As the global auto industry works to recover from last year’s sales slump, auto dealers across Canada have been faced with one of the most difficult years ever. To help move vehicles from dealer to driveway, Kijiji Autos is making it easier for Canadian dealers to reach millions of car and truck buyers online.

Kijiji Autos has announced partnerships with several of the country’s leading vehicle inventory management and data collection companies, giving auto dealers easier access to...

It used to be said that, “there’s nothing more outdated than last year’s software.” While that may not be as true now as it was in the earlier days of the rush to computerize everything, there are some brilliant new applications now available for your dealership.  

 

For example, just when you thought CRM software couldn’t get any better, here are a few new offerings that deserve your attention.

 

DealerSocket

DealerSocket, already...

Canadian used-car site, Autohound.ca has become the exclusive autos partner for MSN.ca, a portal owned and operated exclusively by Microsoft Corporation. For five years MSN has managed and operated Sympatico.MSN.ca (in connection with Bell Sympatico), the most-visited online portal in Canada, but the two are now parting ways. “Autohound’s unique partnership between dealers, CTVglobemedia, Boost and other experts in the autos field has created a distinctive user experience we...

Reynolds and Reynolds has now released its General Manager Exception Reporting solution for dealers using the ERA dealership management system (DMS) in Canada. This tool enables dealership management to monitor a number of critical business "exceptions" in their operations.

I would be shocked if your answer to that question was yes. I can’t remember one meeting with any DMS user where I wasn’t told that they felt they weren’t getting the most out of their system. In fact, most people told me that they felt they were only utilizing from 25-to-50 percent of their system’s capability. Now if that doesn’t stink of opportunity in these difficult economic times, I don’t know what does.

Service Sales Kit and Service Price Guides increase profit opportunities.

According to Reynolds and Reynolds, Chrysler dealers in Canada are increasing both service department profitability and customer satisfaction with the Service Sales Kit and Service Price Guides applications for the company’s ERA dealership management system (DMS). As a result, Reynolds says, Chrysler Canada is encouraging its dealers to consider adopting these solutions as a way for their service departments to create...

Over 90-percent success rate to date, company reports

Reynolds and Reynolds has announced that it has worked through slightly more than one-third of its GM IDMS customer base, signing more than 90 percent to a Reynolds contract. Thus far, the few customers who have chosen not to renew their contracts directly with Reynolds are primarily smaller, single-point dealers, the company said.

DMS provider Quorum Information Technologies, of Calgary, has recently announced several changes and accomplishments and some future plans. Among the changes is the appointment of Jeff Sharpe, C.A. as chief financial officer (CFO). He replaces Colleen Gottselig, C.M.A., who resigned to relocate to Vancouver Island.

and dealers can keep using their Reynolds IDMS

The Reynolds and Reynolds Company and General Motors have agreed to settle their ongoing dispute surrounding GM IDMS.  As part of the agreement, both companies will drop their respective lawsuits pertaining to the GM IDMS contract. 

Details of the settlement were not disclosed, but the agreement doesallow Reynolds’ current GM IDMS customers to continue using theirReynolds Dealership Management Systems without any disruption to...

Quantech Software.com, developer of the dealer management software tools, Q-F&I and QMenus F&I, has announced the release of new web-based lead management software called Quantech Growth Performance System (Q-GPS).