DMS Providers

[deboss]

Let me state up front I am the owner of a new car store. I monitor all the DealersEdge Forums because they are educational and since I consider myself to be a hands on manager it is important to be alert to what is happening in the complete dealership. Obviously if you looked at many of the posts it would appear many owners do not have any knowledge of concern about the rest of the dealership unless a problem jumps up and hits them between the eyes. I sometimes wonder how these dealerships survive but apparently they do in spite of the department infighting and mismanagement. Years ago I remember I was told that TEAM stood for Together Everyone Accomplishes More. I think that still applies in this day and age.

As I read through this post I agree with what was just posted look around for DMS providers. My Parts Manager introduced me to mine 14 years ago, let me say it is not known by its initials. It the past 14 years I have saved a ton of money and the system has grown with me and the industry. If I had had blinders on and ignored my Parts Manager I most likely would have missed this opportunity. My DMS provider is much more prevalent in the market place then it was 14 year ago. Hopefully it is one of those you saw at NADA, but there are several excellent systems there. Look around, shop around, and negotiate, you do not want your DMS salesman referring to you as his latest home run!

[tcollins]

I would be very careful having used UCS for more than 5 years. The up front costs may be competitive but how about the hidden costs like every time they want to update the program? The program was great, had a super security system and the ability to get huge amounts of information if you learned the system well. Being a big system, it was difficult to teach and/or learn and had employees stumbling around at times. They also didn't intergrate well with any outside software parties and didn't have any open code. That was a hassle everytime you wanted to use a third party vendor.They had great reps and great customer service. Do your homework and talk to other dealers using it or who have used it before you make a decision.

[bth94131]

UCS is usually more expensive - though that may change with the R&R purchase. I would watch Arkona now that DealerTrack has bought them. A lot of people speak of Microsoft, but I would watch SAP. In the mean time, watch your contract terms. Try not to sign anything more than 36 months if you can. ADP's W.E.B. 2007 is just a new face on the same database - no reason to sign for 5 years.