RIDGELAND, Miss. -

Often, the toughest part of a used-car manager’s daily work is finding the necessary vehicles to fill inventory needs and doing so at a reasonable price.

In fact, the latest data from CNW Research indicates that although days’ supply of used cars has improved to some degree, it’s around half of what dealers had in their used inventories at the end of 2008.

Amid a backdrop of such scarcity, the chief executive officer of a relatively new dealer-to-dealer portal told Auto Remarketing that her website can give UCMs some much-needed assistance in bolstering their supply, as it offers a broader avenue to take care of day-to-day needs like sourcing inventory, wholesaling units and communicating with other dealers.

And it appears that UCMLink.com has generated some traction among dealers since launching a little more than a year ago.

Currently, there are more than 1,100 dealers utilizing UCMLink, which is described on the site as “an online community designed to enhance the productivity of today’s used-car manager.”

In a recent interview with Auto Remarketing, CEO Allison Pittman called the site an “online communication tool” for a UCM’s day-to-day tasks. She said it’s a “user-friendly tool” that “enhances what they do on a day-to-day basis.”

Pittman has spent the last two months as the site’s chief executive and has been part-owner for the past year, joining the UCMLink team after the other two partners — Robert Benoit and Phil Pollack — began laying the ground work.

“It creates more leads, it provides more inventory (and) it creates a bigger networking site than maybe what the used-car manager or wholesaler already had,” she said.

“This is a way to broadcast their needs to a lot more people at one time, versus picking up the phone and calling five different people,” Pittman added.

Once the dealer signs on to become part of  UCMLink, the dealer simply enters the vehicle he wants to buy, sell or get a trade-bid for, “and it goes out to all the members at one time.”

Other dealer members receive the requests via text or email messages and are provided the contact information for the requesting dealer.

Pittman explained that dealers can customize the requests based on what they need and also set specific preferences for notifications.

Launch and Response

Not long after its rollout, the site was renamed and completely redesigned under its current format, which has been up for about eight months.

As far as the membership trends, there has been “a little variance," Pittman said.  The numbers hit somewhat of a lag, but they have picked back up, she noted.

And the feedback from dealers has been fairly positive.

“The dealers so far have been very receptive to it. They think it’s a great tool,” Pittman said. “There are common pitfalls that you run into with dealers as far as change when they’re (used to) doing something one way … especially some of the older dealers that have been around a long time, they kind of want to keep things the same.”

She emphasized that because the site is user-friendly, once a dealer —  perhaps one who is not technologically or Web-savvy — is shown how easy it is to use, it opens up a new resource for him that he might have otherwise been averse to use.

“Once they start using it and see the value in it, then they all have had nothing but nice things to say about it,” Pittman stated. “All dealers are looking for extra ways to get their vehicles sold or find the inventory that they want … this is just a way to add an extra tool to what they currently do, give them an extra avenue to make extra money and get their vehicles sold and find what they need.”

She hopes the site will eventually become part of a used-car manager’s daily routine.

As it stands now, when asked whether the need to buy or the need to sell is greater, Pittman said “it’s about half and half.”

Changes & Challenges in Market

UCMLink is essentially trying to offer assistance in what has become chameleon-like change in the used-car market.

Technology is evolving, supply and pricing dynamics are shifting and consumers behave differently than before.

One of the changes, Pittman said, is that “we’re seeing more online activity with buying and selling cars. I think more consumers are using the Internet to find what they’re looking for versus traditional methods like print ads and actually driving by a dealership.

“They’re finding what they want before they go out and actually look at the vehicle, and some of them don’t even look at the vehicle before they buy,” she added. “They have more access to pricing and trade-in values, so they’re a little bit more knowledgeable. And a lot of that is because of the Internet.”

Pittman continued: “I think dealers are having a little bit more difficult time trying to find used inventory and then when they do find used inventory, they may have to put a little bit more into it than they normally would and so it’s increasing the price,” adding that some dealers have complained about having to buy cars from other dealers at what’s “more like retail pricing than wholesale pricing.”

UCMLink is attempting to help dealers broaden their resources while also giving them more exposure.

“So instead of getting it out there to a few wholesalers and dealers, now they can broadcast their needs to thousands of dealers,” she explained. “So, if it’s something that they really need or are looking for that they wouldn’t be able to find traditionally, they’ll be able find it through us.”

Membership to UCMLink is available for $99 per month and includes unlimited access.  Users are given a 30-day free trial when they sign up.

More information can be found at www.ucmlink.com.