In an unpredictable market, it’s never been more important for dealers to be disciplined about how they acquire and manage inventory. To that end, vAuto is introducing enhancements to its flagship inventory management solution, ProfitTime GPS, which helps dealers achieve profitability by enabling them to execute the new Variable Inventory Management strategy. Enhancements for 2023 include an alignment tool designed to help multirooftop organizations identify and improve subpar pricing performance across stores, as well as new integrations that make it easier for dealers to source vehicles more effectively from consumers.

“Between inventory challenges and fast-changing market dynamics, dealers are going to need to do more than dust off the old playbook to succeed,” said vAuto Vice President of Operations Derek Hansen. “Today’s market requires dealers to reach across more sources than ever before to find the right vehicles, and they need real-time data to manage their inventory profitably. That’s exactly what ProfitTime GPS helps them do.”

At its core, ProfitTime GPS is designed around the all-new used vehicle strategy called Variable Inventory Management. Evolving beyond the Velocity Method, which encouraged turning all inventory as quickly as possible, Variable Inventory Management delivers a new direction for used vehicle management—one focused on giving dealers a tailored approach that helps them understand and act on each vehicle’s profit potential.

ProfitTime GPS puts that philosophy in action by providing dealers with recommended price ranges on every vehicle, every day. It ultimately shows which vehicles are “turners,” or ones that should be priced to move quickly because they’re in low demand and high supply, and which vehicles are “earners,” or ones for which dealers can hold out for more profit because they are in high demand and low supply.

“vAuto understands the complex realities of the new market, as well the fact that what made dealers successful in the past will likely not be what makes them successful in the future,” said vAuto founder and Cox Automotive Executive Vice President Dale Pollak. “We’ve seen firsthand how dealers who use ProfitTime GPS to execute a variable inventory strategy do a much better job of capitalizing on opportunities in today’s market than dealers who are solely focused on turn.”

New Year, New Features for ProfitTime GPS

A new pricing alignment tool inside ProfitTime GPS’ Enterprise Dashboard, which is specifically geared toward multirooftop organizations, gives never-before-available insights into which stores within a group price their vehicles in an inefficient and suboptimal manner. The alignment tool groups stores into three different categories based on their pricing performances, helping them take action to improve profitability.

And since today’s inventory challenges have caused dealers to acquire more vehicles directly from consumers, vAuto has delivered new integrations within the ProfitTime GPS Global Acquisition Dashboard that can help dealers acquire more cars from more channels for more of the right money:  

Service Drive: Dealers who have ProfitTime GPS, Kelley Blue Book Instant Cash Offer and Xtime or VinSolutions can now more easily acquire vehicles directly from their own service drives. With one click on the Global Acquisition Dashboard, dealers can analyze service appointments to identify vehicles that will be profitable in their markets and then send invites to consumers with upcoming appointments to generate their own Kelley Blue Book Instant Cash Offer. For vehicles already in the service drive, dealers can quickly create the offer to share in person.

Lease Returns: Lease returns are another great source of inventory, but more consumers have been buying out their leased vehicles. Now, the connection between ProfitTime GPS and VinSolutions gives dealers with both solutions clear visibility into the pipeline of must have off-lease vehicles. They can now see which vehicles are up for return, understand how those vehicles fit into their overall strategy, and decide which ones they want to bring into their dealership’s inventory. That way, dealers can implement a proactive sales process to entice clients into an upgrade before they decide to simply purchase the car at lease end.

Private Party Listings: More dealers have tapped into the world of private-party listings to find inventory over the past couple of years, and they can now easily access even more of those listings to see how the vehicles fit into the dealership’s strategy, thanks to a new connection between ProfitTime GPS and the Vehicle Acquisition Network (VAN), a leading private-party solution. 

Dealers interested in learning more about ProfitTime GPS and how the Variable Inventory Management strategy can move their businesses forward cam stop by the vAuto booth at the National Automobile Dealers Association Convention in Dallas or reach out to their vAuto representative.