Brian Benstock, General Manager & Vice President of Paragon Honda & Paragon Acura, discusses the correlation between used car sales profitability and the amount of time between recon inventory acquisition and getting vehicles Retail-Ready and on the frontline for sale.
He explains that one of the primary reasons he selected Velocity Automotive’s Recon Software to solve his auto reconditioning challenges is because of Hugh Hathcock and his previous accomplishments at ELEAD1ONE. Brian talks about Hugh’s lifelong commitment to dealer success through an unparalleled level of service and support, which is something that no other recon software management company provides.
Brian emphasizes that one critical goal in using Velocity’s Recon Software to manage the end-to-end recon process in his dealerships is to reduce the overall time it takes to get a used car to the frontline by 25%, which will ultimately lead to millions of dollars of additional bottom line profits. He says that their advanced auto reconditioning management solution enables him and his team to hold dealership employees, such as service department personnel, detailers, porters, technicians, and vendors involved in the recon process to levels of accountability that have never been achieved. He talks about making incremental improvements across his automotive reconditioning steps, which he believes will let him achieve his vision of moving recon inventory from acquisition to Retail-Ready in ONE DAY! That’s the target!
We chose ReconVelocity for one reason – Hugh Hathcock – and his affiliation with us formerly with ELEAD1ONE. It’s incredible, the amount of service he was able to provide for us… I want to count on that for the used car portion of our business.
Brian Benstock
GM/Partner, Paragon Honda
Note: Since this interview, Sonic Automotive has rolled out Velocity Automotive’s recon tool to all Sonic locations, nationwide
After more than 20 years working with Hugh Hathcock, Jeff describes how Hugh, through his successful ELEAD1ONE company, and now with his new venture, ReconVelocity, has been “a fantastic business partner.”
Cutting down on the amount of time it takes to recondition a pre-owned vehicle is every dealer’s goal. Jeff explains that they rolled out their new Recon tool in a test environment at seven different locations across the country – and that the test has gone fantastic. So far, they have cut at least 2-3 days off their overall recon process, which has led to an increase in profitability and an improved inventory turn.
Jeff further explains that they would be the first national brand to roll out Velocity Automotive’s Recon tool across all its dealerships – and that he is very excited about it.
We have rolled out ReconVelocity in a test environment in seven locations… the test has gone fantastic… It’s dropped [our] recon time 2-3 days at a minimum, which we all know drops more money to the bottom line, helps us sell more cars, and increases the overall velocity of our inventory (turn).
Jeff Dyke
President, Sonic Automotive
Doug Beard, Service Advisor at Rick Hendrick Toyota Sandy Springs, says that the dealership started out using RapidRecon, but they recently switched to Velocity Automotive’s Recon tool. So far, they have found that it is much more user-friendly and simpler to use.
Gerry Ventry, Recon Manager at Toyota Sandy Springs, says that their Recon tool gives them the ability to make sure things are done properly and quickly – and he should know, as he used a competing recon solution, RapidRecon, for two years at other dealerships.
By comparison, Gerry says that, “Velocity Automotive’s Recon tool is much more user-friendly, and that it narrows down all of your information in one click – so we can see everything we need to see in order to improve our entire process. Simply stated, Velocity Automotive’s Recon tool is simply better!”
We’re measuring the efficiency of our recon process, and in two days I’m more familiar with Velocity’s Recon tool than I was after two weeks of using RapidRecon. This is a much more user-friendly tool.
Doug Beard
Service Advisor, Rick Hendrick Toyota Sandy Springs
ReconVelocity helps us become a better overall team, improves efficiency, and helps us hold each other accountable.
Gerry Ventry
Recon Manager, Rick Hendrick Toyota Sandy Springs
Chris Slaydon, President of Vernon Auto Group, says that ReconVelocity is one of the industry’s “hidden gems” – a powerful tool for the used car dealer who knows that the time it takes to recondition a pre-owned car needs to be as short as possible, but without sacrificing a thorough job well done.
ReconVelocity, according to Chris, provides transparent accountability, through its real-time, streaming platform. Every employee involved in the automotive reconditioning process can see his or her current level of efficiency so that the entire team can then be fine-tuned to move cars through reconditioning not just faster, but more effectively. He has seen dealerships go from 7 to 14 days in recon, to 48 to 72 hours – an amazing transformation that gets more cars on the fast track to a profitable sale.
We used this software mostly as a transparency and accountability tool… I’ve seen this software take dealerships from 7-10 days up to sometimes 14 days… down to 48-72 hours (recon time).
Chris Slaydon
President, Vernon Auto Group
