About vAuto

15 comments

vautologo About vAutovAuto was founded in 2005 by auto industry veterans who recognized a need to improve both profit and turn in pre-owned automotive departments throughout the United States. vAuto introduced the industry’s first and only vehicle scoring system which provided financial insight into the key inventory management decisions that dealers make everyday.

In 2007, vAuto launched a revolutionary new system in response to the rapidly changing market for used vehicles. The vAuto system has evolved into a suite of solutions that deliver a better way to price, appraise and stock pre-owned vehicles.

Each vAuto tool is powered by the industry’s first “days supply” for pre-owned vehicles. vAuto monitors the market to deliver the most comprehensive competitive data offered in the automotive industry. Dealers can now benchmark every vehicle against its direct competition and make key decisions based on real-time supply, demand and price sensitivity in their market.

Although most dealers find the system easy enough to learn within a single training session, vAuto is committed to supporting its customers’ ongoing success. vAuto provides ongoing training, proactive coaching, and 24/7 support to ensure that our customers’ staff uses each tool to its fullest potential.

Many of the most successful dealerships in the country are currently using vAuto to compete more effectively than ever. Visit our newsroom or read some of our customers’ success stories to see how dealers have experienced dramatic increases in showroom traffic, gross profit and turn using vAuto.

vAuto is headquartered in Oak Brook, Ill., with research and development facilities in Austin, Tex. In 2006, Bain Capital Ventures provided capital to support vAuto’s rapid growth. Bain Capital is one of the world’s leading private equity firms with over $50 billion in assets under management.

  • Susan

    My first tool used for merchandising, pricing, appriaising, and stocking was Vauto. What an eye opener and what a great tool. And to Dale what an excellent book. All that I can say is Thank you.. it's made me a leader in the industry.

  • Kedcs1

    Your “Red Wagon” app on iTunes for the iPhone/iPad should state that you can't use any functions of the application without a log on and password obtained from another site, and at what cost. You lost my interest with the dishonest approach.

  • http://www.dalepollak.com Dale Pollak

    Hey, I want to personally extend my apology and assure you that I have no intention whatsoever of being deceptive. The whole iTunes mobile application process is new for us, and we are learning the ropes. I would be happy to reimburse the $2.00 that you spent and/or help you become a Red Wagon licensed user. Please feel free to contact me directly at 630-343-9016. Again, please accept my apology,

    Thanks,
    Dale

  • Brad_pavlik

    Recently, in Febuary I beacame the used car manager at a Toyota store. Previously I was a sales manager and got a promotion as I have been here for 3 and a half years and had some success desking and closing deals and overlooking finance and the sales consultants. I was excited about the new challenge and needed some insight as I have never managed a used car department. In March I got a chance to go to a seminar which was hosted by Dale Pollack and Bill Reidy on Vauto. My GM and I decided after the seminar to move ahead and purchase the system. The results are fantastic. We went from 3 to 1 new to used to about 1 to 1. Since the purchase I have a mentor, Dave Rinaldi, who has conference calls with me and helps manage my inventory. We are currently turning our retail inventory 16.8 times a year as compared to 8 in the past. The results were immediate. Our average days in inventory went from 48 down to 22. And get this OUR GROSS per unit stayed the same on double the units! Velocity is the only way to be in the used car business today. Thank you Dave for all your help and lets keep improving. Thanks Dale for your presentation and product and I'm still waiting for you to come to our store as per our conversation in March!

  • http://www.dalepollak.com Dale Pollak

    Brad,

    Wow, congratulations. Your success is phenomenal. I think that the fact that you assumed the position of UCM and found the Velocity Method of Management about the same time, speaks volumes about your success. In other words, there is very little about used car management that you had to unlearn and let loose of. Your story serves as an inspiration to both me and others. Keep up the great work and please forgive me for not yet visiting. I'll ask my assistant, Susan to reach out to you and see if we can't find a time that works. Thanks, and again, congratulations.

    Dale

  • Brad_pavlik

    Recently, in Febuary I beacame the used car manager at a Toyota store. Previously I was a sales manager and got a promotion as I have been here for 3 and a half years and had some success desking and closing deals and overlooking finance and the sales consultants. I was excited about the new challenge and needed some insight as I have never managed a used car department. In March I got a chance to go to a seminar which was hosted by Dale Pollack and Bill Reidy on Vauto. My GM and I decided after the seminar to move ahead and purchase the system. The results are fantastic. We went from 3 to 1 new to used to about 1 to 1. Since the purchase I have a mentor, Dave Rinaldi, who has conference calls with me and helps manage my inventory. We are currently turning our retail inventory 16.8 times a year as compared to 8 in the past. The results were immediate. Our average days in inventory went from 48 down to 22. And get this OUR GROSS per unit stayed the same on double the units! Velocity is the only way to be in the used car business today. Thank you Dave for all your help and lets keep improving. Thanks Dale for your presentation and product and I’m still waiting for you to come to our store as per our conversation in March!

  • http://www.dalepollak.com Dale Pollak

    Brad,

    Wow, congratulations. Your success is phenomenal. I think that the fact that you assumed the position of UCM and found the Velocity Method of Management about the same time, speaks volumes about your success. In other words, there is very little about used car management that you had to unlearn and let loose of. Your story serves as an inspiration to both me and others. Keep up the great work and please forgive me for not yet visiting. I’ll ask my assistant, Susan to reach out to you and see if we can’t find a time that works. Thanks, and again, congratulations.

    Dale

  • Neilf

    What is the red wagon app? Like the Vauto app but for none vauto customers?

  • http://www.dalepollak.com Dale Pollak

    Neil,

    Thanks for your question. Red Wagon is a mobile application that we developed for small, independent and wholesale dealers. It provides the essential tools for pricing, appraising and stocking, but it is only available on a mobile platform (i.e. iPhone and Android). It’s really slick and seems to meet the needs of a small operation. Let me know if you’d like to see a demo.

    Thanks,

    Dale

  • Carstwobuy

    Hi Dale,
    My name is Paul and I own a 80 car independent Dealership in North Jersey. Can I get the same help from the red wagon app as I would from Vauto? Do you think Vauto may be over kill for a small dealership like mine?

  • http://www.dalepollak.com Dale Pollak

    Paul,

    Thanks for the question. First, let me say that I don’t think that an 80 car dealership is small. In fact, it’s probably the size of a typical vAuto client. The real question however is how many of the 80 you’re selling each month. With much effort using the Velocity Method of Management, you should be selling 80 – 100 per month. We have many independent dealerships performing at this rate. If you’re committed to learn and implement the Velocity strategy, the vAuto software and its associated costs will definitely more than pay for itself. If however you’re inclined to be a bit more casual and laid back in your approach, then the lower priced Red Wagon system would probably be a better choice. The Red Wagon solution is only mobile, and it does not have the vAuto Performance Management relationship component. Essentially it gives a dealer access to knowledge and understanding about their marketplace, but does not promote any specific performance objectives. If you’d like to know more, please feel free to call me, and again, thank you for your interest in vAuto.

    Dale

  • Matt

    Dear Dale,         You miss like 40% of the web that the rest of us are using. Can you see the rest of the web or are your eyes so strategically placed that you cant see the rest of the internet? I am telling you that the web is not just the part you see like autotrader.com and cars.com but there are other layers to this thing i.e. usedcars.com . You see dale, to command the web you have to have insight and everything I see is that you have a singularity of vision and that is not GOOD!!! If you want to command the web you have to command ALL of it. But guess what commanding most of it is not good enough! Stop selling your poison or start actually seeing the WHOLE WEB like the rest of us websites like *****.com, *****AR*****D.com or a multitude of others. You cant use part of the web Dale. We have not even got into the classified portion of the web that your “program” does not take into account. Seriously your not even accounting for the rest of the web dale but you are encouraging dealers to lower prices and only advertise to %70(maybe) of the web??? Why would you do such a thing? STOP. Or get the real facts.-Matt Harper

  • http://www.dalepollak.com Dale Pollak

    Matt,

    Thanks so much for the advice. I’ll work hard to do a better job.

    Dale

  • Marcus

    Dale,

    I
    work with a 3rd Party vendor to dealerships and we have had a long relationship with
    VAuto, and it’s been a pleasure. I have had a thought stuck in my head over the
    years and I am really anxious to hear what your rebuttal would be…so here it
    is; Years ago, dealers would tell their potential customers that they would
    beat the competition’s offer by 10% in order to earn their business, it seems like
    they’re now trying to beat the competition by 10% without even having a
    customer. I believe this is due to market pricing tools and strategies like VAuto
    that supply the dealer with the target pricing based on what others have
    advertised. I understand the need to be priced right in the market, but isn’t
    this in fact lowering the market artificially?

  • http://www.dalepollak.com Dale Pollak

    Marcus,

    Thanks so much for the question, and I would encourage you to always challenge ideas and approaches. I don’t think that anyone should accuse vAuto of driving down prices, because vAuto makes absolutely no recommendations as to where dealers should price. vAuto only reports to dealers the marketplace as seen by consumers on the internet. It is the dealer’s sole decision without guidance from vAuto as to where to price vehicles.

    Now, if you mean that providing dealers with such tools does in fact give them the ability to see the competition and price lower, that’s a different question. You should not, however, be angry with vAuto, because if it wasn’t us, it would be somebody else. vAuto however, provides not just software, but also philosophy and methodology as to how to operate competitively, responsibly and profitably. If you and others read any of my books, Velocity: From the Front Line to the Bottom Line; and Velocity 2.0: Paint, Pixels and Profitability, you will see how much we emphasize that capturing customers is not a game of pricing the lowest. Having a competitive price is important, but it’s not about having the lowest price. Rather, it is about creating and maintaining certain conditions of your inventory like market day’s supply, cost to market and price to market along with certain conditions of on-line merchandising. When and only if all of the these factors exist in proper form and balance, can a dealer expect to achieve Velocity success.

    Personally, as a dealer’s son, dealership owner and industry software provider, I owe everything to dealers. No one is more uncomfortable than I am when dealers use low price alone as the means to achieve success. I work tirelessly with dealers, both vAuto and non-vAuto clients to help them understand the means to be more successful. This is my passion and who I am. Please let me know your thoughts.

    Thank you,

    Dale