vAuto Enhances Conquest, Making it Easier for Dealers to Apply VIN-Specific Incentives to New Cars
As incentives rise and become increasingly complex, Conquest gives dealers the tools they need to correctly—and efficiently—apply the right offers to their vehicles.
ATLANTA – September 23, 2024 - Today, vAuto is announcing new functionality that solves another pain point for franchise dealers: managing increasingly complex new vehicle incentives. The Cox Automotive brand achieves this feat by making it easier for dealers to apply VIN-specific incentives at scale in its new vehicle inventory management and pricing solution, Conquest. This new capability is well timed, as Cox Automotive data shows that some OEMs have issued approximately 86% more VIN-specific incentives this year compared to last—and the model-year changeover is fast approaching. This is yet another way that vAuto is helping dealers maximize profitability in any market conditions.
“With rebates and incentives back on the rise and becoming more complex, dealers are finding it increasingly challenging to efficiently apply the right ones for each vehicle,” said Derek Hansen, vice president of Operations, Inventory Management Solutions, at Cox Automotive. “And since the Fed’s big cut isn’t expected to reduce auto loan rates for quite some time, dealers need to be especially vigilant about pricing and merchandising their inventory correctly to attract today’s car shoppers and close those deals.”
This new functionality is timed perfectly for the model year changeover, as dealers will be looking to clear out current new car inventory in preparation for 2025 models to hit their lots—a task the data shows might be challenging. The automotive market overall is showing signs of weaker sales, despite OEM’s offering more competitive interest rates and generous cash offerings. According to Cox Automotive data, average blended incentive spend was $4,838 in August, up approximately 5.8% from the prior month. But still, average days in inventory is up nine days year-over-year.
More About the Conquest Solution and its New Incentive Functionality:
Powered by the industry’s best collection of live market data, Conquest gives dealers a powerful new vehicle inventory management solution that enables them to price their vehicles correctly, optimize their merchandising and compete effectively in today’s quickly evolving market.
For rebates and incentives in particular, Conquest simplifies the increasingly complex world of applying the right offers. Many OEMs now extend multiple offers on each vehicle, including VIN-specific incentives, with each having their own set of rules. Without automation, dealers are challenged to apply the right offers and merchandise their vehicles effectively. However, Conquest brings clarity to the chaos, making it easier and more efficient for dealers to price and promote their vehicles accurately.
For VIN-specific incentives in particular, these unique offerings reside in their own dedicated section within the Conquest dashboard. Dealers have the option to include or exclude this type of incentive—and then let Conquest do the rest. With the feature selected, Conquest will cross reference the list of compatible vehicles and compatible programs and syndicate accurate offer information to listing sites for maximum effectiveness.
To learn more about Conquest, visit vAuto.
About vAuto (https://vAuto.com)
As a Cox Automotive brand, vAuto delivers unmatched solutions and actionable insights that help dealers maximize returns on every vehicle. Fueled by the Variable Management philosophy, vAuto’s flagship offering, ProfitTime® GPS, helps dealers optimize each vehicle’s unique profit potential, from appraisal through pricing. Beyond enabling dealers to more effectively manage used vehicles with ProfitTime GPS and another used vehicle management solution, Provision, vAuto also offers Conquest, a new vehicle inventory management and pricing solution; Upside and Stockwave, which propel dealers’ profitability in wholesale; merchandising solutions such as Vehicle Intelligence 360, Intelligent Promotion and Snaplot 360; and iRecon, which helps dealers improve their reconditioning process and get vehicles retail ready faster.
About Cox Automotive
Cox Automotive is the world’s largest automotive services and technology provider. Fueled by the largest breadth of first-party data fed by 2.3 billion online interactions a year, Cox Automotive tailors leading solutions for car shoppers, auto manufacturers, dealers, lenders and fleets. The company has 29,000+ employees on five continents and a portfolio of industry-leading brands that include Autotrader®, Kelley Blue Book®, Manheim®, vAuto®, Dealertrack®, NextGear Capital™, CentralDispatch® and FleetNet America®. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises Inc., a privately owned, Atlanta-based company with $22 billion in annual revenue. Visit coxautoinc.com or connect via @CoxAutomotive on X, CoxAutoInc on Facebook or Cox-Automotive-Inc on LinkedIn.