Auto/Mate

Pros

I like Auto/Mate, since it is a strategy of automation of companies with flexibility of the critical processes of a company to maximize efficiency in the organization.

Cons

I do not like Auto/Mate, because it's a bit complex, because it's free, it does not have a lot of integration of applications and can access another after culminating one, it's a bit old, but it works.

Pros

DealerSocket has outdone itself with their fully-loaded CRM. It's simple enough that non-users can jump right in and feel like they know what they're doing, but it's incredibly rich in features that it would take month to learn how to utilize all of them.

Cons

Some features crash or don't work quite often, but it usually doesn't detract from the overall experience because support has been helpful whenever we call them.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Auto/Mate

Pros

As others have stated. The product was SOLD as being a one stop solution to a lot of our problems. However, we have come to find out the sales staff would lie to close a sale and promised functionality that was not available.

Cons

IDMS: We have been attempting to use IDMS for over a year now and are still running into huge bugs and issues. The most recent being that if a customer has a " ' " in their name then they are unsearchable. We have also been experiening issues with forms coming from the ignite website platform and creating "deals" when it is just a customer asking a simple question.

Another glaring issue with IDMS is that you can not delete a customer from the system. So if you have a customer that was accidently entered twice, too bad, that Joe Smith is now in your system twice forever.

CRM: We tried the CRM for 6 months and spent hours importing data and creating templates. Come to find out that when it came to emailing a customer a vehicle brochure. The brochure was hosted by a completely different team and therefore a vehicle brochure would never lead a customer to your website. The brochure is also not customizable so your logo and brand identity could never be incorporated.

The CRM also allows for custom timed emails to be sent out. These turned out to require so much finessing and time to create for each scenario that in the end a sales person or BDC would have been better off creating an email themselves and tracking it in the CRM opportunity.

INV+: We have been using for years. There have been minor problems when it comes to showing vehicles properly and exporting to 3rd party sites. However, most problems started arising when we made the connection to IDMS....

Pros

Dealersocket offers multiple software packages, from inventory control, used car appraisal to website hosting. This bundling allows for ease of use.

Cons

Customer support is difficult to reach. They have several barriers in place to actually reach a real person. The customer service agent is not always very understanding of an issue, and this can cost alot of money.

Pros

It integrates well into our DMS and website. Dealersocket also offers their own DMS and Web hosting services that work well together, but it still functions great with other providers software.

Cons

The cost was higher than some competitors options. Sometimes the server would go down and we had no access to our customer database. Other glitches that pop up from time to time.