Inventory buying guide

Car Dealer Reconditioning Software

Reconditioning workflow for dealerships: Used-vehicle recon steps, vendors, cycle time, approvals and cost control.

Reconditioning software tracks a used vehicle from inspection through repair to frontline, recording findings, photos and status against each unit with technician assignment and approval routing.

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How to choose car dealer reconditioning software

The category splits between tools owned by a DMS vendor, such as ReconTRAC, and independent tools, so check how recon status reaches inventory and pricing on another DMS, how a technician works offline, and whether approvals can reach the appraiser as well as the service manager.

Related searches: recon software · used-vehicle turnaround · reconditioning workflow

What to check before you buy

The number to ask a vendor about is cycle time, from the day a unit is acquired to the day it is frontline ready. Industry sources put the typical store at 10 to 12 days.

Stores that measure it for the first time often find 10 to 21 days or more. Stores that run recon as a managed workflow report three to five days.

The usual target is two days or less for mechanical work, inspection and parts hold combined, plus detail. The cost side is the daily holding cost. 20 Group and NCM Associates put it around $36 per vehicle per day, and other sources quote $45 to $100.

Each recon day saved on a 100-car month is worth real money.

That makes the evaluation about stage visibility, not features. A good recon tool shows how long each unit has sat in each stage: inspection, parts, mechanical, body, detail and photos.

It shows who the unit is waiting on, and which units have passed a set limit. It does this without asking technicians to fill out extra forms.

Find out how a unit gets into the tool. It may come from the appraisal, from the auction purchase, or by hand.

Can approvals for repair spend be given from a phone? Does a vehicle move to inventory and pricing on its own when the last task closes?

Tools range from standalone products priced from a few hundred dollars a month to recon modules inside a DMS or inventory platform. Compare what each one will not connect to.