This daily cadence is designed to help the Used Car Manager balance efficiency and profitability with administrative overhead. For best results, try to complete all items on this list within 45 minutes of walking in the door. That frees up the rest of the day for buying and selling cars.
- Process Yesterday’s Trades: Set up all vehicle acquisitions so they are available in inventory. Make sure to enter an Actual Cash Value (ACV), even if it is just a set-up number. Complete bullpen walk-around on all new trades, make retail/wholesale/service decisions. Verify yesterday’s trade units are now available in inventory, if not process to take into inventory.
On MAX Platform: Use the trade analyzer for all vehicle acquisitions to assist in ACV entry and retail/wholesale/service decisions. You may always use the “Take Into Inventory” button to have inventory available in MAX immediately. - Check for Missed Opportunities: Review the previous day’s missed trade-in opportunities. Are there deals on understocked vehicles that you may want to revise the offer on? Have sales reps follow up on these high potential vehicles first with any revised offers, leveraging each vehicle’s value proposition to close potential missed opportunities.
On MAX Platform: Use either the Trade Analyzer or the Make-A-Deal tool to see your list of missed opportunities. The Make-A-Deal tool is preferred as it highlights understocked vehicles to review the previous day’s missed trade-in opportunities. Have sales reps follow up on these high potential vehicles first with any revised offers on trades. MAX My Trade can help give the customer a better understanding of the elements of the trade valuation and close any perceived value gap with the customer. - Dial-In Pricing (and create or update ads): Plan all new pre-owned units for either retail or wholesale. Set target pricing for retail units, using market comparisons at similar mileage for similar packages so that your dealership price is competitive within the market. Prepare each vehicle’s online ad with factual, detailed, relevant information so the vehicle is ready for online merchandising. Review any vehicles pricing as they change age buckets, crossing the 30-day threshold for example. This daily review strategy helps you selectively re-evaluate your pricing strategy in manageable chunks.
On MAX Platform: Click on Quick Planning button to access Inventory Management Plan (IMP) and work all units in the planning tab from top to bottom. Plan all new pre-owned units for either retail or wholesale. Then for retail units, use the Profit MAX tool to analyze the market and price each vehicle on the list. Profit MAX looks like a set of crosshairs on the IMP. While in Profit MAX, you can view and approve each vehicle’s online ad by clicking on the Approval tab with complete vehicle options and automatically optimized descriptions (Key information, Certified Info, Book Outs, Condition, etc). When the left side of the page displays all green check-marks, click REGENERATE AD, then APPROVE AD and move to the next vehicle in the list. The Planning Tab lists all of your "bucket jumpers" and units in the oldest-aged bucket with recurring reminders every seven days. This is your daily to-do list to reprice or confirm these cars as they appear in the planning tab. - Ensure your full inventory is frontline-ready online: What are your dealership’s standards for time to market? How do you define frontline-ready? Top dealerships can get a trade online in as little as 2-3 days with over ten pictures. Identify your dealerships current average and strive to improve performance here.
On MAX Platform: Review the MAX Dashboard - any vehicles below your dealership set standards will be noted for action. On the left side, clear all “Vehicles with Online Alerts” by clicking on the specific alert and taking the required corrective action. On the right side, review all “Vehicles with Merchandising Alerts” by clicking on the specific alert and ensuring that any suggested action possible has been taken to drive the highest possible traffic to your online inventory. - Check for Service Lane Opportunities: Share your stocking guide targets each week with your service manager. Daily, have the service manager provide the pre-owned manager with a list of desired units that will be in for service that day. Run appraisals on any desired units and have ready for the service manager or dedicated sales rep to present to service customers.
On MAX Platform: Print out the Over/Under Stocking Guide for that week and provide to the service manager prior to first appointment Monday. - Do a Recon Walk: Walk all cars currently in RECON. Be sure cars are moving through all zones efficiently, so that you have as much time in the sweet spot for sales as possible.
