Ahead of next week’s NADA Show 2023 in Dallas, vAuto is introducing enhancements to its flagship inventory management solution, ProfitTime GPS, which can help dealers achieve “superior” profitability.

Cox Automotive highlighted through a news release that vAuto now incorporates an all-new Variable Inventory Management strategy.

Enhancements include an alignment tool designed to help multi-rooftop organizations identify and improve subpar pricing performance across individual 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 Derek Hansen, vice president of operations for vAuto.

“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,” Hansen continued in a news release.

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 tries to deliver a new direction for used vehicle management — one focused on giving dealers a tailored approach that helps them understand and act on each individual vehicle’s profit potential.

Cox Automotive explained ProfitTime GPS puts this philosophy in action by providing dealers with recommended price ranges on every vehicle, every day. It can show 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 that dealers can hold out for more profit on 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 Dale Pollak, vAuto founder and Cox Automotive executive vice president. “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.”

A new pricing alignment tool inside ProfitTime GPS’ Enterprise Dashboard, which is specifically geared toward multi-rooftop organizations, can give insights into which stores within the group price their vehicles in an inefficient and suboptimal manner.

The alignment tool can group stores into three different categories based on their pricing performance, which can help them take action to improve profitability.

Furthermore, vAuto also is delivering new integrations within the ProfitTime GPS Global Acquisition Dashboard that can help dealers acquire more vehicles, from more channels, for more of the right money, including:

• 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 can give 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 last 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 should stop by the vAuto booth at NADA Show 2023 in Dallas or reach out to their vAuto representative.