When a local service garage calls John Kupres to get a part from one of his Crown Motors dealerships, he doesn’t have to guess which of his 5 delivery vehicles are closest and annoy drivers with unnecessary cell phone calls anymore.
Just by looking at his computer screen, Kupres can track the locations of all his parts delivery vehicles, figure out who is best available and give mechanics an accurate estimate of when parts will be delivered to their doors. Each of the delivery vehicles is equipped with the Mopar Electronic Vehicle Tracking System (EVTS) module that transmits GPS coordinates and other data wirelessly.
“Since we’re at three different locations, we would have to call each store to ask what their parts delivery guy was doing, and how important it was — and it was just a lot of phone calls,” said Kupres, parts manager at Crown Motors in Holland, Mich. that sells Chrysler, Honda, Mazda, Cadillac, Buick, Toyota and Volkswagen brands.
“This is saving me and the drivers a lot of time,” he said. “We have a lot less calls coming into them, asking them where they are and when they think they’re going to arrive at their destinations. It also takes care of overlapping routes. Rather than sending an emergency driver to deliver a part, we may be able to have one of the route drivers pick it up.”
The Mopar EVTS system designed, manufactured and operated by Guidepoint Systems offers a whole suite of money and time saving options for vehicle dealerships, everything from automating audits for floor space plans to managing the location of loaner vehicles.
“Dealerships across the country area are using the Mopar EVTS tool to manage their internal operations and act as a profit center when the vehicle is sold,” said Tom Gafford, chief technology officer at Guidepoint. “Some dealers preload all their vehicles with Mopar EVTS modules for lot management and protection, then convert the modules to consumer-friendly theft protection systems when they sell the vehicles.”
Terry Murdock, fixed operations director for parts and service at Leith AutoPark Chrysler Jeep in Cary, N.C., said one of the first things he does is boot up his computer to locate all the dealership’s 24 loaner vehicles and 2 parts delivery trucks, using a Mopar EVTS system.
“It’s an awesome tool to have — particularly if you have customers whose cars have been done for awhile, but they don’t want to return the loaners,” Murdock said. “If need be, I have to go out and get the loaner back, so I need to know where it is at any time of the day.”
Dealership personnel are able to monitor loaner vehicles from any Internet-connected smartphone, PC or tablet using the Dealer Management Tool. Murdock said he easily tracks the continually rotating fleet of loaner vehicles to know where they are, where they have been, how long they have been in certain locations, and usage history. In addition, the dealership can receive notifications if the battery is low or if the vehicle is driven outside of an area as small as the dealership lot.
“It is a big problem with dealerships,” Gafford said. “Loaner cars go out but don’t come back when expected, and the dealer is in the dark about where the vehicle is and if it’s being misused or driven excessively. This lowers the value when the car is finally sold, and in the meantime, increases maintenance costs.”
As part of the program, dealerships have access to live technical support and account administration support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Each vehicle is also supported with around-the-clock alert notifications, emergency service dispatch, stolen vehicle recovery and law enforcement assistance.
Guidepoint Systems, with headquarters in Detroit and main operational facilities in Fort Worth, Texas, offers nationwide tracking without a subscription for its basic service on the Mopar EVTS. Formed in 1999, Guidepoint owns and operates response centers staffed 24/7/365 in the United States and Mexico to provide a wide range of services for dealerships, commercial fleet managers and individual vehicle owners. Guidepoint customer service representatives personally handle notifications of impact, theft, driver emergencies and concierge services.
To learn more about how dealerships can use Guidepoint Systems, contact the company by calling (877) 477-3463 or writing to [email protected].
