The Importance of Tracking – Blueprint for Efficiency in Vehicle Reconditioning

By Dennis McGinn, Founder & CEO of Rapid Recon

AutoSuccess, July 2024

In today’s fast-paced and competitive automotive industry, tracking your performance is essential for achieving efficiency and success. Just as a smartwatch helps you monitor your daily activity, set goals, track progress, and identify areas for improvement, a comprehensive reconditioning tool offers detailed tracking of each step in the reconditioning process. This capability allows you to pinpoint bottlenecks and inefficiencies, ensuring that your dealership operates at its best.

Step 1: Establish Your Baseline

 

The first step in enhancing your reconditioning process is understanding your current performance. How many days does it take to get a vehicle retail-ready? Establishing this baseline is essential, much like knowing your average daily steps when you first start using a smartwatch. Without this data, you can’t set realistic improvement goals or measure your progress effectively.

Step 2: Set Clear, Measurable Goals

 

Once you have established your baseline, the next step is to define clear, measurable goals for your reconditioning process. Break down the process into individual components—transport, mechanical work, body repairs, detailing, and photography—and set specific time targets for each stage. With precise tracking, you can monitor progress and make data-driven adjustments to ensure you meet your targets.

Step 3: Optimize and Monitor

 

With your goals in place, use reconditioning software to continuously monitor and optimize your recon process. Just as a smartwatch alerts you when you’re behind on your daily step count, a reconditioning tool provides real-time updates on your progress. This helps you stay on track and make informed decisions to improve efficiency. The ability to receive immediate feedback and adjust your approach is invaluable for maintaining momentum and achieving your goals.

Practical Tips to Enhance Recon Efficiency

  • Accurate Appraisals: Start with precise recon estimates. Track these estimates closely to avoid costly over or underestimations.
  • Prioritize High-Demand Vehicles:  Focus on vehicles with the highest demand first. A car generating leads while stuck in recon is a lost opportunity.
  • Create Early Demand: Engage potential buyers as soon as you acquire a vehicle. Proactively reach out to your customer database to pre-sell cars before they hit the lot.
  • Incentivize Efficiency: Just as fitness apps reward you for hitting your step goals, offer incentives for achieving reconditioning time targets. This will motivate your team to prioritize efficiency and performance.

By adopting a reconditioning tool, your dealership gains the ability to track progress, set and achieve goals, and improve efficiency. You can monitor every step of the reconditioning process in real-time, define clear targets, and use data to drive improvements. Identifying and eliminating bottlenecks reduces time and costs, ultimately increasing profitability. Getting vehicles retail-ready faster enhances turnover and revenue, positioning your dealership for greater success.

 

In today’s high-interest rate environment, with economic uncertainties and rising costs, efficiency is crucial for survival and success. Acting as the smartwatch for your dealership’s reconditioning process, a reconditioning tool provides the tracking and insights needed to drive improvements and reduce costs. By leveraging these tools, you can ensure that your dealership remains competitive and profitable in a challenging market.

About Rapid Recon

Reconditioning workflow automation from Rapid Recon is the industry standard in time-to-line inventory turn and speed-to-sale vehicle revenue enhancement for automotive retailers. Benchmarking data based on 13 million vehicles processed uniquely positions Rapid Recon to advise dealers on how to improve their store’s profitability. Used by more than 2,000 dealerships, Rapid Recon ensures the accountability of processes, property, and people. Hence, dealers know answers quickly, find assets anywhere, and sell vehicles promptly to grow dealership profitability. www.rapidrecon.com CALL US: +650-999-0497