Zach Hallowell, Vice President of Manheim Digital Marketplace, and RMS Automotive, joins CBT Automotive to discuss how Manheim is introducing a new way to reduce or even eliminate the stress that comes along with buying used car units.
The Manheim team understands the complexity that a dealership encounters during the used-car buying process. From the time it consumes out of your manager’s day or the way it spreads your team thin trying to catch all the right deals, at the right time, there seems to be no easy or efficient way to manage the process successfully. This was especially true on auction days when hundreds of cars can be pumped through the system often resulting in miss opportunities and purchases.
To relive this common pain-point in the industry, and reduce the amount of stress that comes along with the used-car buying process, Manheim developed and have since launched Lane Alerts.
Manheim’s Lane Alert sends used car buyers a text message in advance for a vehicle they’re interested when it’s getting ready to come up for sale, ensuring they will never miss the opportunity to make a bid on a car their inventory needs.
After launching 6 months ago, the messaging system has assisted with over 33,000 vehicles sales and counting. Unlike models before, Lane alert allows the customization of search option when looking for a vehicle. Simply put, the dealer tells Manheim what they are looking for and when a match is served up through an auction site, Lane Alerts sends a message notifying the used-car buyer that a vehicle with their specs is available
The alert system’s solves a need that has been needed in the used-car market for decades. Jim asked Zach where the driving factor behind this tool stemmed from, the Vice President explains, “We thought rather than having them [dealers] have to conform to our schedule, how can we make their lives easier? And that’s how we came up with Lane Alerts”.
Over 60,000 clients have experienced the gain and benefits from this tool after its initial launch in June of this year and Zach, and team, only sees that number rising. He tells Jim how the importance here is that Manheim is able to meet their dealers where they are. If they are able to make their dealers lives more productive and it’s a win for them to.
[Originally aired 9/5/18]
