Members Ovid9 Posted January 23, 2012 Members Share Posted January 23, 2012 Prepare for tl;dr ranting/whining. The dealership I work for has been planning a migration for an industry standard Dealer Business System to a newer, much cheaper DBS. I've been dreading this as I feared for the worst. Well, the worst would have been they lost all the information in migration. That didn't happen. But, they lost all the parts pricing presets, about 3/4s of the supercessions all on top of the new system being a complete and total POS. Now, I understand there's a variety of software engineers around here if you were designing a system for your customer, wouldn't you actually find out what your customer needs to do on a daily basis? I could ramble on about specifics of why it sucks, but here are a few: Old system, terminal based, very fast once you knew what you were doing. New system GUI based, few short cuts, lots of circular movement through prompts and windows, will not be very fast even when you know what you're doing. I have to input a password EVERY TIME I WANT TO GO TO THE SCREEN I HAVE TO USE FOR 99% OF MY JOB!!! Its only 4 letters, but really? REALLY? I have access to about 3/4 of the data I used to. Makes it a real pain to do aspects of my job. Its far worse, but I'm not going to list the litany of issues. Cheap POS FTMFL BUT, our owner is "saving" $3000 a month between his two stores. Apparently he doesn't take into account lost time and lost reporting and tracking abilities cause the savings ain't gonna be nearly that much in the long run. Bitch done. *sigh* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pioneerprogress Posted January 23, 2012 Members Share Posted January 23, 2012 mojo sent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dicky sofa Posted January 23, 2012 Members Share Posted January 23, 2012 mfpomfs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ovid9 Posted January 23, 2012 Author Members Share Posted January 23, 2012 mojo sent. Thanks. The software, which probably would work fine for a smaller dealership or a place like your's just isn't up to snuff for a dealership of our size. Oh, and the "trainer" has both a "faux-llet" and a "faux-hawk" and has worn wrinkled flannel shirts every day he's been here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pioneerprogress Posted January 23, 2012 Members Share Posted January 23, 2012 Thanks. The software, which probably would work fine for a smaller dealership or a place like your's just isn't up to snuff for a dealership of our size. Oh, and the "trainer" has both a "faux-llet" and a "faux-hawk" and has worn wrinkled flannel shirts every day he's been here. lol we were 3rd in the state last year. What were/are you using before/now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ovid9 Posted January 23, 2012 Author Members Share Posted January 23, 2012 lol we were 3rd in the state last year. What were/are you using before/now? I was under the impression you were used cars with a shop? Do you guys have a parts department too? That's more what I meant. We have new/used/service/parts/body shop/detail, more number of departments not # of sales. Hell, you might have us beat there. *Sometimes wonders about up front....* Was on Reynolds & Reynolds (expensive, has issues, but overall works and VERY powerful once you learn how to use it. Not user friendly if you don't know how to use it.) Now on DealerTrack/Arkona which...oh god, I can only speak for the parts end of things, but its a nightmare. Its like its only 70% complete ya know? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pioneerprogress Posted January 23, 2012 Members Share Posted January 23, 2012 I was under the impression you were used cars with a shop? Do you guys have a parts department too? That's more what I meant. We have new/used/service/parts/body shop/detail, more number of departments not # of sales. Hell, you might have us beat there. *Sometimes wonders about up front....* Was on Reynolds & Reynolds (expensive, has issues, but overall works and VERY powerful once you learn how to use it. Not user friendly if you don't know how to use it.) Now on DealerTrack/Arkona which...oh god, I can only speak for the parts end of things, but its a nightmare. Its like its only 70% complete ya know? lol I gotcha. Yeah we are counterintuitive to the typical dealership. No parts dept, don't make anything on F&I or service, profits come from sales. So yeah, we're definitely structured differently. ANY change in management software is time-consuming for the users, whether or not it's an improvement. Sounds like a super-stupid move on the owner's part. But, I can't say I could accuse most dealership owners of having any kind of rational thought Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ovid9 Posted January 23, 2012 Author Members Share Posted January 23, 2012 lol I gotcha. Yeah we are counterintuitive to the typical dealership. No parts dept, don't make anything on F&I or service, profits come from sales. So yeah, we're definitely structured differently. Oh hell, I forgot to mention F&I in the listing too. I just file them under sales even though its separate. Wait, you don't bend people over a barrel in F&I and violate them until they cry? And.....you make money as a dealer not doing this? No way. NO WAY MAN! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pioneerprogress Posted January 23, 2012 Members Share Posted January 23, 2012 Oh hell, I forgot to mention F&I in the listing too. I just file them under sales even though its separate. Wait, you don't bend people over a barrel in F&I and violate them until they cry? And.....you make money as a dealer not doing this? No way. NO WAY MAN! lol. I STILL don't understand how we even turn a profit, knowing what our margins are. But all I can go on is the fact that we basically have no advertising budget because we get so much repeat/referral business. If anything, it's the volume we move that makes us money, best I can figure. But the state just ended the ability to register vehicles with out-of-country licenses, which is going to hurt tremendously Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarbilly74 Posted January 23, 2012 Members Share Posted January 23, 2012 Oh, and the "trainer" has both a "faux-llet" and a "faux-hawk" and has worn wrinkled flannel shirts every day he's been here. I bet he plays guitar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ovid9 Posted January 23, 2012 Author Members Share Posted January 23, 2012 lol. I STILL don't understand how we even turn a profit, knowing what our margins are. But all I can go on is the fact that we basically have no advertising budget because we get so much repeat/referral business. If anything, it's the volume we move that makes us money, best I can figure. But the state just ended the ability to register vehicles with out-of-country licenses, which is going to hurt tremendously Yeah, we take the opposite approach, high margins, screw em every chance you can, run a sloppy money bleeding ship and continue to hope new suckers, er, customers walk through the door. That sucks about the law change dude. What are people supposed to do then? If you have an out-of-country license you can't own a car? Er, legally, I should add cause it sure won't stop people from owning/driving them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ovid9 Posted January 23, 2012 Author Members Share Posted January 23, 2012 I bet he plays guitar He might. I keep wanting to ask him if his favorite beer is PBR, but I just can't quite bring myself to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pioneerprogress Posted January 23, 2012 Members Share Posted January 23, 2012 Yeah, we take the opposite approach, high margins, screw em every chance you can, run a sloppy money bleeding ship and continue to hope new suckers, er, customers walk through the door. That sucks about the law change dude. What are people supposed to do then? If you have an out-of-country license you can't own a car? Er, legally, I should add cause it sure won't stop people from owning/driving them. First off, it won't affect renewals, just new registrations. So, without a solution, they'll just be stuck with what they've got. Either straw-man purchases (which we already do anyway), or the second option, which is the more likely. We still haven't found out for sure if the SCDMV checks with the out-of-state DMV's to verify out-of-state licenses (I doubt they do, this new law seems more politically motivated than actually making any true progress). So more than likely, they get a fake NC or GA license, a power bill, and we get copies of them and send it in to the DMV. This is the loophole the law glaringly allows. The customers just haven't caught on yet. In 6 months, I forsee everything going back to normal otherwise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ovid9 Posted January 23, 2012 Author Members Share Posted January 23, 2012 First off, it won't affect renewals, just new registrations. So, without a solution, they'll just be stuck with what they've got. Either straw-man purchases (which we already do anyway), or the second option, which is the more likely. We still haven't found out for sure if the SCDMV checks with the out-of-state DMV's to verify out-of-state licenses (I doubt they do, this new law seems more politically motivated than actually making any true progress). So more than likely, they get a fake NC or GA license, a power bill, and we get copies of them and send it in to the DMV. This is the loophole the law glaringly allows. The customers just haven't caught on yet. In 6 months, I forsee everything going back to normal otherwise. A needless politically motivated law that accomplishes nothing towards its ideal goal? I'm shocked! Hope that's the case that things get back to normal for you dude. I mean, its pretty obvious why they'd make such a law in theory but...really, it tends to just make things tougher on those who are trying to do things on the up and up anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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