HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. -

ADP Dealer Services recently shared developments on several fronts, including a partnership with Hertz Corp. for its Hertz Rent2Buy program, an update on its Cobalt acquisition and more.

Normal
0

false
false
false

EN-US
X-NONE
X-NONE

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:””;
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0in;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:”Calibri”,”sans-serif”;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}

Turning first to details connected with Hertz Rent2Buy, Hertz agreed to partner with Dealix and its flagship site Usedcars.com to entice more shoppers to consider vehicles through the rental car company’s online sales program.

Under the partnership, officials indicated more than 25,000 Hertz Rent2Buy vehicles in nearly 30 states now are available to UsedCars.com shoppers. They also pointed out that the Hertz Rent2Buy program has doubled the number of used vehicles during the past 12 months.

The Rent2Buy program gives consumers direct access to vehicles that originated from Hertz’s fleet of cars, trucks and SUVs. Interested buyers can reserve a vehicle to test for three days; if the consumer later purchases the unit, rental fees for the three-day trial are waived.

As part of the partnership, the companies noted each Hertz listing on UsedCars.com provides a link to the Rent2Buy website where consumers can complete a reservation to test the vehicle.

“In just over a year, the HertzRent2Buy program has become an important option for used car buyers,” declared Mark Frissora, chairman and chief executive officer of Hertz.

“We are delighted to work with UsedCars.com to provide an additional outlet for our customers to find these vehicles,” Frissora continued.

Anna Zornosa, vice president at ADP and general manager of its Dealix division, believes “the HertzRent2 Buy program offers visitors to UsedCars.com two advantages.

“First, the inventory includes a wide range of vehicles, including cars of all types, trucks and SUVs,” Zornosa noted. “Second, the program provides a new purchasing option for consumers — one that gives them opportunity to gain full confidence in the car before they complete the purchase.”

ADP Makes Significant Progress on Cobalt Acquisition

In other company news, ADP revealed since the announcement and official approval of its Cobalt acquisition six months ago, a host of highly focused teams have been working to make this deal highly successful.

The company said these teams’ efforts have enabled ADP to realize its vision of “transforming how dealers market, sell and service to their consumers.” 

ADP recapped that its integration progress has consisted of defining goals, monitoring progress and reporting back to senior management. The company noted operations and product teams already have developed a comprehensive framework for a common business intelligence platform linking all ADP digital marketing solutions.

“With this solution, OEMs and dealers will be better able to track results throughout the customer life cycle — from advertising, to the transaction of the automobile, to return for service and finally continual purchase of the next vehicle,” ADP explained.

The company went on to share that sales teams have been consolidated across both ADP’s digital and retail solutions sales divisions. Management insisted dealers will see a single representative for all of their digital marketing needs including digital advertising, website production, online purchasing and social media. 

“The progress on the integration of Cobalt and ADP has exceeded all of our expectations. We are absolutely on the right path for delivering on our goal of an improved and enhanced model for automotive retailing,” stated John Holt, senior vice president of ADP’s digital group.

ADP president Steve Anenen stressed that, “The key theme of everything we do — especially now with Cobalt — is to transform the way vehicles are marketed, sold and serviced.

“We do this so we can bring our clients and their customers together for life,” Anenen continued. “Though there is a lot of work yet to be done, our progress to date with Cobalt, and all of our other initiatives, will meet this vision.”    

ADP Launches Deal Review

The company also rolled out a new tool that is geared to help dealerships track, monitor and report on their deal compliance efforts.   

As regulation of the vehicle sale process becomes more numerous and complex, ADP believes its new tool — Deal Review — can help dealerships better manage their compliance obligations by providing them with better visibility into the status and completion of various compliance tasks before the sale of a vehicle is finalized. 

Officials pointed out Deal Review has a number of features that can help support dealership compliance activities:

—Fast, efficient transaction tools embedded into the dealer’s existing point of sale applications.

—Direct link between F&I deals and consumer compliance tasks.

—Dealer-customizable list of compliance activities to track.

—Advanced reporting to review compliance performance and to help identify gaps.

—Advanced adverse action management tools with flexible selection criteria and customizable notices

With Deal Review, ADP explained a general manager can set up the compliance tasks that a dealership will track and know at a glance how many F&I deals complied with the store’s policies. Store management also can drill down to find instances where F&I managers were not adhering to the dealership’s requirements.

Furthermore, the company pointed out F&I managers can instantly view which tasks are complete and which are open, have a consistent method to log how exceptions were cleared and enjoy one-touch access to run any missing transaction.  

ADP contends Deal Review features a more efficient dealer work flow because these tools are built into existing work flow applications, including ADP’s Business Online suite, ADP CRM, Menu and Credit solutions and the core ADP Drive Dealer Management System. 

“Dealers have told us that when it comes to compliance, they need to know where they stand on a deal-by-deal basis before they finalize the sale with the consumer,” explained Paul Rindone, division vice president and general manager of ADP’s financial services.

“With Deal Review, F&I managers can quickly assess the compliance status of a deal before it is closed, and GMs and dealer principals will have the tools to better manage their overall compliance process,” Rindone emphasized.

ADP Highlights Vendor Integration Growth

The company recently discovered more than 4,000 dealership sites now utilize vendor integration from its ADP Third Party Access Program. This number represents more than 50 percent of its clients using ADP’s w.e.b.Suite and Drive dealer management systems in North America. 

Officials reiterated ADP’s Third Party Access Program can provide an open, secure and integrated channel for third party vendors wanting access to the ADP dealer management system. ADP indicated it has featured the ADP Third Party Access program for more than eight years. 

Furthermore, the company pointed out ADP’s Third Party Access program includes several options enabling vendors to choose the best level of integration for their needs and the needs of their dealership clients. ADP noted the highest level includes bi-directional interfaces, real time access and standardized and cleansed data options.

ADP added that it provides advanced security and auditing tools for system and data access while no vendor’s software is loaded on the ADP server.

“ADP has always understood that dealerships own their data and enjoy having choices on how best to share and utilize that data with others,” stated Dan McCray, ADP’s vice president of product marketing

“Accordingly, our continuing goal is to offer an open, secure and integrated dealer management system,” McCray went on to say. “That is why we are excited to have these companies be part of our Third Party Access Program.” 

ADP Signs Agreements with Snap-on, and Snap-on’s Mitchell Division

Moving back to more corporate relationships, ADP also recently announced two initiatives with Snap-on Corp. and Snap-on’s Mitchell Division for enhanced services officials think will strongly benefit dealership service and parts departments. 

The company indicated ADP and Snap-on have entered into an agreement that enables ADP to sell Mitchell1 OnDemand5 pricing guide. The deal is intended to extend ADP’s Service Pricing System, a quoting solution designed for the entire dealership franchise.

Officials explained the addition of Mitchell1 OnDemand5 expands ADP’s Service Pricing System beyond the primary franchise allowing delivery of an “all makes, all models” pricing guide.

In addition to the pricing system, ADP mentioned technician service bulletins, specific vehicle diagnostic diagrams and warranty times are included.

The second initiative signed between ADP and Snap-on is Snap-on Integration Pro integration that’s meant to enhance the interaction between the electronic parts catalog and ADP parts transaction screens.

Through SIP integration, officials said key information such as parts availability, location and pricing information are easily viewed inside the EPC. Once parts are selected they can be transferred back to the parts invoicing screen for finalization.

ADP believes SIP increases both profitability and efficiency by improving parts department processes:

—Eliminate unnecessary extra steps.

—Boost parts personnel productivity.

—Order the right parts, every time.

“We are very excited to work with ADP on providing additional service and parts department solutions to automotive dealerships,” a Snap-on representative declared.

“Our two companies share a successful track record of helping dealerships improve their processes and better service their fixed ops customers,” the rep added.

Clifton Mason, another of ADP’s vice presidents of product marketing, explained that, “According to NADA, the fixed operations departments drive over $4 million of sales for the average dealership and those sales are at a high gross.

“Any way you look at the numbers, fixed operations are crucial to dealer success,” Mason stressed. “With these significant upgrades to our service pricing and electronic parts solutions, we can help dealers build a streamlined process and create more revenue opportunities.

“It is our goal to help transform how business is done throughout the dealership, including the fixed operations departments. These agreements are another step in realizing this goal,” Mason added.

ADP to Become DMS Solutions Provider for SoCal Penske

And finally wrapping up the slew of company news, ADP revealed it will be the DMS solutions provider for SoCal Penske, which has 11 locations in southern California representing 17 franchises and two collision centers.

Officials noted SoCal Penske plans to begin the transition to ADP’s DMS toward the middle of this year. Once implemented, ADP will be providing DMS services to more than 500 users. 

“Our dealer group was looking to build a strategic alliance with a dealership management system provider with the products, experience and commitment necessary to help us grow our business. With their proven DMS, state-of-the-art ASP Managed Services offering and strong client support team, ADP was the right choice,” stated Roger Penske Jr., president of SoCal Penske. 

Added Mark Hnilicka, ADP’s vice president and general manager of enterprise accounts, “We are extremely excited to have SoCal Penske choose ADP as the provider of its dealer management system.

Securing an account with the reputation and growth potential like SoCal Penske is a significant accomplishment for us,” Hnilicka concluded.