiency and profitability for Canadian dealers is Service Flex. It enables dealers to put vehicle multi-point inspections directly onto a mobile device, meaning that technicians and service advisors now have that information in the palm of their hand. Additionally, that information is completely integrated into the Reynolds Retail Management System. Reynolds is also partnering with TruVideo for Service Snap—Reynolds software for capturing pictures and videos of recommended service work. With these tools, customers can actually see the work a technician is performing on the vehicle, including the inspection and their findings from it. The result is greater transparency in the service process, allowing the customer to get a first-hand glimpse of what their vehicle needs and why it needs it.

TrueSpot partnership

At the end of 2023, Reynolds and Reynolds also announced a strategic investment in TrueSpot, a solution that’s designed to help dealerships leverage the power of location intelligence. TrueSpot enables dealers to keep track of vehicle inventory as well as locate lost keys, saving valuable time and money in both fixed and variable operations. TrueSpot does this by automatically analyzing geospatial data and location-specific insights to drive workflow transformation. Dealers can access visual representations of these insights through smart maps, dashboards, and powerful reporting.

On the F&I side, Reynolds and Reynolds also chose NADA 2024 as a great opportunity to showcase its Menu Touch solution, adding to its suite of products that include the docuPAD system. Menu Touch streamlines and simplifies the F&I menu process, as well as providing automotive retailers with an opportunity to sell aftermarket products to their customers via the business office. According to Greg Uland, Vice President, Marketing at Reynolds and Reynolds, Canadian dealers have already witnessed great success with this type of product through the deskit suite of solutions in Canada, and Menu Touch looks set to prove a huge hit with dealers and customers across North America.

Chris Walsh notes that as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to fade into the rear-view mirror and automotive retailing continues to evolve, innovative solutions will continue to help link the digital and analogue automotive retail experience, providing a fast, efficient and personalized process that benefits both dealers and their customers.