Inventory Management

This category earned one of the higher group averages in this year’s awards, reflecting a great amount of satisfaction among dealers. These inventory management providers are wildly popular with dealers because they allow dealers to plan their inventory based on market conditions and speed up inventory turn, which has become increasingly more important as dealers have focused on profitability in all areas of the dealership. Indeed, many dealers now view their inventory management program to be as necessary to their dealership as their DMS.

Moving up from its Platinum finish last year is vAuto, which improved its score to claim the Diamond Award. “In this challenging used car environment, dealers are focused on value and results. vAuto’s system embodies both of these tenets,” said Michelle Black, vAuto’s marketing director. “We have doubled our efforts this past year to continually improve the quality of our product and our service. Being chosen by the dealers all across the country as the top performer in our category is an incredible honor. We are truly humbled and believe this is a testament to the hard work of the entire vAuto team.”

Close on vAuto’s heels—barely over a point behind, in fact—was FirstLook, making its first-ever appearance in the Dealers’ Choice Awards with a Platinum win. The inventory management and marketing solution appears to be gaining solid traction in this segment, likely achieved through steady efforts to market the company’s brand over the last year or so.

Winning the Gold Award in 2010 was DealerTrack, making this the second consecutive year the company has been ranked among the top three in this category.