Tracking Used Car Trade-In Turnaround With Photos

If you're anything like most dealers you're striving for a three day turnaround on your used inventory trade-ins. Getting your recently traded vehicles cleaned and reconditioned for your lot in the shortest time possible is critical to successful pre-owned operations. Often it's your Pre-Owned Manager's responsibility to track incoming trade-ins and arrivals from auction so it's no wonder some cars get lost in the mix. If you're lucky you may have budgeted for a "Recon" Manager whose sole responsibility is to keep track of and move all of your incoming pre-owned inventory through your reconditioning process. This encompasses some mix of service and inspection, cleaning and detailing, interior repair, paint touch-up, dent removal, and possible bumper repair. Not to mention odor removal, recall/ warranty service, and possible parts orders.

More likely than not though this responsibility falls to a mix between your Pre-Owned Manager, Service Writers, and Lot Attendants. Keeping track of each vehicle and catching vehicles that are lagging behind can be challenging. This is when your website photos can be a leading indicator of your reconditioning woes.

Are you noticing more vehicles on your website without photos or maybe just that one "special" trade-in that you were hoping to see photos of online? Not sure if it's just a few cars or if the problem is getting worse? Accurate reporting is key to minimizing these issues and stopping them before they get out of hand. Should you go to your DMS to figure out what's going on or maybe your website's backend tool? Hopefully your Autotrader representative didn't show up with a report showing low photo coverage that you weren't aware of until that very moment. None of these scenarios are signs of system that's running as well as it might. This is where website vehicle and photo services such as those provide by DRIVE can give insight into reconditioning turnaround.

DRIVE Photo and Vehicle Services will not only take exceptional professional website photos, but will also provide daily reporting on incoming pre-owned inventory. By preparing Missing Website Photo reports with details concerning days in stock and current vehicle condition as well as detailed notes explaining why a vehicle isn't ready to be photographed and therefore not ready for sale on your lot.

DRIVE photographers make a complete circuit through your entire pre-owned inventory on each visit noting the current situation with each and every unit that still needs to be photographed and then providing a report to Sales Managers, Lot Technicians, Detail Departments and any others you deem necessary. With this information and oversight you can be sure your pre-owned inventory is reconditioned and photographed as quickly as possible and that your online and onsite inventory has maximum exposure and potential for a sale.

In addition you'll have peace of mind knowing that your inventory is being monitored closely and that "special" trade-in will be online and ready for sale.