How Important Is A Dealer Management System For Dealers And Garages?

Running your vehicle dealership or garage by logging in and out of multiple systems every day can be made far easier by switching to an all-in-one system, designed to bring every aspect of your business under one roof.

A dealer management system, commonly referred to as a DMS, allows dealerships and garages to take control of every department from within one place, eliminating the traditional and lengthy process of switching systems constantly throughout the day, only to re-enter the same information and risk making costly errors. The time-saving alone with a DMS will give you more hours in the day to sell and service vehicles, and this along with process improvements and full visibility across your business should lead to a healthy increase in your profits.

While the time-saving benefits are a good enough reason alone to consider investing in a DMS for your business, there are a host of key features to look out for when identifying which dealer management system is right for you.

The ideal dealer management system will create a tailored experience for each of your staff members, with individual log-ins and permission settings providing each employee with instant access to the tools required to complete their jobs more efficiently. A simple and easy-to-use system is key when searching for a DMS, as your team will need to quickly adapt and navigate through the software intuitively to maximise their productivity.

Car dealers will require full control of their vehicle stock in a dealer management system beyond simply buying and selling cars, with appraisals, valuations and advertising all valuable tools to have available to staff. Your HMRC requirements will also need to be taken care of with an essential accounts integration that can accurately deal with the used car Margin VAT second hand goods scheme.

Your Sales team will benefit from a DMS finance integration which enables them to immediately produce live finance quotes for customers in the showroom and assess their affordability on the spot, with part exchange valuations and any additional products all taken into account, as you build the customer their own unique deal to help them visualise driving away in the car they desire.

Advertising vehicles needs to be a straightforward process in a dealer management system, which is why you would want to instantly upload new stock at the click of a button to online advertisers, including Auto Trader and your own website. When your advert receives a new enquiry, this should be fed automatically into your DMS (even outside of office hours), ready for your sales staff to respond to at the earliest opportunity.

Having a DMS which powers your company’s website is important too, allowing you to display your stock instantly, take deposits, value part exchanges and approve finance online 24/7, so that you’re always ready to make a sale. Your website could even host its own online store if the dealer management system has the capability, giving you the chance to sell parts and products to customers nationwide instead of only targeting those who visit your premises.

Garages should be looking for a dealer management system that can offer a live overview of the service department, with instant tracking of any work in progress, upcoming arrivals, job estimates and invoices, so that you can stay on top of tasks and make any improvements if necessary. Automatic service and MOT reminders are also key within a DMS, as this is an easy way to create repeat business and maximise opportunities, with any previous advisories highlighted within your system ahead of the job.

Managing your parts department is vital to workshops in a DMS, so you’ll want a system that tracks stock levels while also allowing parts to be issued to job cards and sold over the counter. Accurately and digitally tracking your stock quantities means you can finally put an end to the time-consuming method of reporting on your stock levels with a pen and paper and enables your Parts team to spend their time more productively.

With the digitalisation of your dealership or garage processes, a good dealer management system will be able to use this information to produce reports which offer an insight into the way your company performs, leading the way for improvements to be made through data-driven decisions that can help you to increase profits and operate a more efficient business.

Dragon2000 have been providing a robust dealer management system for the motor industry since 1995 and our software includes all of the above features for dealerships and garages. Over 1,000 businesses in the motor trade are currently using our services, which includes integrated websites and mobile apps to work alongside our DMS so that you can maximise your efficiencies. Outstanding support is also available to all of our users, with a knowledgeable UK-based support team here to help you every step of the way.

Talk to our team today on 01327 222 333 or email us at sales@dragon2000.co.uk to find out how our dealer management system, car dealer websites and mobile apps can help your business increase profits and reduce costs.